TOUCHED BY A COLD HAND—A colonial soft coral (octocoral) pulls in its small, whitish polyps upon contact with the manipulator hand of the remotely operated vehicle Hercules. This coral (Paragorgia) is called "bubblegum coral" because of its color and bulbous branch ends. It is common on the New England Seamounts. (Deep-sea coral photos courtesy "Mountains in the Sea" scientific party, NOAA, and the Institute for Exploration)[back]
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