NOAA and its international partners funded and conducted a new study of the most acidified reefs to date, finding deep sea corals face the same challenges their shallower water relatives are dealing with in reefs around the world. Submersibles were used to record video off the ocean in Southern California, where scientists measured the most acidified water ever recorded on living reefs.
![Deep-sea scleractinian coral Lophelia pertusa with a bubblegum octocoral (in red, Paragorgia sp.) at 300 meters depth on Piggy Bank in Southern California’s Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. (Image credit: NOAA / Marine Applied Research and Exploration (MARE).) Deep-sea scleractinian coral Lophelia pertusa with a bubblegum octocoral (in red, Paragorgia sp.) at 300 meters depth on Piggy Bank in Southern California’s Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_width_1275/public/legacy/image/2020/Sep/PHOTO%20-%20SoCal_Lophelia_BubbleGumCoral%20-%2009162020%20-%20NOAA%20-%202240x1068%20-%20LANDSCAPE.jpg?itok=TEAmkvrd)
Deep-sea scleractinian coral Lophelia pertusa with a bubblegum octocoral (in red, Paragorgia sp.) at 300 meters depth on Piggy Bank in Southern California’s Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. (Image credit: NOAA / Marine Applied Research and Exploration (MARE).)