Stylasterid corals

Stylasterid corals photographed in the Coral Sea as part of the Deep Down Under research expedition. The Deep Down Under expedition was a team of German and Australian researchers exploring deep into the waters of Australia's Coral Sea in 2009. Geobiologists from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, the Natural History Museum at the Humboldt-Universität Berlin, the University of Göttingen, the Queensland Museum, University of Queensland and James Cook University investigated ‘living fossils’ such as sponges, brachiopods, echinoderms and cold-water corals in the deep. Using a 1000 metre-rated Cherokee ROV from MARUM at the University of Bremen, the team explored the deep-sea ecosystems on the steep slopes of Queensland Plateau emergent reefs, such as Osprey Reef, which have remained largely unchanged for millions of years.