Spectacular images reveal unique sea creatures and corals...

What’s Happening

Not gonna lie, Scientists discover underwater mountain ranges, golden towers of coral, and never-before-seen sea creatures.

Spectacular images reveal unique sea creatures and corals off Caribbean islands 5 hours ago Save Georgina Rannard Science reporter Save CEFAS The waters off the glittering coastlines of Britains Caribbean territories have long been a mystery. But now scientists on the first expedition beyond the islands shallows have found out an underwater mountain range, a massive “blue hole”, coral reefs apparently untouched and never-before-seen sea creatures. (yes, really)

Operating 24 hours a day for the last six weeks, researchers subjected cameras and other equipment to extreme water pressure, recording as deep as 6,000m (19,700ft).

The Details

To navigate the Cayman Islands, Anguilla and Turks and Caicos, they were forced to rely on decades-old maps with serious errors and whole areas missing. The UK Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) has d their footage and discoveries exclusively with BBC News.

Lawrence Eagling and the Blue Belt Programme An enope squid (Enoploteuthidae squid), dragonfish (Neonesthes), pelican eel (Eurypharynx pelecanoides) and barreleye (Opisthoproctus soleatus) The UK government s responsibility for protecting the islands nature and up to 90% of Britains unique species are found around these and other British Overseas Territories. Now scientists say the race is on to protect this “relatively pristine” environment from the threats of climate change and pollution.

Why This Matters

“This is the first step into environments people have never seen, and in some cases didnt know existed,” says Prof James Bell, leading the expedition on the British research ship RSS James Cook with scientists from the three islands. “Just yesterday we found a kind of type of swimming sea cucumber, and we still dont know what it is,” he added, calling the diversity hes seen “fr, fr astonishing”.

This could have implications for future research in this area.

The Bottom Line

This story is still developing, and we’ll keep you updated as more info drops.

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