After twenty years documenting the biodiversity in the sea around the Azores islands, the Rebikoff-Niggeler Foundation made their greatest discovery so far: a large cold-water reef exists just off the 1957-formed Capelinhos volcano at 900 m deep.
So far, the geologically new area was known for its weak biodiversity. No one was expecting to find so much wildlife just three miles off the coast. Joaquim Jakobsen from the Rebikoff-Niggeler Foundation stated that “it’s the largest reef we found in two decades of explorations. It’s more spectacular than anything we saw before. It’s a true garden! ”
Check out the RTP news story (in Portuguese) about this unexpected discovery at https://www.rtp.pt/noticias/pais/descoberto-nos-acores-um-grande-recife-de-corais-de-aguas-frias_v1158886
