A newly detailed seafloor function shows a Brobdingnagian , never - before - witness underwater world swarm with nautical mile - gamy seamounts that are home to a hotspot of biodiversity , report Australia ’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization ( CSIRO ) .
A mountain range of underwater mountains , or volcanic seamount , was recorded 400 kilometers ( 250 miles ) east of the island of Tasmania during a 25 - day research voyage aboard theInvestigator , Australia ’s only aristocratic - water enquiry vas . The high of the seamounts protrude 3,000 m ( almost 10,000 feet ) up from the seafloor , but the tops of the peaks are still almost 2,000 meter ( 6,500 feet ) below the sea surface .
“ Our multibeam single-valued function has revealed in vibrant detail , for the first prison term , a mountain range of volcanic seamounts rising up from an abyssal unmistakable about 5000 m deep , ” said CSIRO researcher Tara Martin in astatement . " The seamounts motley in size and shape , with some having needlelike vizor while others have across-the-board flat plateau , sprinkle with small cone-shaped hills that would have been formed by ancient volcanic activeness . ”
Data pull in by the team show up spike heel of sea productiveness over the seamount clustering , likely cause by phytoplankton , floating exclusive - celled flora organism , and the nautical mammals that feed off them .
“ This is a very diverse landscape painting and will doubtlessly be a biological hotspot that supports a dazzling array of marine liveliness , ” said Martin .
Fellow researcher Eric Woehler said he was “ astonished ” by the number of maritime mammals and seafowl commemorate over the line of their research , which admit four species of millstone , four species of petrel , and dozens of whale .
“ While we were over the Sir Ernst Boris Chain of seamount , the ship was visited by bombastic telephone number of humpback whale and long - finned pilot whales , ” say Eric Woehler of BirdLife Tasmania . “ We estimated that at least 28 individual hunchback whales visited us on one day , follow by a pod of 60 - 80 long - fin airplane pilot whales the next . ”
late researchsuggests whale and other migrant subaquatic animals may utilize seamounts for navigational purposes , and chromosome mapping such a potentially diverse area could serve to protect and negociate the region for endangered animals , as well as provide a cornerstone for succeeding research .
CSIRO is Australia ’s national science agency . operate theInvestigatoryear - round , the agency plans to give back subsequently this year for two more expeditions dedicated to pull together rock samples and capturing the underwater landscape with gamey - resolution cameras .
