March 14, 2021: Stony Coral
Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2019 Southeastern U.S. Deep-sea Exploration. Download larger version (jpg, 941 KB).
Several squat lobsters and at least one gastropod were seen making homes within the branches of this scleractinian, or stony, coral. Imaged on the second dive of the 2019 Southeastern U.S. Deep-sea Exploration expedition, while exploring a ridge topped with a series of mounds that may mark the eastern extent of the “Million Mounds” area on the edge of the Stetson Miami Terrace Deep Water Coral Habitat Area of Particular Concern.