Dr. Steve Ross from UNC Wilmington provided a lot of fascinating information in a short time, starting with a short DVD full of beautiful underwater footage. I learned that there's an entire world, with coral mountains and hundreds of fish and plant species, under the ocean as close as 45 - 60 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras. I was amazed by the incredible photographs Dr. Ross showed us in a PowerPoint presentation after the DVD. He had also brought a few examples of coral with him, which were lovely. It added a whole new dimension to the learning, to be able to touch and hold these (albeit dead and dry) examples of what I had just seen on the screen.
Here's the first slide in the presentation. Dr. Ross told us that all of the photographs, with the exception of the one in the lower left corner, were taken in the waters off North Carolina. The lower left one was taken off South Carolina. Bet you didn't know there was coral like that so close to home!
This was my favorite picture, an underwater view of sargassum seaweed and some of the fish which depend on it.
The coral samples.
Did you know that the inside of certain types of coral includes rings, similar to the growth rings on trees, which can be used to tell its age? The rings can be further analyzed to learn about what was happening in the deep sea habitat during different time periods.
There are researchers who are studying sponges from deep sea habitats hoping to find cancer treatments. These sponges never develop tumors of any kind, so scientists are studying the enzymes in them to determine whether a synthetic version can be created which would eradicate tumors in humans. If they are successful, that would be true underwater treasure, worth more than any of Blackbeard's booty!
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