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Hidden Oases: Florida's Deep-Sea Reefs 

I wrote this 48-minute video directed at middle school students with funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration as part of the research project "Mapping and Characterization of Deep Sea Coral Ecosystems off the Coast of Florida" (Sandra D. Brooke, Principal Investigator). It was produced by the Broward Educational Communications Network (BECON, (c) 2007) of the Broward County School Board, Fort Lauderdale FL. The expedition took place on 7-21 November 2005 and used the submersible Johnson Sea-Link (Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University) to visit sites from Jacksonville to Miami, FL, at depths from 245 to 871 meters. The video focused on the experiences of two public school teachers who accompanied the expedition. Scientists from Harbor Branch, the U.S. Geological Survey, Smithsonian Institution, and University of Alabama also participated in the operation. The video has been distributed to school districts throughout Florida. 

Recovery of the submersible Johnson Sea-Link I, following a dive.

Click on the image of submersible Johnson Sea-Link above to view video.

Glass sponges, orange solitary corals, red squat lobsters, and octocorals on a deep reef off Cape Canaveral, FL.

Glass sponges (Aphrocallistes beatrix), orange solitary corals, red squat lobsters (Eumunida picta) and delicate octocorals (Plumarella sp.) on a deep reef off Cape Canaveral built up by the white branching stony coral, Lophelia pertusa. Photo: NOAA OE Deep Corals 2005.

The slit snail, Entemnotrochus adansonianus, feeding on a sponge.

Slit snail (Entemnotrochus adansonianus) feeding on a sponge on the Miami Terrace. Photo: NOAA OE Deep Corals 2005.

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