A coral reef with flourishing marine life has been discovered off Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands.

A scientific expedition traced the 1.2-mile-long (2km) reef to the top of an underwater mountain formed by volcanic activity – 400m (1,300ft) deep.

Ecuador’s environment minister, Jose Davalos, said the exploration team “found the first totally pristine coral reef… on the summit of a submarine mountain”.

The previously unknown underwater colony comes as a surprise to scientists, who believed only one reef existed in the volcanic archipelago – Wellington – along the coast of the tiny Darwin Island.

Reefs in the area were severely degraded during El Nino weather in 1982-83 when the ocean surface warmed to devastating levels.

However, the newly discovered reef survived the event and has more than 50% living coral.

Mr Davalos tweeted: “Galapagos surprises us again.”

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Senior marine researcher at the Charles Darwin Foundation and expedition participant, Stuart Banks, said: “This is very important at a global level because many deepwater systems are degraded.”

He added the coral dated back several thousand years.

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Ecuador expanded the Galapagos marine reserve by more than 20,000 square miles last year to protect endangered migratory species between the archipelago and Cocos Island in Costa Rica.

Many endangered animals live on the islands including giant tortoises, albatrosses and cormorants.

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