Today we have a very exciting dive for you folks.
Bottom depth is 530 meters.
These Lophelia reefs are very much similar to shallow water reefs.
Shallow water coral reefs are considered the rain forests of the sea because of the diversity that they have, the abundance they have.
In deep water, these have a very similar function. These are extremely rich and abundant communities.
And understanding where they are has a lot of implications for management and conservation.
The Lophelia, the white coral, may have been dated to around 1,000 years with actually individual reefs being tens of thousands of years.
These are really long lived and slow-growing species.
We're seeing a lot more dead Lophelia here than live Lophelia.
Do you think that that maybe represents an event in the past or just natural succession?
These corals are suspension feeders,
and you'll see the little-colored living parts are growing on top and over the brown-colored dead parts.
Basically, the colonies of Lophelia, they outgrow themselves.
The live parts will always be on top and the dead parts are indications of lots of live growth in the past.