The Atlantis Bank is home to a remarkable undersea treasure - not only does it host a huge variety of marine life today, it also contains the fossilized remnants of a 11 million year old beach. Eons ago, a tectonic island popped up out of the sea and was colonized by clams, snails, sea urchins, and other marine creatures before subsiding once again beneath the ocean's surface. Today it lies about 700 meters below sea level, but still contains the pebbles and sand that once glistened in a prehistoric sun. A trove of information for modern geologists studying ultraslow-spreading ridges, the flat-toped bank is covered in sand and solitary corals. It provides habitat for lobsters, crabs, sharks, sea fans, sponges, and other marine life; it's coral gardens host anemones, sea spiders, and octocorals. For these reasons and more, the Bank was named as a Hope Spot by Mission Blue.
Unfortunately, the Bank has been subject to damage from fishing, evidenced by trawling scars located on landslide areas on the north western side of the seamount. As a first step, it was declared a Benthic Protection Area (BPA) by the Southern Indian Ocean Deep-Sea Fisheries Association (SIODFA). Dr. Alex Rogers has proposed that the area be named an Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Area under the Convention for Biological Diversity, but more protection is needed to ensure that these deep sea ecosystems are protected from destructive activity.
