A two-mile long coral reef, a hundred feet below where coral is normally found and in relatively pristine condition, has been discovered off the coast of Tahiti, the Associated Press reports.
A researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research in Moorea, French Polynesia found the reef while on a recreational scuba dive. “When I went there for the first time, I thought, ’Wow — we need to study that reef. There’s something special about that reef,” Laetitia Hédouin said.
The reef doesn’t show any of the signs of bleaching, the whitening of dead coral caused by warmer ocean temperatures due to climate change. The deeper depths of the reef likely protected it from a massive bleaching event that impacted other reefs in the region in 2019.
The rose-shaped coral, found at depths between 115 and 230 feet below the surface, offer hope that there are unknown populations of coral at depths lower than expected. According to UNESCO, 14% of known coral was destroyed between 2009 and 2018.