The Secret Garden of the Deep
Deep Sea Coral Reefs represent areas of astounding biodiversity. Lush cold water coral and sponge gardens thrive in the icy waters. An expanse of colourful coral structures blooming out of the sea floor, providing important habitats for deep-dwelling life. And yet, they are one of the most poorly understood of all deep sea ecosystems. Much like in shallow reefs, deep-sea corals are made up of colonies of coral polyps, working together to survive. They form when a polyp attaches itself to a rock, and divides into thousands of clones through the process of budding. The polyps then secrete a protective limestone skeleton called a calicle, which creates the coral structure.
What’s unique about the corals of the deep, however, is their resilience to the extremities. As they are not dependent on warm water, they can thrive in waters that are as cold as -1 degrees Celsius, and in all the ocean’s basins, forming havens of life amidst vast canyons, on continental shelves and slopes, and on towering ocean seamounts. Unlike tropical reefs, they live from 150 feet to more than 10,000 feet below sea level, where sunlight is dim to nonexistent. So, instead of obtaining energy or nutrients from sunlight, they live off the dead, and gather all they need by catching organic material called marine snow that drifts past on the currents. But leftovers from the shallows are not enough on their own. Here, the corals also eat microorganisms, such as krill and plankton, ensnaring them with their branching, feathered, fan-shaped structures.
Natural World Facts
Welcome to Natural World Facts. I'm Leo, a Marine Biology undergraduate student with a passion for the natural world, a fascination with the deep sea, and a dream of working in the field of science-communication. This channel began as a passion project when I was 8 years old. Now, nearly 10 years later, I'm still releasing fortnightly videos documenting a number of natural history topics, and I invite you to join me on my journey to discover all there is to know about our incredible planet. Be sure to subscribe to be notified when I release a new video, and most importantly, enjoy. I hope you learn something new
