WEBVTT 00:00:00.563 --> 00:00:06.883 We are today diving on a uh eastern peak area, an eastern 00:00:06.883 --> 00:00:11.203 rich Caloosahatchee Seamount, an area called Vero Peak. Oh, 00:00:11.203 --> 00:00:13.903 and here we see a sea star wrapped around one of these 00:00:13.903 --> 00:00:18.043 primnoid whip corals. These are Calyptophora. So these sea 00:00:18.043 --> 00:00:21.643 stars are predators of these deep sea corals and so they can 00:00:21.643 --> 00:00:25.243 actually strip the polyps. This sea star really has a very good 00:00:25.243 --> 00:00:28.783 grip on this very thin coral. It's kind of amazing when you 00:00:28.783 --> 00:00:33.963 think that that thin coral can hold up the sea star. If you 00:00:33.963 --> 00:00:35.703 actually look at the coral right next to it, you can see 00:00:35.703 --> 00:00:37.983 it's kind of got this fuzzy texture and those are all the 00:00:37.983 --> 00:00:40.983 polyps that are open but the one the sea star is on is not 00:00:40.983 --> 00:00:45.383 very happy about it being there. They're all closed up.