{"id":560615,"date":"2026-07-21T11:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T11:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/560615\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T11:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T11:08:14","slug":"dead-coral-reef-found-alive-and-thriving-off-west-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/560615\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Dead’ coral reef found alive and thriving off West Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A deep-ocean coral reef<\/a> presumed dead for nearly 60 years off the coast of Benin was recently rediscovered and is teeming with life. A team of oceanographers<\/a> led by G\u00e9rard Zinzindohou\u00e9<\/a> at the Institut de Recherches Halieutiques et Oc\u00e9anologiques du B\u00e9nin documented their findings in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science<\/a>, which highlights just how much is left to learn about West Africa\u2019s underwater ecosystems.<\/p>\n

Scientists first identified the possible location during the 1960s, while surveying potential fishing areas, but assumed that whatever reef resided along the seafloor was dead. After receiving grant funding to revisit the area, Zinzindohou\u00e9 and his colleagues spent days searching over seven miles of the Gulf of Guinea using sonar equipment before finally flagging two signals large enough to match the potential reef remnants.<\/p>\n

\"MesophoticMesophotic coral reefs live at deeper depths than typical, shallower coral. Credit: G\u00e9rard Zinzindohou\u00e9<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not an easy field campaign,\u201d Zinzindohou\u00e9 recalled in a statement<\/a>. \u201cIt was a mix of long days at sea, technical problems, and a lot of uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zinzindohou\u00e9\u2019s team then deployed an underwater drone and the National Geographic Exploration Technology Lab\u2019s Deep Sea Camera System to get a closer look. About 165 feet below the ocean surface, they spotted the unexpected\u2014the reef was far from dead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still remember seeing those first images. It was a mix of excitement and disbelief, because after all this time thinking about this reef, suddenly there was something real in front of us,\u201d said Zinzindohou\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Deep-sea<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tDeep-sea reef near Benin\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Based on the depth, the team determined the formation to be a mesophotic coral ecosystem<\/a>. These ecosystems generally exist in much deeper waters than typical shallow coral reefs. With more limited sunlight, mesophotic coral doesn\u2019t necessarily grow as a single, continuous reef. Instead, it takes the form of patchier or more intermittent colonies.<\/p>\n

However, that doesn\u2019t mean there is little activity in mesophotic systems. The underwater survey positively identified eight coral types and eight different species of fish living among them, including Guinean angelfish (Holacanthus africanus), golden African snappers (Lutjanus fulgens), and the Monrovia doctorfish (Acanthurus monroviae).<\/p>\n

Zinzindohou\u00e9 believes their discovery is the first confirmed living mesophotic coral on the Gulf of Guinea continental shelf, but that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s the only one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what we found is probably not an exception. It is more likely a reflection of how little we still know about coastal regions in West Africa and elsewhere,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"DeepMuch more research is needed to fully understand the rediscovered ecosystem. Credit: G\u00e9rard Zinzindohou\u00e9<\/a> <\/p>\n

At the same time, return visits are needed to better examine the delicate ecosystems and confirm their health, diversity, and size. Historical data indicates they only imaged a tiny portion of a continuous mesophotic reef spanning nearly 25 miles parallel to Benin\u2019s coast.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had all the grant money in the world, the first thing I would do is return to the site with a proper scientific diving and sampling program,\u201d said Zinzindohou\u00e9. \u201cThese are ecosystems that are still poorly known in this part of the world, and every additional piece of information matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Andrew Paul is a staff writer for Popular Science.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get the Popular Science daily newsletter\ud83d\udca1 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[66346,246,61,60,43,82],"class_list":["post-560615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-coral","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}