**NOAA OCEAN EXPLORATION**

**RESEARCH EXPEDITION**

**FLORIDA COAST DEEP CORALS 2005**

**Unless otherwise indicated, all images are credited to Brooke et al.,
NOAA-OE, HBOI**

**All logs referred to below can be viewed on the NOAA Ocean Exploration
website:**

[**www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov**](http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/)

**Click on the "Florida Coast Deep Corals" exploration; the logs are
posted along the column on the right side**

**NOVEMBER 8, 2005 LOG:**

This should be a side-by-side or top-bottom arrangement of the two glass
sponge pictures)

Two views of a glass sponge in the class Hexactinellida.

This should be a side-by-side or top-bottom arrangement of the two red
coral pictures)

Two views of an *Anthomastus sp.* octocoral (the red coral). The thin
corals on the upper left are bamboo corals. Encrusting colonial
organisms are growing on dead coral in the center and right of the
image.

Dr. Jim Thomas believes this to be a new species of a commensal
amphipod. This 7-8 mm. long specimen was discovered inside a
Hexactinellid sponge.

**NOVEMBER 9, 2005 LOG:**

(Arrange the two Bamboo coral photos side by side)

This is the largest colony of white bamboo coral (*Keratoisis
flexibilis*) that Mr. Reed has seen to date. It measured approximately
4' wide and 3' tall. The close-up view shows the coral's extended
feeding polyps. This coral and other filter feeders orient so that they
are perpendicular to the current, positioning themselves to be in the
flow of food carried in the current.

The cup sponge *Hyalonema* *sp.* The cup sponge is a type of glass
sponge, with a stalk of long glass spicules supporting the "goblet"
head. Glass sponges are some of the oldest colonial animals (metazoans)
on Earth, arising after bacteria and single-celled organisms.

*Madrepora sp.* coral. Madrepora are one of the three dominant corals
which make up the deepwater reefs off Florida.

**NOVEMBER 10, 2005 LOG:**

The deep sea coral *Enallopsammia profunda*

A specimen of *Keratoisis* bamboo coral inside the collection box of the
*Johnson-Sea-Link* submersible, rising to the surface.

A feather star, also known as an unstalked crinoid.

**NOVEMBER 11, 2005 LOG:**

A rattail fish. Rattails (family Macrouridae) appear to have a
predictable association with *Lophelia* coral reefs.

The ocean sunfish *Mola mola* swimming over the top of a *Lophelia*
coral reef. Sunfish appear to have at least an ephemeral association
with *Lophelia* coral pinnacles, as they have been seen in these
locations numerous times by previous researchers.

A roughtail catshark, about 10 inches long. This is one of many
catsharks observed on the bottom at the foot of the *Lophelia* reef
pinnacle.

A codling, *Limonema spp.*, apparently an intimate associate of
*Lophelia* coral habitat.

**NOVEMBER 12, 2005 LOG:**

Primnoid octocorals among *Lophelia* at approximately 2500 ft in depth.

(Diverse corals) Cup corals interspersed among *Lophelia,* primnoid, and
*Madrepora* corals.

Close-up of the bamboo coral *Keratoisis flexibilis.* This coral
surprised us with its blue bioluminescence when we touched a sample in
the laboratory onboard ship. (see video clip)

Two different types of gorgonian corals rising to the surface in the
"bio-box" attached to the front of the *Johnson-Sea-Link* submersible.

**NOVEMBER 13, 2005 LOG:**

A hexactinellid sponge. Small juvenile amphipods enter the sponge and
become "captive" as they grow too large to escape from inside the
sponge's chambers.

A new species of commensal amphipod collected from *Paramuricea* coral.
The brown spots may be used to mimic the coral's polyps.

*Paramuricea* coral. The light orange color of this coral is matched by
the colors on its commensal amphipod in Figure 2 (image above).

The dorsal (top) view of a new amphipod living in a commensal
relationship with the bamboo coral *Keratoisis flexibilis* (link to Nov.
12 log Figure 3 and Bioluminescing Bamboo Coral video clip)

**NOVEMBER 16, 2005 LOG:**

(Miami sink map)

A map of Miami Sinkhole dive site and its location off Miami Beach,
Florida. Each line represents a 10 meter contour. The bathymetric
contour data was derived from the NOAA Coastal Data Model. Image
courtesy: Doug Weaver

A bird's eye view of Miami Sinkhole, produced from fathometer soundings
conducted prior to deployment of the submersible. This map was produced
from 950 individual data points and gaps between these points were
filled in, or interpreted, with GIS software. Image courtesy: Doug
Weaver

3-D oblique view of Figure 2, looking north-northwest. Vertical features
have been exaggerated 4 times their actual height to make them more
conspicuous. Image courtesy: Doug Weaver

**NOVEMBER 17, 2005 LOG:**

The sea as it looked from our starboard side on Monday and Tuesday,
sloshing over our deck and making submersible dives impossible.

**NOVEMBER 18, 2005 LOG:**

A single wreckfish on the left and a school of barrelfish swim onto the
crest of Miami Terrace.

There are four alfonsino fish in this picture. The color red disappears
quickly in the water column and so red-colored animals are virtually
invisible in deep water. Members of this genus (*Beryx)* typically
migrate from the seafloor into the water column to feed on mid-water
animals.

The smaller of the 2 sand tiger sharks we saw. This one was about 7'
long.

(place these 2 pictures side by side): The extraordinary size of this
wreckfish's belly leads us to speculate that it is a female full of
eggs.

On the subsequent submersible dive in this same area, a large school of
mackerel was observed.

**NOVEMBER 19, 2005 LOG:**

Slit Shell Snail Figure 1. The Midas Slit Shell. *Bayerotrochus midas*.
Crawling along the underside of an overhanding rim of a rock wall at a
depth of 1,400 ft. along the walls of Jordan Sinkhole, Portales Terrace,
off the Florida Keys.

Slit Shell Snail Figure 2. Adanson's Slit Shell, *Entemnotrochus
adansonianus*, near the top of Tennessee Bioherm 1, feeding on an
encrusting sponge.

Slit Shell Snail Figure 3. The Lovely Slit Shell, *Perotrochus amabilis*
inhabits a rubble strewn area between 850 and 700 ft. along Tennesee
Bioherm 1, a mound that extends from the sea bottom at a depth of 1,000
ft to within 550 ft of the sea surface.

Slit Shell Snail Figure 4. Two specimens of the Charleston Slit Shell,
*Perotrochus charlestonensis*, from the base of the Tennessee Bioherm 1.
This species was previously known only from the Charleston Bump, an area
due east of Charleston, South Carolina. The characteristic slit of this
group of snails is shown clearly here. This is a natural feature of the
shell that forms the anatomical midline of the snail's body.

**NOVEMBER 20, 2005 LOG/MISSION SUMMARY:**

Our *Johnson-Sea-Link* submersible dive sites during this expedition.

An example of the lushly diverse habitat explored during this expedition

A photo mosaic of live *Lophelia* coral observed during this expedition.

An orange *Lophelia* discovered during this expedition.

*Solenosmilia variabilis* coral. We believe this is the first record of
this coral in this region.