Digital Video taken during Johnson-Sea-Link submersible dive 4917 of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration's Florida Coast Deep Corals 2005 cruise, November 16, 2005 (NCEI Accession 0036972)

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 described 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 deep water 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.本视频数据集采集自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研究奠定了坚实的信息基础。 随着全球近岸渔业资源持续枯竭，商业渔船正转向深水海域，捕捞频繁依附于复杂珊瑚结构的鱼类和甲壳类物种。佛罗里达沿岸海域分布着大量深海珊瑚生态系统（Deep-sea coral ecosystems, DSCE），这类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栖息环境，其中诸多物种无疑已是已描述物种。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，并记录与之关联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，科研人员则能将其作为开展假说驱动型生态与生理研究的基础。由于深水珊瑚礁不为普通公众所见，通过媒体与教育体系传播相关信息，对唤起公众保护共情至关重要。本项目提案的总体目标，是增进当前对佛罗里达沿岸深水珊瑚栖息地的认知。与浅海热带珊瑚礁不同，深水珊瑚礁的研究程度尚浅。