Ended one twenty-year study supported by NOAA coral deep environment of the Hawaiian archipelago, in the so-called twilight zone or mesofotica (see the picture below), which in that stretch of sea is between 50 and 90 meters deep .
The study, conducted over the years with different technologies, from mini submersible marine
drones, by the depth cameras to recorders, and with the use of advanced diving techniques, has allowed to document coral and algae communities that stretch for tens of square kilometers, in addition to many unique species of that habitat.
"It is one of the largest studies of its kind," said Richard Pyle, a researcher at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum (Hawaii) and lead author of the publication. "It involved scientists from many disciplines, from various state and private institutions, who have worked together in the archipelago."
BIODIVERSITY RESERVOIR. Objective of the study was a habitat characterization work of the coral reef of mesofotica area: this sea of variable amplitude range, which can be between 30 and 150 meters deep, it is the least studied among ecosystems, because it is located lower than where you typically push the divers and the higher of the marine territories explored with means and submarines technologies.
Among the species of fish documented, 43 percent is endemic reef of that band, that is unique: more than twice as unique species surveyed above mesofotica area.
At the northern end of the archipelago, in the marine park Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (360,000 kilometers square), almost all the surveyed species are unique: it is the highest concentration of endemic species than any other marine ecosystem on Earth.
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