Bamboo Hunting
I know, it's an older video, but I don't ever get tired of seeing deep sea corals, sue me!
This is the video of a new species of Isidella bamboo coral, Isidella tentaculum (thank Peter!), filmed by the Alvin submersible on Gulf of Alaska Seamount peaks 700-1200 m deep in the Northeast Pacific 2004.
Corals are most definitely among the absolutely most fascinating creatures I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in landlocked Arkansas, I never really had the pleasure of observing marine life of any sort. Now whenever I see an aquarium - even if I'm on a date with my wife at an amazing Thai restaurant - I find myself entranced in the aquarium.
I bring up the aquarium because at this particular Thai restaurant in Durham, NC, they have an amazing little salt water tank with an apparently thriving ecosystem with all sorts of different coral species. I was stunned that one could keep such a high diversity miniature ecosystem in such a tiny space. I ended up staring at the tiny pink undulating coral tips the entire time.
You should have seen us at in Florida. I was down there to help get a cruise get ready to go, looking for corals in the 1000m - 2000m range off the Bahamas. The science party all went out to dinner in Ft. Lauderdale and we ended up at a Thai restaurant that had two salt water tanks filled with apparently healthy octocorals. Makes an interesting conversation, as does of course the lunch menu from the joint on the beach near the dock - lobster burger, conch salad, conch fritters... basically that places was fried and diced CITES to go.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you guys enjoying this video. The species name for the new bamboo is Isidella tentaculum, just to be, you know, more "specific".
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