SHOCKING: Great Barrier Reef is still alive; giant blue hole discovered

This is surely a rare discovery, especially, when the environmentalists have said that one of the natural wonders of the world was severely damaged by the climate change and there were no possibilities of saving it any more.

Great Barrier Reef
Bleached coral is photographed on Australia's Great Barrier Reef near Port Douglas, February 20, 2017 in this handout image from Greenpeace. Reuters

A recent report has revealed that experts have discovered an ancient hole in the Great Barrier Reef that could give some exciting information. In the recent past, several studies had showed that the world's largest coral reef system is severely damaged and is almost on the verge of dying. In fact, a leading environmentalist/writer Rowan Jacobsen also claimed that the reef in Australia passed away in 2016.

But, this latest discovery of marine biologist Johnny Gaskell can change the concept. Gaskell discovered a giant blue hole in the famous reef. When he dived 65 feet down into the hole, he found out stunning healthy coral colonies.

This is surely a rare discovery, especially, when the environmentalists have said that one of the natural wonders of the world was severely damaged by the climate change and there were no possibilities of saving it any more.

"This Blue Hole has previously been described by geologists who suggested it could be even older than the famous Great Blue Hole, in Belize," Gaskell wrote on his Instagram post. He also shared a photo of the blue hole.

"Its location is in one of the least explored parts Great Barrier Reef, over 200km from Daydream Island. To get there we had to travel overnight for 10 hours and time the tides perfectly... Was well worth it!"

"Inside the walls was similar to the site we explored a few weeks back, but this hole was deeper and almost perfectly circular. We dived down to just over 20m yesterday, before hitting bare sediment, that slowly sloped towards the centre. Again it was great to see big healthy coral colonies," he added.

Apart from Gaskell, fellow divers Joe Egan and Richard Poustie were also a part of this discovery. He spotted the deep blue hole on Google Map and then decided to explore the area.

"At around 15m - 20m deep there was huge Birdsnest Corals (Seriatopora) and super elongated Staghorn Corals (Acropora) both of which were among the biggest and most delicate colonies I've ever seen," he wrote in a post on Instagram.

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