Highlights: 00:32:32 Orange roughy 00:34:20 Orange roughy 00:35:00 Orange roughy 00:47:00 Orange roughy

At the base of the mound the substrate is coarse, gravelly sand with occasional xenophyophores and the bamboo coral, Acanella arbuscula. The hard ground of boulders and bedrock is colonised by barnacles and encrusting sponges. There are large numbers of orange roughy, grenadiers and sharks including many juveniles. An extensive amount of fragmented dead coral reef rubble occurs here.

START VIDEO [00:00:00]/04:24 [1] The transect starts above Canyon 7 on the seabed at the base of a carbonate mound. The substrate is mixed mud/gravel/pebbles and patchy xenophyophore (Syringammina fragilissima) aggregations dominate the area. [00:01:00] ROV starts moving right, slightly uphill. [00:02:00] ROV moves forward. [00:11:00]-[00:18:00] some coral gravel is also present in varying density. Orange Roughy are present but few. [00:30:00] [2] coral gravel with boulders and bedrock protrusions, no obvious dominant epifauna but roughy found in increasing numbers. [00:34:00] [3] boulders /bedrock protrusions s and cobbles with sand/gravel then [00:38:00] bedrock with cobbles and boulders. This area is dominated by hard bottom sponge aggregations, especially encrusting and lamellate morphs of varying colour (e. g. Phakellia ventilabrum). Orange Roughy are at their densest here, and found in multiple colorations (Lorance et al. , 2002 witnessed individual Roughy changing colours between white and red) suggestive of some behavioural or physiological processes. The vast majority encountered had white or intermediate colorations, but some traditional red/orange individuals were also seen. [00:50:00] [4] transition to alternating sand/pebbles/ boulders and areas of bedrock/carbonate crust with cobbles and boulders. The roughy continue to be abundant, but the hard substrate is dominated by barnacles and appears less diverse. Some areas of coral gravel in the mixed substrate. [01:17:00] no more roughy encountered, the ROV continues to climb the slope of the carbonate mound. [01:31:00] [5] coral gravel dominates with broken carbonate also present, no obvious assemblage defining epifauna, but Chaceon affinis is frequently encountered. Juvenile Synaphobranchus kaupii eels are however very abundant, as are juvenile Apristus sp . sharks. [01:33:00] The mound summit area displays carbonate crust with broken depressions filled with (likely) Lophelia pertusa coral rubble/framework (100% dead). [01:37:00] summit reached, ROV starts moving downslope. [01:48:00]-[01:49:00] stopped to test sediment for pushcores. [01:51:00] [6] mixed sediment of coral gravel/sand/pebbles and boulders continue downslope with barnacles on larger rocks and still many juvenile S. kaupii . [01:55:00] again stop to test for pushcore but coarse coral mixed substrate still not suitable. END VIDEO [01:57:00]/06:22.