White soft coral with purple polyp tips on the ocean floor surrounded by marine organisms.
Purple Soft Corals
Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2025 Beyond the Blue. Download larger version (jpg, 1.15 MB).
The summit of the seamount explored during Dive 11 of the Papahānaumokuākea ROV and Mapping expedition was carpeted with small, unidentified purple soft corals (family Nidaliidae) This image, taken at a depth of 414 meters (1,358 feet), shows a close up of one of these corals. A sample of the coral was collected for further analysis.