Cold Coral
Think of coral and you conjure up images of palm-lined tropical beaches and margaritas, not freezing cold Arctic waters.
However, the seas surrounding the Aleutian arc, a semi-circle of islands stretching across the Barents strait between Alaska to Russia, are turning up a few surprises.
The Gulf of Alaska is one of the most productive fisheries in the world and a haven for biodiversity. Over thirty species of bizarre corals known as gorgonians have been discovered; living over 125 metres below the surface of the sea these corals rely not on sunlight to grow, but on nutrient rich waters welling up from the depths.
So far only seven of the thirty known species have been formally described, and who knows what else might be lurking in those murky waters.
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