New Deep Barrier Reef

A hotspot of ocean life has been discovered off the southernmost tip of mainland Australia, hiding on the sea floor hundreds of feet below the surface. Located within Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park in Victoria, the beauty and biodiversity of this place is so extreme it reportedly rivals the world-famous Great Barrier Reef.

The park is only about a two-hour drive from Melbourne, a city of 4 million people, yet the ecological bounty of its seabed has remained mostly unknown until now. After previous research mapped out the park's sea floor in detail, researchers made the new discovery by sending down a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to explore its marine life between 100 and 330 feet (30 to 100 meters) deep.

"The maps identified some amazing underwater structures very deep beneath the ocean, but we did not know what sort of marine life was there," Parks Victoria marine science manager Steffan Howe says in a press release about the discovery. "These latest expeditions used cutting-edge technology including underwater video cameras and a robotic vehicle to record the spectacular marine life found in many of the deeper areas of the park for the first time."