Argentine Deep-Sea Discovery: Vatican-Sized Coral Reef Upends Our View of Life Beneath
A Schmidt Ocean Institute expedition to Argentina's deep sea unexpectedly found a colossal Bathelia candida coral reef—nearly the size of Vatican City—hosting abundant life and 28 candidate new species, along with a rare deep-sea whale fall and the phantom jellyfish Stygiomedusa gigantea, while dives also logged garbage and a near-pristine VHS tape, underscoring how much remains unknown and vulnerable beneath the waves.
