Lophelia II 2009: Viosca Knoll 906 $
Viosca Knoll 906 is home to a Leiopathes black coral community. The number '906' identifies the oil and gas lease block that encompasses area. Black corals can be incredibly long lived. Living colonies are white, salmon, or orange. Only the skeleton is black. The branches are habitat for fishes and crustaceans. Barrelfish were one type of commercial fish that was present in the area. Geneticists aboard Lophelia II will decode the black coral DNA to determine whether we see one species or many.
Video courtesy Lophelia II 2009: Reefs, Rigs, and Wrecks Expedition, sponsored by Minerals Management Service and NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration and Research. Music is "Frost Waltz (alt)" by Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com Walk(alt)