Digital Video taken during Johnson-Sea-Link submersible dive 4920 of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration's Florida Coast Deep Corals 2005 cruise, November 17, 2005 (NCEI Accession 0036825)

This video data was recorded during the Florida Coast Deep Corals mission of 2005. The data gathered during this expedition provided a strong foundation of information on the deep-water coral ecosystems off the Florida coast.

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 are undoubtedly undescribed species. There is therefore 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. Since deepwater reefs are not visible to the general public, dissemination of information through the media and the education system is vital in order to create empathy for their protection. The overarching objective of this proposal is to increase the current understanding of deep-water coral habitats along Florida's coasts. Unlike shallow water tropical reefs, deep-water reefs are not well known.

本视频数据采集自2005年佛罗里达海岸深海珊瑚科考任务。本次科考所获取的数据，为佛罗里达近岸深水珊瑚生态系统的相关研究奠定了坚实的信息基础。

受全球近海渔业资源持续耗竭的影响，商业捕捞船队正逐步向深水海域转移，捕捞常与复杂珊瑚结构伴生的鱼类及甲壳类物种。佛罗里达近岸海域分布着大量深水珊瑚生态系统（Deep-sea coral ecosystems, DSCE）。这些珊瑚群落为鲜为人知但物种多样性极高的鱼类和无脊椎动物类群提供了栖息环境，其中诸多物种无疑尚未被科学记述。因此，亟需对这些珊瑚栖息地进行识别、绘制其分布与丰度图谱，并记录与之伴生的潜在高价值渔业物种。资源管理者可依托该信息制定保护政策，科学家则可将其作为假说驱动的生态学与生理学研究的基础。由于深水珊瑚礁无法为普通公众所见，借助媒体与教育体系传播相关信息，对唤起公众保护这些珊瑚礁的共情之心至关重要。本项目提案的核心目标，是加深当前对佛罗里达近岸深水珊瑚栖息地的认知。与浅水热带珊瑚礁不同，深水珊瑚礁的相关研究尚十分匮乏。