Highlights: 00:53:06 Bamboo coral - Acanella 01:37:52 Pink sea fan 01:47:11 Deep sea sponge aggregation 02:01:50 Hexactinellid sponge - Asconema 02:14:31 Pink sea fan & Acanella

Of note: Corals, sponges.

The seafloor is primarily soft sediment either side of a rocky ridge. Fauna is initially sparse and includes the occasional holothurian Mesothuria, cerianthids and anemones, the chrysogorgiid coral Radicipes and the sea pen Pennatula. Along the ridge, there are numerous large vase sponges and flabellate sponges with some stalked hexactinellids. A variety of corals are observed including Chrysogorgia, Anthomastus, several species of black coral (including Telopathes and Stauropathes) and two octocorals, one of which is large and red (perhaps Plexauridae) and the other, a large Isididae.

START VIDEO [00:00:00]/08:16. Patches of deep sea sponge aggregations and coral gardens on bedrock. Scattered mud/gravel areas with sparse epifauna [1] The dive starts on muddy slope. [00:01:00] ROV stops for two pushcores sampling. Steep muddy slope with scarce epifauna with scattered pockets of organic matter. [00:17:00] Glass bottle. [00:23:00] Here steep muddy slope with some pebbles and scarce epifauna. [00:24:00] Muddy slope with pebbles and pteropod hash. Some animal marks. [00:50:00] carbonate boulder with inlets hosting a colony of Chrysogorgiidae and a few Anthomastus grandiflorus. [00:55:00] Here muddy/silty slope with scarce epifauna including Ceriantharia and pteropod shells. Occasional pockets of organic matter. [01:08:00] Pebble/gravel/mud on gentle/moderate slope with no dominant epifauna. [01:09:00] Here hard vertical rock with a variety of epifauna living on it; mainly sponges (of various morphologies) and brisingidae. [01:18:00] mud cloud/ obscured. [01:31:00] Mud cloud/ obscured. [01:34:00] ROV stops for imagery of Jasonisis sp. (excellent imagery of closed-up polyps). ROV stops to collect a snap of Jasonisis sp. . [01:46:00] On this site, deep sea sponge aggregations dominate. Potentially varied species of sponges dominate on the rock. Mainly lamellate, tubular and stalked. Asconema species are present although not abundant. [02:01:00] ROV is hovering on the edge of large boulder/bedrock with a variety of epifauna including sponge, brisingid and chrysogorgidae. END VIDEO 10:16. VIDEO B [02:04:00]/10:22. Obscured vision/mud cloud. [02:07:00] Here silty/muddy slope with sparse epifauna. Now the ROV looks towards the edge of the cliff with sponges and brisingids occur. [02:14:00] Leiopathes sp. closed-up. [02:19:00] Here biotope changes into muddy steep slope. END VIDEO [02:22:00]/10:40.