| Summary: | These video data were recorded during the Florida Coast Deep Corals mission of 2005. Data gathered during this expedition provide a strong foundation of information on several deep-water coral ecosystems along the Florida coast. Unlike shallow water tropical reefs, deep-water reefs are not well known. With the continuing global depletion of coastal fisheries, commercial fishing vessels are moving into deeper water and exploiting fish and crustacean species that are frequently associated with complex coral structures. Deep-sea coral ecosystems (DSCE) exist at numerous locations around the coast of Florida. These coral communities provide habitat for relatively unknown but highly diverse assemblages of fish and invertebrates, many of which may be undescribed species. There is an urgent need to identify these coral habitats, map their distribution and abundance, and document any potentially valuable fishery species associated with them. Resource managers can use this information to develop conservation policy and scientists can use it as a foundation for hypothesis driven ecological and physiological research.
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