WEBVTT

1
00:00:02.611 --> 00:00:07.191
The ocean covers more than 70%
of the surface of our planet

2
00:00:07.191 --> 00:00:13.431
and ocean habitats are as
diverse as they are vast. You

3
00:00:13.431 --> 00:00:16.791
may be familiar with shallow
coral reefs that grow in warm

4
00:00:16.791 --> 00:00:22.231
tropical waters. But did you
know that there are coral reefs

5
00:00:22.231 --> 00:00:26.471
in the deep sea as well? Down
at the bottom of the ocean

6
00:00:26.471 --> 00:00:30.711
floor where it's very cold and
very dark, deep-sea corals

7
00:00:30.711 --> 00:00:33.431
thrive.

8
00:00:34.651 --> 00:00:39.751
Deep sea corals need certain
conditions to flourish. They

9
00:00:39.751 --> 00:00:43.431
need the right temperatures,
the right oxygen levels, and

10
00:00:43.431 --> 00:00:48.611
steady current flows that
transport their food supply.

11
00:00:48.611 --> 00:00:52.531
One area of deep sea corals is
found about 100 miles off the

12
00:00:52.531 --> 00:00:57.371
coast of Georgia and Florida.
Scientists call it the Million

13
00:00:57.371 --> 00:01:02.571
Mounds coral region. Over the
years, NOAA Ocean Exploration

14
00:01:02.571 --> 00:01:06.651
has sent several expeditions to
map the Million Mounds coral

15
00:01:06.651 --> 00:01:10.651
region with sonars and to explore
it with remotely operated

16
00:01:10.651 --> 00:01:14.811
vehicles. The Million Mounds
Region or what we're calling

17
00:01:14.811 --> 00:01:19.371
that is kind of a nickname is
basically what we think is the

18
00:01:19.371 --> 00:01:23.291
largest continuous deep sea
coral ecosystem discovered thus

19
00:01:23.291 --> 00:01:27.531
far on earth. We're talking
about an about 7 million acres

20
00:01:27.531 --> 00:01:32.411
in size of these these mounds
and if you could drain the

21
00:01:32.411 --> 00:01:34.491
oceans and kind of picture what
they look like we're talking

22
00:01:34.491 --> 00:01:37.851
about these very large mound
features they can be anywhere

23
00:01:37.851 --> 00:01:43.211
from about 30 feet tall to on
the order of 300 feet tall and

24
00:01:43.211 --> 00:01:47.131
they they tend to be in either
long lines with each other or

25
00:01:47.131 --> 00:01:51.851
just a series of mounds kind of
as far as you could see.

26
00:01:51.851 --> 00:01:56.311
So how did these deep-sea coral mounds
form? They're formed over thousands of

27
00:01:56.311 --> 00:01:59.671
years and they have these
corals that kind of grow in

28
00:01:59.671 --> 00:02:03.431
colonies and they have hard
skeletons and then when the

29
00:02:03.431 --> 00:02:05.991
organism dies, the skeleton
stays and the next generation

30
00:02:05.991 --> 00:02:09.191
grows on top of that and so
over time they get higher and

31
00:02:09.191 --> 00:02:14.971
taller. One particular type of
hard coral that is very good at

32
00:02:14.971 --> 00:02:19.931
making these mounds is Lophelia pertusa. Lophelia coral is

33
00:02:19.931 --> 00:02:23.611
often white in color when it's
alive and healthy and brown in

34
00:02:23.611 --> 00:02:27.691
color when it's dead. Here you
can see the old coral

35
00:02:27.691 --> 00:02:33.291
underneath and the living coral
on top. The corals here sift

36
00:02:33.291 --> 00:02:36.971
food from the fast moving Gulf
Stream, an ocean current that

37
00:02:36.971 --> 00:02:40.811
flows through the Million
Mounds coral region.

38
00:02:40.811 --> 00:02:45.611
The Gulf Stream is a globally renowned
ocean current. It's actually a

39
00:02:45.611 --> 00:02:49.371
very warm water very strong
currents and a major

40
00:02:49.371 --> 00:02:54.251
transporter of both heat and
food through the North Atlantic

41
00:02:54.251 --> 00:02:58.731
Ocean. So what we see when we
look at the Gulf Stream, there's

42
00:02:58.731 --> 00:03:01.451
a very tight correlation where
you see the most dense coral

43
00:03:01.451 --> 00:03:04.651
mounds and the healthiest
mounds and where the Gulf

44
00:03:04.651 --> 00:03:08.951
Stream is strongest The Million
Mounds coral region is

45
00:03:08.951 --> 00:03:13.031
important because it provides
habitat protection and food for

46
00:03:13.031 --> 00:03:17.591
a variety of marine life. If
you look closely, there are all

47
00:03:17.591 --> 00:03:22.151
sorts of other organisms that
call this mounds their home.

48
00:03:22.151 --> 00:03:25.431
The rubble although it kind of
looks dead is actually full of

49
00:03:25.431 --> 00:03:30.631
really high diversity fauna.
Yeah, it's huge habitat for many

50
00:03:30.631 --> 00:03:34.951
species of animals. The coral
mounds influence the

51
00:03:34.951 --> 00:03:39.191
biodiversity of the sea floor
by basically providing habitat

52
00:03:39.191 --> 00:03:43.111
structure so a lot of things in
the deep sea that we observe,

53
00:03:43.111 --> 00:03:45.751
they they don't always have a
place to settle in soft

54
00:03:45.751 --> 00:03:47.991
sediment that's moving around.
They like to attach to

55
00:03:47.991 --> 00:03:51.191
something hard. So those coral
mounds provide a great habitat

56
00:03:51.191 --> 00:03:54.791
upon which other things can
grow and that's where we tend

57
00:03:54.791 --> 00:04:00.591
to see a lot of the the biology
that we're interested in. The

58
00:04:00.591 --> 00:04:03.871
Million Miles Coral Region
still has much to teach us

59
00:04:03.871 --> 00:04:08.031
about life in the deep sea.