September 11, 2021: Coral Garden
Image courtesy of the National Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Download larger version (jpg, 2.2 MB).
A deep-sea coral garden in Madison-Swanson Marine Reserve off the west coast of Florida, protected in 2000. Part of the mission of the Southeast Deep Coral Initiative: Exploring Deep-Sea Coral Ecosystems off the Southeast U.S. expedition was to survey the seafloor to document where corals are found within areas currently considered for habitat protection in the Gulf of Mexico, to help inform management decisions in the Gulf.
From: Deep-sea Conservation in U.S. Waters.