Researchers exploring the Gulf of Guinea continental shelf off Benin found a living coral community more than 50 meters below the surface. Earlier surveys in the 1960s had suggested that a deep-water reef in the area was probably dead.
The team used modern sonar to scan 11.5 kilometers of seafloor, then sent an underwater drone and a deep-sea camera to inspect the most promising locations.
The images showed separate coral patches growing on rocky parts of the seabed. The researchers saw eight kinds of coral and eight kinds of fish, including African snappers, soldierfish, angelfish, goatfish, and butterflyfish.
The findings, published in Frontiers in Marine Science, are an initial look rather than a full map of the reef. Researchers have not yet collected physical coral samples, so some of the camera-based identifications still need confirmation.
