Free Republic

It may be the last place you'd expect to find corals -- up to 6,000 m (20,000 ft) below the ocean's surface, where the water is icy cold and the light dim or absent. Yet believe it or not, lush coral gardens thrive here. In fact, scientists have discovered nearly as many species of deep-sea corals (also known as cold-water corals) as shallow-water species... deep-sea corals don't need sunlight. They obtain the energy and nutrients they need to survive by trapping tiny organisms in passing currents... living even in waters as cold as -1ºC (30.2ºF)... occur in the waters of...

The exploration vessel Nautilus, with a team of experts of the University of Haifa’s Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, headed by Prof. Zvi Ben Avraham, discovered for the first time an area of reefs with deep-sea corals in the Mediterranean, offshore of Israel. This area apparently stretches over a few kilometers, 700 meters under the surface and some 30-40 km off the coast of Tel Aviv. According to the researchers, this southeastern region of the Mediterranean has only sparse sea life and therefore the discovery is in fact parallel to discovering an oasis in the middle of an...

The scientist mapped the newly discovered canyon on board Irish ship, RV Celtic Explorer, over two weeks. Led by Dr Aaron Lim of UCC’s School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES), used the Marine Institute’s Holland 1 Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) the team believes the new discovery will aid in understanding more about the transportation of carbon to the deep ocean. Lim told BreakingNews.ie “This is a vast submarine canyon system, with near-vertical 700m cliff in places and going as deep as 3000m.” He added, “So far from land, this canyon is a natural laboratory from which we feel...