'Unbelievable' Deep Coral Reef Discovered Off South Carolina Coast

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Scientists say they have made an "unbelievable" discovery off the South Carolina coast – an 85-mile-long coral reef deep beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.

A team of researchers were about 160 miles off the South Carolina coast studying deep-sea ridges and mounds discovered by divers earlier this summer when they learned that the mounds were covered in coral, NOAA reported.

Researcher Erik Cordes, a deep-sea ecologist and professor at Temple University, told the Huffington Post his "Deep Research" team suspected the mounds might be covered in coral but were surprised when they found "mountains of it."

"This is a huge feature," Cordes said. "It’s incredible that it stayed hidden off the U.S. East Coast for so long."

The discovery was made last week during a 14-day exhibition of the Atlantis, a research vessel based out of Woods Hole, Massachusetts. A pair of submersible dives from the ship confirmed the mounds, now known as the Richardson Ridge, were covered in coral.

The reef, located in complete darkness, is a half-mile below the surface.

Cordes told the Huffington Post the reef held an "unbelievable" ecosystem unlike anything he has ever seen before.

The coral reef's discovery came on the heels of another exhibition to the site by the Okeanos Explorer, a NOAA ship that mapped out the mounds in preparation for the submersible dives.

Cordes noted that the live Lophelia corals were growing atop the skeletons of other dead corals, leading him to speculate that the reef may be hundreds of thousands of years old.

NOAA notes the discovery is just the beginning of ongoing research that will keep the team members "busy for months, and even years, to come."