Why has this 500 meter high reef actually never been discovered before? “There is still a lot to study on the seabed,” says Meesters. “I think we know the moon better than the seabed. There are large stretches of sea where we have never looked closely. Fortunately more research has been done in recent years.”
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef in the world, consisting of more than 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands that stretch for 2,600 kilometers. Due to global warming, the sea water is getting warmer and the coral is slowly dying. In 2012, the amount of coral had already decreased by about half compared to 1985.
The coral on the newly found freestanding reef also meets that fate, according to the marine tropical ecologist. “The water around it is of course exactly the same as at the Great Barrier Reef, including warm sea water.”
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