Publications

Using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and towed camera system (TCS), deep-sea corals, sponges, and seafloor habitats were visually surveyed for the first time in areas of longtime trawl fishing off northern California. During an 11-day cruise aboard the R/V Point Sur 8-18 September 2014, researchers completed 6 dives with the AUV and 9 deployments of the TCS, and spent over 42 hours underwater at depths of 586-1169 meters from the Oregon-California border to the Mendocino Ridge.

Parasitism; Pioneer settlement; Climax community; Recruitment; Host-limited

The Hawaiian gold coral is a parasitic zoantharian that colonizes other deep corals and secretes a protein skeleton that over millennia can grow and more than double the original mean size of the host colony. Surveys at six known coral beds in the Hawaiian Archipelago found mature gold coral to be a common taxon and dominant at the geologically older sites.

Benthos, Deep-sea Animals, Deep-sea Fishes, Deep Sea Corals, Equipment And Supplies, Habitat, Marine Biology, Observations, Oceanography, Research, Sponges, Underwater Exploration, Underwater Photography

Octocoral, Gorgonian, Gulf of Mexico, Mesophotic zone, Oil spill, Health assessment

Hard-bottom mesophotic reefs along the 40- fathom (73 m) shelf edge in the northern Gulf of Mexico were investigated for potential effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill from the Macondo well in April 2010.

Conservation, Coral Reef Conservation, Coral Reef Ecology, Coral Reef Management, Coral Reefs And Islands, International Cooperation, Marine Ecosystem Management, Research

This report describes the 2014 and 2015 research activities partially or fully funded by the Program to meet NOAA s mandate to identify, study, and monitor deep-sea coral areas.

absolute age, alkaline earth metals, Ar/Ar, basalts, Cenozoic, Emperor Seamounts, Eocene, geochemistry, hafnium, Hawaiian Ridge, Hf-177/Hf-176, igneous, rocks, isotope, ratios, K/Ar, large igneous provinces, lava, lead, magmas, major elements, mantle, metals, Nd-144/Nd-143, neodymium, Pacific Ocean, Paleogene, Pb-206/Pb-204, Pb-207/Pb-204, Pb-208/Pb-204, petrology, radioactive isotopes, rare earths, Sr-87/Sr-86, stable isotopes, strontium, submarine volcanoes, Tertiary, trace elements, volcanic rocks, volcanism, volcanoes

The Northwest Hawaiian Ridge is a classic example of a large igneous province. The morphology and geology of the ridge is poorly characterized, although it constitutes the longest segment (~47%) of the Hawaiian-Emperor Chain. Here we present a new bathymetric compilation, petrographic and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) data for lavas from 12 volcanoes along the Northwest Hawaiian Ridge, and review literature data for the age and isotopic variation of the ridge. 

Eastern Bering Sea slope; canyons; habitat; fish; coral; sponge

Some of the largest submarine canyons in the world incise the eastern Bering Sea shelf break. Here, we examine whether 5 large canyons (Bering, Pribilof, Zhemchug, Pervenets and Navarin) are faunally distinct features within the eastern Bering Sea.

In the Aleutian Islands, patterns of distribution and abundance of Pacific ocean perch (Sebastes alutus) are influenced by oceanographic processes and biogenic structures. We used generalized additive modeling (GAM) to examine relationships between these predictors and patterns of settled juvenile and adult distribution and abundance from bottom trawl surveys conducted from 1997 through 2010.

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cold-water corals; deep-sea; Eastern Pacific; reproduction; fecundity; octocoral; Swiftia

This study examined the reproductive ecology of eight Eastern Pacific deep-sea octocorals, collected from Washington to Southern California. The sexuality, reproductive mode, oocyte size, and fecundity of each species were identified using histological techniques.

Hawaii; black coral; taxonomy

The shallow-water (<150 m) antipatharian fauna of the Hawaiian Archipelago is described and illustrated based on a systematic examination of skeletal spine morphology, polyp morphology, colony branching pattern and in situ photographs.