How an underwater drone found a coral reef written off in the 1960s still alive after more than 60 years
North AmericaScienceHigh confidence — 83/100
A coral reef off the coast of Benin, long presumed dead, has just been found alive and full of activity, more than sixty years after scientists first wrote it off.
Old surveys from the 1960s, carried out mainly to locate good fishing spots, had picked up signs of a possible deep-water reef sitting more than fifty metres below the surface.
At the time, researchers assumed there was little chance it had survived.
Confirmed
A coral reef off the coast of Benin, long presumed dead, has just been found alive and full of activity, more than sixty years after scientists first wrote it off.
At the time, researchers assumed there was little chance it had survived.
Unverified
Old surveys from the 1960s, carried out mainly to locate good fishing spots, had picked up signs of a possible deep-water reef sitting more than fifty metres below the surface.