Corals in the deep ocean
In the International Year of the Reef in Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Diva Amon brings us the corals of the deep. Dr Amon is a deep-sea biologist who has explored the deep ocean in Antarctica, the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Caribbean. Her research focuses on what lives in our world’s deep ocean and how we are impacting life down there. You can find out more @divaamon on Twitter and her website https://divaamon.com/ Did you know that most species of coral are actually found in waters so deep that sunlight cannot reach them? Yes, that’s right, contrary to what most of us have been taught, the majority of corals do not live in tropical waters surrounded by colourful fish and bathed in sunlight. In fact, most are found in waters deeper than 50 metres around the world, even in our frigid polar seas. Deepwater corals include many of the same groups seen on shallow reefs, such as stony branching corals, cup corals, octocorals and black corals. There are already over 3000 species know...