Some 60 years ago scientists documented a coral reef off the coast of Benin in West Africa that they presumed was already dead. But now researchers have rediscovered the coral reef and found it to be a thriving deep-water community.<\/p>\n
The reef was first flagged when fishing surveys conducted in the 1960s detected a possible coral formation more than 50 meters beneath the surface. Because of its depth and the limited technology available at the time, scientists concluded the reef was probably a lost cause and didn\u2019t investigate further.<\/p>\n
That changed when a team led by G\u00e9rard Zinzindohou\u00e9 of the Benin Fisheries and Oceanological Research Institute recently returned to the area with high-resolution sonar, an underwater drone and the National Geographic Exploration Technology Lab’s Deep Sea Camera System.<\/p>\n
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If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing<\/a>. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n \u201cI was guided by the hope that sometimes nature can surprise us, and what you don\u2019t intend to see is what can actually happen\u2014it surprised me as well,\u201d Zinzindohou\u00e9 says.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first thing that gave us hope was our first deployment of the sonar. We were seeing nothing but sand and sediment, and suddenly we could see some rocky structure,\u201d he adds. \u201cThrough the signature, we thought we might be in front of something that could be a coral reef barrier.\u201d<\/p>\n Underwater imagery confirmed the sonar\u2019s signal: a living coral ecosystem in the ocean\u2019s \u201ctwilight zone.\u201d Such so-called mesophotic reefs thrive in dimly lit water, so they are deeper than the shallow tropical reefs most people are familiar with. Rather than forming a single continuous barrier, the reef off Benin consists of scattered coral patches growing on rocky outcrops. \u201cA mesophotic coral ecosystem is a type of coral habitat formed deeper than the usual shallow coral reef, in a zone where light is much more limited,\u201d Zinzindohou\u00e9 says. \u201cUnlike a typical shallow reef, it does not always form a single continuous reef structure. Instead it can appear as patchy or scattered coral communities spread across the seafloor.\u201d<\/p>\n The rediscovery, published on July 19 in Frontiers in Marine Science, marks the first confirmed living mesophotic coral ecosystem<\/a> on the Gulf of Guinea\u2019s continental shelf. It\u2019s unclear, however, if the reef has existed continuously since the 1960s detections or if it has waxed and waned over the years.<\/p>\n Zinzindohou\u00e9 says future expeditions\u2014including direct coral sampling and broader seafloor surveys of the west African coast\u2014will be needed to determine the reef’s full extent and to reconstruct its history.<\/p>\n “Right now, on the coast of West Africa, and particularly in Benin, ocean science and marine research are not well developed,\u201d he says, adding that governments are more focused on other, more urgent societal issues.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope that, through this result, people will start to look at the ocean differently,\u201d Zinzindohou\u00e9 says, \u201cand that it might inspire others to do more ocean research and focus on the protection and conservation of marine ecosystems.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s Time to Stand Up for Science<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. 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