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October 23, 2021: Bamboo Coral

We observed a sea star feeding on this large colony of bamboo coral. In this image, you can clearly see where the tissue has been stripped away, leaving just the skeleton, which is indeed very “bamboo-like” in its appearance.

Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, Mountains in the Deep: Exploring the Central Pacific Basin. Download larger version (jpg, 809 KB).

We observed a sea star feeding on this large colony of bamboo coral. In this image, you can clearly see where the tissue has been stripped away, leaving just the skeleton, which is indeed very “bamboo-like” in its appearance. Seen during the Mountains in the Deep: Exploring the Central Pacific Basin expedition while exploring a conical feature along the eastern slope of Kingman Reef at a depth of approximately 1,025 meters (3,370 feet).