A project team from Newfoundland鈥檚 Marine Institute has uncovered a nearly 10,000-square-metre cold-water soft coral garden, hidden just underneath the surface of the province鈥檚 Funk Island Deep.
The density and depth of the coral garden make it a remarkable find, according to researchers, who are now planning a return to the area to discover more about the species inside the garden.
鈥淭he really unique and wonderful thing about this discovery is that we鈥檝e not seen them make this complex habitat before,鈥� said Emmeline Broad, a Ph.D. candidate at Memorial University who was part of the team that discovered the habitat.
Broad, alongside members of the Marine Institute鈥檚 Marine Conservation Areas project, launched an underwater camera in the area in June, after previously discovering hints on regular sonar scans that the region could be interesting.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e never really been described in the densities that we鈥檝e captured here,鈥� she said.
Martin Dahl, a fisheries technologist with the Marine Conservation Areas project, helped flag the area on a sonar scan in 2023.
鈥淚t was a lot more life than we expected,鈥� he said. 鈥淎lthough we hoped for something interesting, but you never know what you鈥檒l get.鈥�
A custom camera, which the group is calling a BathyCam, was used to probe the area.
Home to sponges, basket stars and other soft corals, the soft coral habitat can begin to be seen as close as 60 metres from the surface.
The garden is in the Funk Island Deep region of the Atlantic Ocean, off Newfoundland鈥檚 northeast coast. The area is closed to fishing activity in an effort to support crab and cod regrowth.
The density of the coral garden suggests the habitat is a big boost to biodiversity off northeastern Newfoundland, Broad said. The team is now planning a return trip, where they hope to use environmental DNA sampling to understand which types of creatures make their home in the coral garden.
鈥淭his is collecting a water sample, and then using a series of techniques to preserve that sample and then to analyze it,鈥� said Jonathan Fisher, who leads the Marine Conservation Areas project at Marine Institute. 鈥淚dentify the specific DNA strands that are in there and compare that to a database.鈥�
The group made the find onboard the MV Polar Prince, a former Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker which is now partially owned by the Miawpukek First Nation in Newfoundland.
The boat is used for research and training missions, and over the summer, a group of students from the First Nation鈥檚 cadet program were on board during the BathyCam deployment.
鈥淔or this to all come together in one spot, and to find this spectacular location and spectacular images that were collected in Funk Island Deep, just couldn鈥檛 be better.鈥�
