One of the goals of the Gulf of Mexico 2017 expedition was to search for corals in deep waters of the Gulf, as these corals provide habitat for a diversity of organisms such as sponges, shrimp, worms, and more. During the expedition, the team documented at least nine high-density and high-diversity coral and sponge communities. By locating deep-sea coral communities, scientists are in a better position to understand and thus manage marine resources in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Video courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, Gulf of Mexico 2018.