Oops: Scientists Discover Unknown Coral Reef Taller Than Skyscrapers

While 3D mapping the seafloor of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, scientists discovered a massive coral reef measuring 500 m which is taller than some of the world’s highest skyscrapers!

“The state of our knowledge about what’s in the ocean has long been so limited,” says Wendy Schmidt, co-founder of Schmidt Ocean Institute. “Thanks to new technologies that work as our eyes, ears and hands in the deep ocean, we have the capacity to explore like never before. New oceanscapes are opening to us, revealing the ecosystems and diverse life forms that share the planet with us.”

Covering nearly 133,000 square miles, the Great Barrier Reef is home to more than 1,500 species of fish, 411 species of hard corals, and dozens of other species. With the unexpected discovery of the “blade-like” reef, chances are that scientists will “continue to find unknown structures and new  species in [the] ocean.”