International marine protection organisation, Oceana, has launched an interactive viewer of the Gorringe Bank, a group of seamounts south-west of Portugal.
The display is available in Google Earth and features nearly 50 photographs taken by a submarine robot (ROV), obtained at 500 metres.
The Gorringe Bank is unique because of its biodiversity, it is teeming with species native to the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
“This is one of the underwater jewels of Portugal and of all the North-East Atlantic, although it is barely known to the general public. With these images we aim to support the steps that the Portugese government is taking for its conservation,” said Ricardo Aguilar, director of research, Oceana, Europe.
Online videos detail the behaviour of the deepwater spider crab carrying a piece of sponge and a conger and moray eel sharing a cave. There are also plenty of pictures of vulnerable marine ecosystems, such as those formed by sponges.
The creation of the interactive map was made possible by reviewing footage of over 60 hours of recordings from Oceana expeditions, sometimes with support from scientists at the University of the Algarve.
More than 350 species have been identified in the area so far.
