WEBVTT

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Today we have a very exciting dive for you folks.

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Bottom depth is 530 meters.

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These Lophelia reefs are very much similar to shallow water reefs.

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Shallow water coral reefs are considered the rain forests of the sea because of the diversity that they have, the abundance they have.

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In deep water, these have a very similar function. These are extremely rich and abundant communities.

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And understanding where they are has a lot of implications for management and conservation.

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The Lophelia, the white coral, may have been dated to around 1,000 years with actually individual reefs being tens of thousands of years.

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These are really long lived and slow-growing species.

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We're seeing a lot more dead Lophelia here than live Lophelia.

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Do you think that that maybe represents an event in the past or just natural succession?

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These corals are suspension feeders,

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and you'll see the little-colored living parts are growing on top and over the brown-colored dead parts.

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Basically, the colonies of Lophelia, they outgrow themselves.

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The live parts will always be on top and the dead parts are indications of lots of live growth in the past.