Prof. Dr. Les Watling, Hawaii
Info
Very special thanks for the first photo of Paragorgia johnsoni to Prof. Dr. Les Watling, Hawaiii.
The photo was taken during a deep-sea-exploration of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration/URI-IFE on the Manning Seamount in the Atlantic Ocean, far away from the coast of Massachusetts, USA.
Since no sunlight can penetrate into these enormous and cold depths, these corals must have specialized in catching plankton to gain the necessary life energy.
Paragorgia johnsoni achieves this through a very large, fan-net-like surface structure.
Deep sea corals often feed on a continuously sinking marine snow.
The photo was taken during a deep-sea-exploration of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration/URI-IFE on the Manning Seamount in the Atlantic Ocean, far away from the coast of Massachusetts, USA.
Since no sunlight can penetrate into these enormous and cold depths, these corals must have specialized in catching plankton to gain the necessary life energy.
Paragorgia johnsoni achieves this through a very large, fan-net-like surface structure.
Deep sea corals often feed on a continuously sinking marine snow.
