Thriving coral reef is newly discovered off Tahiti’s coast

Coral reefs are the rainforests of the ocean. They support a quarter of all marine biodiversity, despite only covering 0.2 percent of the total seafloor.

But they’re also one of the ecosystems most threatened by climate change. Warming waters causes ocean acidification, a process that makes coral reefs expel the rich, colour-providing nutrients inside of them.

This event – called coral bleaching – means corals are unable to sustain themselves and quickly die off. The reefs will take decades, if not centuries to grow back, but only when adequate water temperatures and acidity levels are present.

With all of this in mind, the importance of protecting coral reefs is quite clear.

Already, many shallow-dwelling coral reefs are known to be under the threat of ocean acidification, so it’s important for marine biologists to study rare, newfound reefs like the one discovered near Tahiti to understand how they’ve managed to take root and stay alive.

Laetitia Hédouin, one of the divers on the expedition said, ‘When I went there for the first time, I thought, “Wow, we need to study that reef. There’s something special about that reef.”’

So far the researchers have completed 200 hours of diving to investigate the large blooms, taking photographs, as well as measurements and small samples of the coral.

Studying the reef has been met with some challenges, as remaining at depths of 230 feet (70 metres) can be unsafe for long periods without the right equipment. It makes sense then, that this area off Tahiti’s coast is not one that has been explored regularly by divers.

Kudos to the researchers for taking on this quest to learn more about the unknown. With only 20 percent of the Earth’s seabed currently mapped, who knows what they could find next!