Biggest Deep Coral Reef Was 'Right Under Our Noses'

Scientists have mapped the largest coral reef deep in the ocean, stretching hundreds of miles off the US Atlantic coast. While researchers have known since the 1960s that some coral were present off the Atlantic, the reef's size remained a mystery until new underwater mapping technology made it possible to construct 3D images of the ocean floor, the AP reports. The largest yet known deep coral reef "has been right under our noses, waiting to be discovered," says Derek Sowers, an oceanographer at the nonprofit Ocean Exploration Trust. Sowers and other scientists, including several at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, recently published maps of the reef in the journal Geomatics.

The reef extends for about 310 miles from Florida to South Carolina and at some points reaches 68 miles wide. The total area is nearly three times the size of Yellowstone National Park. "It's eye-opening—it's breathtaking in scale," says Stuart Sandin, a marine biologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who was not involved in the study. The reef was found at depths ranging from 655 feet to 3,280 feet, where sunlight doesn't penetrate. Unlike tropical coral reefs, where photosynthesis is important for growth, coral this far down must filter food particles out of the water for energy. Deep coral reefs provide habitat for sharks, swordfish, sea stars, octopus, shrimp, and many other kinds of fish, the scientists said.

NOAA says sonar mapping identified 83,908 individual coral mound peak features in the Blake Plateau. "For years we thought much of the Blake Plateau was sparsely inhabited, soft sediment, but after more than 10 years of systematic mapping and exploration, we have revealed one of the largest deep-sea coral reef habitats found to date anywhere in the world," says Kasey Cantwell, operations chief for NOAA Ocean Exploration. Tropical reefs are better known to scientists—and snorkelers—because they're more accessible. The world's largest tropical coral reef system, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, stretches for about 1,430 miles. (Read more coral reef stories.)