{"id":708512,"date":"2026-07-24T08:22:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T08:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/708512\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T08:22:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T08:22:35","slug":"it-was-presumed-dead-for-60-years-then-scientists-sent-an-underwater-drone-into-the-deep-and-saw-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/708512\/","title":{"rendered":"It was presumed dead for 60 years. Then scientists sent an underwater drone into the deep and saw this"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the 1960s, scientists looking for potential fishing areas off the coast of Benin, West Africa, found what they thought was a\u00a0deep-sea coral reef<\/a>\u00a0more than 50m below the surface. They assumed it must be dead so didn\u2019t investigate further.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But when experts from the Coral Reefs Rediscovering and Exploration project in Benin (COREB) returned to the same site in 2025, they found that quite the opposite is true: this long-forgotten\u00a0reef<\/a>\u00a0is thriving. The discovery is published in\u00a0Frontiers in Marine Science<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Underwater drone footage of the deep-sea coral garden off the coast of Benin in West Africa. Credit: G\u00e9rard Zinzindohou\u00e9, with thanks to support from the National Geographic Society and the National Geographic Exploration Technology Lab<\/p>\n

The study\u2019s lead author\u00a0G\u00e9rard Zinzindohou\u00e9<\/a>, a researcher at the Institut de Recherches Halieutiques et Oc\u00e9anologiques du B\u00e9nin, and colleagues set out to find this reef barrier because they wondered if it might be mesophotic coral. These are corals that need light to survive but live in deeper waters where there isn\u2019t as much sunlight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike typical shallow reefs, it does not always form a single continuous reef structure,\u201d says Zinzindohou\u00e9 in a statement. \u201cInstead, it can appear as patchy or scattered coral communities spread across the seafloor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2025, the researchers used sonar to survey an 11.5km area of seabed where the previous researchers had spotted the potential patches of coral. There, they saw what looked like possible reefs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

To get a clear picture, they used an underwater drone and the National Geographic\u00a0Exploration Technology Lab<\/a>\u2019s Deep Sea Camera System. These are \u201clow-cost autonomous systems [that] combine a high-definition camera and lights inside of a glass pressure housing, to capture high-quality imagery of biodiversity on the seafloor,\u201d according to the National Geographic Society\u2019s website.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a big moment for us, because suddenly we could actually see the seafloor,\u201d says Zinzindohou\u00e9.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That was a big moment for us, because suddenly we could actually see the seafloor<\/p>\n

And sure enough, the reef appeared before them. \u201cI still remember seeing those first images,\u201d he says. \u201cIt 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 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo our knowledge, this is the first confirmed record of a living mesophotic coral ecosystem on the Gulf of Guinea continental shelf,\u201d says Zinzindohou\u00e9. \u201cHowever, I 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<\/p>\n

The team recorded eight species of fish at the coral garden. Credit: G\u00e9rard Zinzindohou\u00e9, with thanks to support from the National Geographic Society and the National Geographic Exploration Technology Lab<\/p>\n

Although humans had next to no idea it was there, this coral garden \u2013 which experts had assumed was dead in the 1960s \u2013 was healthy and full of life. The researchers recorded eight different types of coral and eight species of fish, including types of damselfish, butterflyfish, snappers, soldierfish, angelfish and goatfish.<\/p>\n

Zinzindohou\u00e9 thinks there could be more like it, waiting to be discovered. \u201cIf we were able to find this reef again after 60 years, how many others are still undocumented or simply forgotten?\u201d he adds. \u201cI do believe there are likely more coral systems out there that we have not documented yet.\u201d To find out, the researchers will need to keep looking in other areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If we were able to find this reef again after 60 years, how many others are still undocumented or simply forgotten?<\/p>\n

They also want to learn more about these corals by surveying a larger area (they were only able to investigate a small part of the barrier from the historical reports) and taking samples of the corals to confirm which species they are. <\/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 programme,\u201d he says. \u201cThese are ecosystems that are still poorly known in this part of the world, and every additional piece of information matters.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zinzindohou\u00e9 is excited about what they have yet to discover about these corals and their history, saying: \u201cIt feels like we have only just started to read an archive that has been there for a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zinzindohou\u00e9 thinks there may be other reefs like this that are still undocumented or simply forgotten. Credit: G\u00e9rard Zinzindohou\u00e9, with thanks to support from the National Geographic Society and the National Geographic Exploration Technology Lab<\/p>\n

Image and video credit: G\u00e9rard Zinzindohou\u00e9, with thanks to support from the National Geographic Society and the National Geographic Exploration Technology Lab<\/p>\n

More wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the 1960s, scientists looking for potential fishing areas off the coast of Benin, West Africa, found what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-708512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}