(gentle music)
- [Scientist 1] Oh. - [Scientist 2] Cool!
- [Scientist 1] Look at this.
(woman chuckles)
- [Scientist 2] Wow.
- [Scientist 1] Just when we need to move, buddy.
- [Scientist 2] So cool.
- [Scientist 1] Look at you.
- [Scientist 8] That's a biggie.
[Scientist 3] This is a perfect I4-clade bamboo.
- [Scientist 8] Oh my gosh.
(people laughing)
- [Scientist 1] Look at that bubble came out of you there.
- [Scientist 8] It's like a tiara type deal.
- [Scientist 1] Yeah.
- [Scientist 8] And there's like, some sort of sea spider.
- [Scientist 1] Put some vision down there a bit, please.
That's good.
- [Scientist 2] Wow.
- [Scientist 1] Wow, nice.
A nice crab hanging there.
- [Scientist 1] The back of this guy is cool.
- [Scientist 5] Is that a Victorgorgia?
Can we zoom in on that guy?
- [Scientist 2] Sure.
This is Victorgorgia.
- [Scientist 8] Is that one big one?
- [Scientist 2] Possibly alba.
- [Scientist 3] Wow.
- [Scientist 5] One big star or a bunch of little ones?
- [Scientist 8] No, that's a big star.
You can see the center.
- It's a big on, yeah?
- Yeah.
- [Scientist 2] That's so beautiful.
What is it?
- [Scientist 5] It's a bamboo coral
in the family Keratisididae.
And got a half zoom, we can figure out how it's branching
and maybe we'll find our ID a bit better.
- [Scientist 9] This is the biggest coral we've seen all watch.
- [Scientist 5] So it's a node brancher.
Maybe genus Jasonisis?
- [Scientist 2] That's gorgeous.
Look at that Atalanta view.
- [Scientist 8] Oh, yeah.
- [Scientist 2] For some scale.
- [Scientist 5] All right.
- [Scientist 6] Oh, so this pool is actually pretty big.
- [Scientist 2] Mm hm.
Probably a meter wide, maybe a meter tall. Bigger.
- [Scientist 6] I don't usually think about how big some
of these things down here are, or even get to be.
- [Scientist 5] Yeah for scale,
the height of Hercules is, what, two meters?
- [Scientist 7] Well over a meter.
- [Scientist 6] So that's about waist high for the average person.
- [Scientist 2] Yeah, at least.
- [Scientist 5] Might be even taller than that.
- [Scientist 2] Mm hm.
- [Scientist 7] I'm gonna take my turn out
in a dramatic fashion, too.
- [Scientist 5] I like that.
- [Scientist 1] That is beautiful.
- [Scientist 5] That's a couple right there, huh?
- [Scientist 9] Yep. That's a precious coral, heavy Corallium.
- [Scientist 2] Can you come a little wide there?
- [Scientist 5] Is that like a star in there, too?
- [Scientist 9] Yep, that's a star in there too.
- [Scientist 5] Camouflaged in there.
Or trapped.
(women chuckling)
- [Scientist 1] I got a trifecta there.
There's a sea pen coming out of the sediment
and a bamboo coral right behind,
and then the precious coral in front.
- [Scientist 2] And come partial wide, please.
- [Scientist 5] Full wide, full wide.
- [Scientist 4] Is that a reef? Is that technically a reef?
- [Scientist 1] I would say it's almost a garden.
But not quite dense enough.
You're all beautiful.
- [Scientist 4] Looks like a lung.
- [Scientist 1] Yeah, kind of.
Look at how big that stock is down there, too.
- [Scientist 2] Yeah.
So you can actually age bamboo corals based on the base.
Unfortunately, you have to sample the whole specimen.
So it's not something we like to do often.
But in some of the species that have been looked at so far,
an individual this size is, probably,
a couple hundred years old.
- [Scientist 4] Oh, wow. - [Scientist 1] Whoa.
- [Scientist 2] It's amazing how many corals you
learn really quickly on these dives.
- [Scientist 1] Oh, this guy. Is that what you're thinking?
- [Scientist 2] Yes. That's it right there.
- [Scientist 5] The structure, right there.
- [Scientist 2] (indistinct) pelatora.
- [Scientist 11] Oh that's pretty.
- [Scientist 2] Mm hm.
- [Scientist 3] Is that another Chrysogorgia or a Ricordea?
- [Scientist 2] Think this is an umbella.
- [Scientist 3] Oh, Umbellapathes.
- [Scientist 2] Yeah.
Umbellopathes.
(dreamy music)