Hundreds of unilateral rays are usually gathered in Gorringe Seamount

A30 hours on the stormy sea on the Portuguese navy, we finally arrived at our destination in the middle of the ocean. Here, 124 miles or so off the coast of Lisbon, the longest mountain is located in Western Europe, only underwater: The Goringe Seamount. I have traveled there with an international team of scientists who, for weeks,, a pigeon of four -ranging sailboats to deep blue. They traveled to Seamount to study a prosperous ecosystem and create creatures that make their home there.

The Gorringe Seamount top is only 100 feet from the ocean surface, but its base is more than 16,000 feet. He was first appointed in 1875 by Captain Henry Hony Chorech Goring. Since habitats that extend from lush sea forests to coral ecosystems in cold waters and sponge beds in the depths of the seas, Goringe Seamount is a hot point of biological diversity, home to the original species of both Atlantic and Mediterranean. Sea turtles and dolphins move to the roof water, and fish schools are attached to it, such as living sweets.

One afternoon, the divers discovered amazing: hundreds of marble electric rays tucked in corners and Curling in the seamount rock. The most surprising, all the rays of females and most of them are pregnant, swelling of the abdomen with puppies, which usually extends their flat shapes. Unlike most fish, the egg beam does not lay; Instead, carry its youngsters until it is completely formed. This was the largest concentration of the electrical rays that scientists have ever faced, as the marine scientist and expert told me a Barina diver.

Usually, the rays are unilateral creatures. They are often found on their own on the sea bottom or hiding in sandy or muddy areas on the ocean floor. They tend to be predators, and they depend on their electrical shock to varying prey, such as fish or crustaceans. Although they can sometimes be found in small groups in areas with abundant foods, they generally do not form groups outside the feeding areas. Although the rays tend to create specific causes of birth, It was not known to pregnant mothers in the gathering there in large numbers.

It was the largest concentration of the electric rays that scientists have ever faced.

While they were explaining the relative abundance of pregnant rays in Seamount, scientists noticed a worrying absence of sharks and predators of radiology. They say overfishing is the perpetrator. According to fishing records in the depths of the seventies from the 1970s and 1980s, the area was thick with sharks, but today, estimated 70 percent of the tuna hunting from Portugal coast actually consists of sharks.

“The lack of sharks from investigative studies indicates the presence of an influential ecosystem where the highest predators are systematically removed systematically by artificial fish fisheries,” says Emmanuel Gunsalvis, the chief scientist in this campaign, organized by the Portuguese Foundation. But the abundance of rays is also an optimistic sign, he says, which indicates that fishing methods that affect the analgesic marine life on the bottom do not work near Seamout.

It is still a mystery of why a lot of mature and pregnant rays are gathered in Goring. Gunsalvis says that the other scientists are studying their movements and behaviors, and they collect notes in the hope that they can break the symbol. Understanding the presence of rays in gorringe can help them protect both creatures and seamout.

“Guring is a place worth protecting for current and future generations,” says Gonelsvis. “It contains one of the most underwater water environments in the entire North Atlantic and has just began to reveal its secrets.”

The leading photo: Jesus Cobalida / Chokestock

• Affiri Shueller Nun

  Spread on March 21, 2025

  Avery Schuyler Nunn is a California -based scientific stories narrators. I have contributed to words and photographs National Geographic Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, Popular Sciences, Grist, Whabone Magazine, and StagnantAmong other publications.

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