Our world is seventy percent ocean and eighty percent of that ocean is undiscovered. This means there is still sixty-five percent of our world never even seen. On a recent deep-sea exploration off the coast of Tahiti, a “pristine” coral reef was found. Sitting at a depth of one hundred feet, this reef appeared to look like a bed of roses. Unscathed by climate change the divers were amazed at the beauty of this coral reef. 

Our coral reefs are dying. From climate change to ocean warming and pollution, it’s hard to find a healthy reef anywhere near land. This reef defies all odds in its very existence. Spanning around two miles long this rosie reef is the largest ever found at this depth. Most coral reefs cannot survive at this deep, which is why we can see the floral pattern helping this one. The reef is formed like this to span wider, capturing more sunlight so it can survive. The more shallow reefs tend to look like tree branches, but they cannot survive because of the local pollution and climate change. This reef survived off the coast of Tahiti because of Tahiti’s lack of sediment sources and polluting substances that tend to kill the local reefs. So simply put it’s only surviving because we haven’t reached it yet. 

Researchers were shocked to discover it was fully grown and healthy meaning it was decades old. It takes coral reefs about twenty-five to thirty years to fully expand and grow, and most don’t last that long now. Ocean warming is one of the main killers for reefs. With the great barrier reef system not four thousand miles west of this one slowly dying itself. The reefs are experiencing bleaching, a reaction that occurs from the unwanted warmth of the water. This reaction is killing all of the beautiful reefs in our ocean. All because of our need for fancy cars and electronics. Pollution and climate change are killing our reefs, which in turn kill the helpless inhabitants of them. We need to find ways we can preserve and help these reefs to stay as beautiful as this new one is.