The bamboo coral. This would be a new genius, if this is what I
think it is. These upright vertical branches don't have
sub branches. Instead, it'll be like a candelabra. They're all
coming off of kind of like the a base of a laterally extending
branch so to speak. The older they get, the more those
vertical branches they add on to the sides.
Alright, so there's the middle point. That looks like a triple
junction, doesn't it? Yes, it does. That's what I'm looking
for. Beautiful. Beautiful. This is it. We're going to be able
to look at this to learn something about the sclerites
which are the small calcium carbonate microscopic bits that
are embedded in the soft tissue that help create support. Those
are very widely used in the taxonomy of octacorals both for
naming the species and for identifying them later. This
exquisite video that we get from the explorer helps us with
that to some degree. Ultimately, you need to have it
under a microscope. We're still work at combining those two
elements together.