Porcupine Bank is an area of the Irish shelf, on the fringes of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

approximately west of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. The relatively raised area of seabed, 200 m below sea level at its highest, lies between the deep-water Porcupine Seabight and

Rockall Trough The Rockall Trough ( gd, Clais Sgeir Rocail) is a deep-water bathymetric feature to the northwest of Scotland and Ireland, running roughly from southwest to northeast, flanked on the north by the Rockall Plateau and to the south by the Porc ...

. The name comes from the bank's discovery in 1862 by HMS ''Porcupine'', a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

sail and paddle-wheel ship used mainly for surveying. The northern and western slopes of the bank feature species of cold-water corals. According to Dr. Anthony Grehan of the

National University of Ireland, Galway The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...

, the virtually untouched site could benefit dwindling fish stocks and possibly aid medical research. In an 1870 paper presented to the Geological Society of Ireland, Mr W Fraser suggested that these reefs mark the site of the sunken island of Hy-Brasil.

References

Undersea banks of the Atlantic Ocean {{marine-geo-stub