Underwater gardens of multicolored coral grow on the deep ocean floor off the North Olympic Peninsula coast, ecstatic deep-sea researchers revealed Monday.
In a teleconference with journalists, scientists of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration described discovering colonies of the marine polyps in waters once thought too deep and cold for them to thrive.
Coral communities usually are associated with tropical locations and warm, shallow waters.
Oceanographers once delineated what they thought was a coral “gap” from the Aleutian Islands to Monterey, Calif.
The discovery of these colonies of cold water coral was “really like discovering never-before-mapped valleys in a national forest,” said Timothy Keeney, a NOAA administrator.
Fourteen scientists conducted 11 dives with an ROV — remotely operated vehicle — from the NOAA ship McArthur II.
The voyage lasted from May 23 to June 5 in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary and followed up findings a pilot cruise made a year ago.
The team found coral in 15 places two to 20 miles offshore at depths of from 300 feet to 2,000 feet.
Keeney likened the discovery to “discovering new areas of rain forest on land. . . . tremendously rich and wealthy areas.”
