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Journey to the Bottom of the Sea
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Day 1 - Getting Started
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Coral Highlights

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Finding Coral Expedition group photo
Basketstar
Sub and primnoa
Gorgonian-Chaetognath
Plumose anemones
Swiftia
Viking Moon
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06/20/2009
Primnoa ghostbusteri?

By Lance Morgan

The Finding Coral team found large red tree coral (Primnoa) at several sites. After our discovery of Primnoa at Juan Perez Sound, we found additional colonies at Portland Inlet and East Dixon Entrance.

06/19/2009
A Great Day at the Office

By Greg Workman

Juan Perez Sound - On the chart it looked like a good spot to find coral. All the ingredients were right: steep terrain, high current, just enough depth. The multi-beam sonar showed a rocky ridge running south to north, its summit at about 80 meters. The western side was gradually sloped but its eastern side is a nearly vertical wall dropping to over 300 meters.

06/16/2009
Metridium Fields Forever

By Lance Morgan

Giant plumose anemones (Metridium farcimen) are spectacularly beautiful, unless you have issues with cauliflower. Densely packed, they looked superficially like heads of cauliflower bunched together. (Roasted with olive oil and garlic is one way to make it go down easier, but I digress).

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Jennifer's Journal

11/13/2009
Speaking Tour Shares the Adventure
Jennifer Lash, sunset at sea

The Finding Coral Expedition was a once in a lifetime experience to fly a submarine through ink-black waters, my headlights lighting up a deep sea world blooming with life that no one had ever seen before and will likely never see again. The one man subs we dived in gave me and the other members of the science team the mobility to explore seven dive sites where we found at least 16 different kinds of coral, ranging from small orange cup corals to red tree corals one meter high.

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06/24/2009
A Successful Expedition
06/22/2009
How's the Weather?
06/20/2009
It's About More Than Just Coral
06/17/2009
Coral in all her glory
06/13/2009
Jeff, the Dive Supervisor
06/12/2009
Trawler Approaching
06/11/2009
Spectacular sponges
06/10/2009
Today is our first research dive
06/09/2009
Flow Harmony
05/14/2009
Searching for B.C.'s deep sea corals—and ways to protect them

 

 

About the Expedition

In June 2009, Living Oceans Society led the Finding Coral Expedition, a journey to the bottom of the sea on Canada’s Pacific coast in search of deep sea corals. Using one person submarines, a team of international scientists made 30 dives to depths of over 500 meters and saw giant coral forests, darting schools of fish, and a seafloor carpeted in brittle stars. This research trip was the culmination of five years of work to secure protection for these slow-growing and long-lived animals, which provide critical habitat for fish and other marine creatures that live in the deep corners of our ocean. 

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