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A late expedition to an disjunct archipelago in the eye of the Indian Ocean came back with footage of thriving sea lifetime swarming the slope of a newfound seafloor mass .
telecasting captured by baited cameras revealed a rich underwater community ofhammerhead sharks , silvertip sharks , large groupers , rays and a variety of other fish near the Chagos Archipelago , a drawstring of 55 island designated as a marine protected area by the British government in 2010 .
A silvertip shark lingers near a baited video camera on a seamount near the Chagos Archipelago.
Some have express concern over the newly established protections , because it appears they may be interfere with the sweat of local people to give back to islands from which they were evicted in the mid-20th century . However , many have heralded the creation of the vast marine reserve .
Much of the belly laugh of undersea life was congregated around aseafloor mountain , or seamount , a dramatic feature more than a mile in diameter that rises far above the sea floor . Finding these geological features , which ply welcome habitat for sea wight in the open ocean , is a huge challenge .
" There was a serious ' aha ' moment , " suppose Jessica Meeuwig , a prof at the University of Western Australia . Meeuwig , along with fellow from the Zoological Society of London and Warwick University , were exploring an area that is poorly documented .
A silvertip shark lingers near a baited video camera on a seamount near the Chagos Archipelago.
The first spot they visited — an field chart suggest it was home to a seamount — proved a disappointment . There was nothing there .
" Then , in crisscrossing the next location , sure enough — a seamount came rising out of the depths , " Meeuwig told OurAmazingPlanet in an electronic mail .
Although Meeuwig qualify the find as more of a substantiation of the seamount ’s existence , rather than an outright discovery , she say it was unbelievably exciting all the same . Because seamounts pull such alarge change of sea lifetime , they are often the mark of large - scale fishing mathematical process . This seamount come along to be untouched by trawlers .
Meeuwig say she was surprise by the sheer diversity and abundance of the sea life story subsist near it , and by the large size of it of the animal themselves . " Such big fish , " she say .
The squad dubbed the seamount Sandes Seamount in accolade of Neil Sandes , captain of their inquiry watercraft , who took great pains to explore the region in intimate detail .
" ocean are really heavy to study because we ca n’t see easily below the urine ’s open , " Meeuwig said . " So make out to pinpoint a proverbial needle in the hayrick and documenting its marine biodiversity was very cool . "
