(Reuters) — A scientific expedition discovered an ancient and pristine coral reef teeming with marine life in the depths of the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, said this monday the Ministry of the Environment of the Andean country.
The reef was found between 400 and 600 meters below sea level on an uncharted seamount, a rare find in deep water.
“A scientific expedition into the depths discovers the first completely pristine coral reef, approximately 2 km (kilometers) in length, some 400 meters on top of a seamount,” wrote Environment Minister José Dávalos, On twitter. “Once again Galapagos surprises us!”.
Scientists believed that the Wellington Reef, off the coast of Darwin Island, was the only one to survive the El Niño event in 1982 and 1983, but the new finding shows that coral communities have subsisted for centuries in the depths of the sea. Galapagos Marine Reserve, added the ministry in a statement.
The reef structure is more than 50% living coral, he added.
“They are at least several thousand years old, if not many more years of growth and are in a pristine state,” said Stuart Banks, a researcher at the Charles Darwin Foundation, who participated in the expedition. “We have not found reefs of this type at such extensive depths.”
“It is very important (the finding) worldwide because many of the deep systems are degraded,” he added.
Ecuador last year expanded the Galapagos marine reserve by an additional 60,000 square kilometers to the existing 138,000 kilometers to protect endangered migratory species between the Ecuadorian islands and Cocos Island in Costa Rica.
In the Galapagos Islands, which inspired the theory of the evolution of species by the British scientist Charles Darwin in the 19th century, inhabits a great variety of giant tortoises along with flamingos, boobies, albatrosses and cormorants.
In addition, a large amount of flora and fauna in danger of extinction.
