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Dec 4 2009 - 3:35pm
A large white coral (Corallium sp.) grows on the Balanus Seamount, part of the New England Seamount chain. Hanging on to the coral are stalkless crinoids and orange brittlestars (Opiacantha sp.) To the left are two vase sponges. This photo was taken on May 22, 2004, at a depth of 1,745 meters (5,...
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Jun 9 2011 - 9:30am
It's a new age of discovery for scientists studying deep-sea corals.
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Jul 27 2011 - 9:54am
Imagine you’re an alien seeing Planet Earth for the first time. What do you see from your spacecraft? A blue planet with over 70% of its surface covered by ocean. From space it’s obvious how important the ocean is to our planet. But we actually know very little about what lives at the bottom of the...
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Jun 7 2011 - 1:11pm
Searching for useful chemicals, marine scientists grow bacteria associated with deep-sea coral on nutrient agar to identify the bacteria and test their metabolic and biochemical capabilities. Some may be sources of potential medicines. Learn more about how ocean scientists study deep-sea corals in...
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Jan 2 2013 - 10:09am
This deep-sea black coral from Hawaii (Leiopathes sp.) is more than 4,200 years old.
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Jul 27 2011 - 10:49am
The branches of a primnoid coral in the genus Calyptrophora provide a habitat for galathaoid crabs. Learn more about the deep-sea coral reefs in our Deep-sea Corals article.
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May 4 2011 - 4:45pm
When he was 10 years old, Stephen Cairns lived in Cuba where he kept a collection of butterflies and sea shells. When his family moved to Louisiana, he could bring only one of the collections with him. He chose the shells. He says that is when he knew he was going to be a marine biologist.
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Oct 14 2010 - 11:33pm
Local crafters who contributed to the Smithsonian Community Reef proved that there is no limit to the colorful reef forms that can be created using hyperbolic crochet techniques. Their wildly imaginative pieces are on display alongside the main installation of the Institute For Figuring’s...
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Oct 24 2012 - 10:52am
Coral sand is aptly named: it's sand made up of tiny bits of coral and other ocean animals such as foraminifera, molluscs, and crustaceans. This picture -- at 100x magnification -- took 18th place in Nikon's 2012 Small World contest, which celebrates scientific photos taken under the microscope. It...
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Aug 2 2012 - 3:08pm
Close to the volcanic CO2 seeps the vast diversity of corals that exists in less-acidic waters is replaced by a "monoculture" of boulder corals that are less fragile and better suited to life in acidic water.
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Mar 20 2013 - 11:52am
Boring sponges get a bad rap. Their own name betrays them, announcing to the world that they are unexciting, ordinary and quite frankly, boring. However, if ever a misnomer existed, this is it.
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Jul 27 2011 - 11:07am
Dr.
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Nov 2 2012 - 11:06am
Dead man’s fingers (Alcyonium digitatum) are soft corals named for their appendage-like appearance when thrown ashore by storms. The finger-like clumps of coral polyps come in various shades of pink, orange, white, grey, or yellow and are found along the northern Atlantic coasts of Europe and North...
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Jun 7 2011 - 9:10am
Unlike the shallow tropical coral reef pictured on the top, the deep-sea Oculina reef at bottom does not require sunlight. Learn more in the article "Coral Gardens of the Deep Sea."
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Jul 27 2011 - 10:44am
Dr. Amy Baco-Taylor dives to deep-sea environments to study corals and the invertebrates that live in them.
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Aug 2 2012 - 3:34pm
Nestled among the beautiful coral reefs of Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a place that could provide the key to our understanding of one of the biggest threats to coral reef survival: Ocean Acidification. Here cool carbon dioxide naturally bubbles out of volcanic cracks in the shallow sea floor and...
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Jun 7 2011 - 11:18am
A rockfish finds refuge in a deep-sea coral—a red tree coral of the Primnoidae family in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Learn more about deep-sea coral reef ecosystems in our Deep-sea Corals article.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Shallow water coral reefs straddle the equator worldwide. The shallow coral reefs found in U.S. territorial waters are highlighted in purple in this map. More about coral reef ecosystems can be found in our Coral Reefs featured story.
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Jun 7 2011 - 1:18pm
See a few of the many species of deep-sea corals that have been discovered by scientists just since 2004. Learn about more deep-sea discoveries in our Deep-sea Corals article.
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Jun 7 2011 - 11:59am
A diversity of deep-sea corals—including primnoid coral (Narella sp.), black coral (Trissopathes pseudtristicha), and feather stars (Florometra serratissima)—flourish 2,669 m (8,757 ft) deep on the pristine Davidson Seamount off the coast of California. Explore more in the multimedia...
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Jun 7 2011 - 12:16pm
A thicket of white stony coral (Lophelia pertusa) shelters a squat lobster (Eumunida picta). This is the typical shape of this widespread species of deep-sea coral. See more pictures of coral in our Deep-sea Corals article.
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Jun 7 2011 - 12:32pm
This bubblegum coral (Paragorgia arborea) has a fanlike shape. It is growing 1,310 m (4,298 ft) deep on the Davidson Seamount southwest of Monterey, California. Learn more about deep-sea corals in the multimedia feature "Coral Gardens of the Deep Sea."
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Jun 7 2011 - 1:33pm
Discovered in 2004 and named in 2009, this Gersemia juliepackardae coral has been spotted and collected at several seamounts in the northeast Pacific Ocean at depths of 500-2,000 m (1,640-6,562 ft). Learn about more deep-sea discoveries in our Deep-sea Corals article.
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Jun 7 2011 - 9:14am
This map shows where some of the most significant species of deep-sea corals are located. Learn more about the distribution and ecology of deep ocean corals in the article "Coral Gardens of the Deep Sea."
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