So we are coming up on a fairly large coral colony here with a number of associates.
Colonies like this essentially form ecosystems unto themselves, because they play host to
so many different other kinds of animals.
This coral for example, has become host to a large squat lobster in the center.
And to a feather star.
Some of these what we call associates, invertebrates that are living in association with a coral
or a sponge, have a preference to live in certain kinds of species of coral or certain
species of sponge.
And it suggests that the larvae of these animals are able to detect using chemicals in the
water that are given off by the coral.
So they can detect them, land on them, and then perhaps grow there.
Alternatively, as juveniles perhaps they're moving around the rock until they encounter
this colony and then they move up to it and stay with it.
This is one of the reasons why we find exploring these deep sea communities is valuable because
the animals themselves create habitat for other animals so it's kindof like birds living
in the branches of trees in the forest.
We've often seen a multitude of different animal phyla present on different glass sponges
at depth and we can see a perfect example of that here.
Even dead animals still provide habitat for any number of other organisms.
This, for example, is a fly trap anemone.
And these settle on these stalks in order to take advantage of the water current.
But then we even had associates on the associates.
You were talking about the scale worm, these pellically worms that were on the anemone,
that is not an unusual observation.
Would suggest that there may be a scale or species that is preferentially on these anemones.
You see that there is this tangled mass those are the arms of a brittle star, and those
arms are very highly coiled and this is a very very tight association.
Meaning this brittle star species we have only ever seen on these Metallogorgia corals.
Furthermore, we have never seen one of these corals without one of these brittle stars.
Even the very smallest ones that we can see already have a brittle star and the various
oldest ones.
One of the real big mysteries is how the larvae of that brittle star find the metallogorgia.
We never see them anywhere else.
It's a very tight association from a very young age.
And we think that these corals can live many decades along with those brittle stars.
This does have at least a pair of associates in there, these squat lobsters, chirostylidae.
The long genus is called uroptychus that characteristically lives with chrysogorgia.
However the species of this group is a totally a taxonomic mess.
Nobody knows for sure whether this is a already described species.
It has shown up in just about all of the pictures that we have seen where there has been a squat
lobster associate with the chrysogorgia.
So it seems like a obligous association.
But what the crab is we are just going to have to stay tuned.
We rarely see, as Scott mentioned, we rarely see these kind of styloids with these brittle
stars on the same coral here.
And I agree, I've never seen the crab interact with associate like that.
Pulling back, potentially nipping at it.
I could see that the counter styloid could give this associate some problems, and vice versa.
Just an original sort of interaction, that I'm seeing here.
There are certain species that become associates of corals and sponges.
And there are other species that don't.
There is a clear difference in the biology of these different species.
Ophiuroid and and all these other associates.
All these animals are looking for very specific habitats.
Which shows the importance when we find these corals and sponges growing on seamounts because
they have an enhancing effect on the diversity.