The international marine conservation organizationOceana has discovered almost 400 meters deep, offshore and covering an area of more than 100,000 m2,a deep white coral reef in the Alboran Seaduring the 2011 expedition of theOcean Ranger. The extension of the reef could exceed 10 hectares and cover a large part of the surface of an underwater mountain.
? We are not only talking about a large coral reef, but about extensive gorgonian gardens, black coral forests or fields of crystal sponges, all of them of great importance for the health of the Mediterranean ,? explains Ricardo Aguilar, Director of Research at Oceana Europe. ? The presence of some rare or little-known species also stands out, such as ball corals, carnivorous sponges, bathyal octopuses or the false-sail ray ,? he adds.
Deep-sea corals are among the vulnerable ecosystems. The United Nations has asked that they be protected because a large part of these communities have disappeared from large areas of European and Mediterranean waters due to trawling, changes in water temperature or catastrophic natural events.
The data on the existence of these corals in the Mediterranean are still very partial and, most of the time, they are small colonies or dead reefs. Thediscovered reef still has important living coloniesthat grow on older structures of dead coral and reach heights of more than five feet.
