Colorful Coral Gardens of Micronesia

Our Corps of Exploration explored this beautiful coral garden with dozens of species at the summit of a dive on Unnamed FSM Seamount 4 in the Federated States of Micronesia’s EEZ during the NA180 expedition. Check out the yellow, fan-shaped Plexaurid coral, home to associates such as squat lobsters, serpent stars, and brittle stars. In this mini-community you’ll also see an adorable five-armed porcellanasterid sea star, a tall shrubby bottlebrush Chrysogorgia soft coral, and even a "dreamy"-looking white-tipped corallimorph.

This perch atop this deep-sea seamount makes an ideal home for these many corals to catch prey from passing currents. Corals are made up of thousands of individual polyps that spread open their tentacles to catch food on the currents and pull them closed. Take a close look at both in this video! Coral structures provide habitat for any number of deep-sea creatures to climb aboard and capture their own marine snow meal. This area presented a number of yellow and golden corals that scientists think may be new species!

Ocean Exploration Trust's Deep-Sea Habitats in the Mariana Islands I & II (NA179 & NA180) expeditions are primarily supported by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, with additional support from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for AUV Sentry’s participation. These dives were conducted under a scientific permit from the National Oceanic Resource Management Authority of the Federated States of Micronesia.