Prof. Dr. Les Watling, Hawaii
Info
Very special thanks for his permission to use his great photos to Prof. Dr. Les Waitling, Hawaiii.
In the depths of our oceans, where no human being can reach without specially built and equipped underwater vehicles (ROV, AUV, UUV), there live animals that are in no way inferior in beauty and grace to their tropical cousins, but in constant darkness.
One of these species is Calyptrophora microdentata, a fan-shaped growing deep-sea coral, which specializes in catching the smallest zooplankton and marine snow.
On the numerous branches of the gorgonian there are thousands of polyps which are responsible for the catch of the
Calyptrophora microdentata has been found on a number of deep sea mountains (extinct underwater volcanoes) such as the Nashville Seamount, the Kelvin Seamount, and the Corner Rise Seamounts,belonging to the New England Seamounts.
Other finds come from the Caribbean, the depths of the Lesser Antilles, west of Montserrat.
In the depths of our oceans, where no human being can reach without specially built and equipped underwater vehicles (ROV, AUV, UUV), there live animals that are in no way inferior in beauty and grace to their tropical cousins, but in constant darkness.
One of these species is Calyptrophora microdentata, a fan-shaped growing deep-sea coral, which specializes in catching the smallest zooplankton and marine snow.
On the numerous branches of the gorgonian there are thousands of polyps which are responsible for the catch of the
Calyptrophora microdentata has been found on a number of deep sea mountains (extinct underwater volcanoes) such as the Nashville Seamount, the Kelvin Seamount, and the Corner Rise Seamounts,belonging to the New England Seamounts.
Other finds come from the Caribbean, the depths of the Lesser Antilles, west of Montserrat.
