And now for something completely different: Oculina Bank

[aue-mike]

A short video from our dive on Oculina Bank this weekend. Oculina varicosa -- ivory tree coral -- is a deepwater coral species known to grow in dense thickets in 200-300 feet of water, particularly in areas off the central east coast of Florida. In this video we are diving Jeff's Reef off Ft. Pierce, first documented in the 1970s by Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. But something might be going on, as the abundant coral documented then seems to be thinning off.

 

[Wookie]

Was it a fast dive?

Edit. It does not appear to have been in a whooshing current.

 

[aue-mike]

Was it a fast dive?

Edit. It does not appear to have been in a whooshing current.

Easy dive. 2 knots on the surface to the thermocline, maybe 0.5 knots on the bottom. Pleasant 66 degrees on the top of the ridges with cooler water in the valleys. This time of the year the Gulf Stream is farther offshore.

 

[drrich2]

Really neat. A few observations:

1.) It's noted healthy coral there is white, dying or dead brown, so looks more decimated than 'seems to be thinning off!' Sad to see that. Or is it usual for most of the coral field to be brown?

2.) Plenty of amberjacks.

3.) The reef block colonization experiment from 1996 appears to have been a bust, I take it?

4.) Obligatory lion fish shot!

Did you guys do this as a recreational dive, or in the pursuit of scientific research?

 

[aue-mike]

1) leaning towards agreement, but since I had not personally dived this area before I couldn't definitively made that conclusion.
2) AJs are common on deepwater wrecks and reefs
3) Appears so. I know a few of them collapsed on deployment and a few were supposedly knocked over by trawlers. It's unclear what happened to this particular module. But yes, no coral growth on it.
4) they are everywhere
We were just doing this for fun, but we share the documentation with researchers.