VENERABLE INVERTEBRATES—Deep-sea stony corals can attain great ages, and the hard skeletons of dead ones sometimes form mounds, tens of meters long and high, which support living colonies. This yellow stony coral has soft corals, feather stars, and brittle stars as neighbors. (Deep-sea coral photos courtesy "Mountains in the Sea" scientific party, NOAA, and the Institute for Exploration.)[back]
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