From the steep-sloped bottom, bright orange and pink arms reach up 10 feet into ocean currents. Wide fans of red stretch 20 feet across and seven feet high. Fish dart to and fro between the branches and their rocky anchors. These colorful structures are their shelter and their food source—a coral habitat—but this is not a scene off some tropical island. Instead, these coral forests thrive in this always cold, dark water near the continental shelf off the Massachusetts coast.

Unlike their shallow tropical cousins, deep-sea corals are found hundreds of feet to more than a mile below the ocean's surface. Often found on the edges of continental shelves or on underwater islands called seamounts, these creatures gain their sustenance by feeding on the microscopic animals floating around them. Unlike hard, reef-building or stony corals found in warm waters, these corals are the soft type whose feathery plumes sway with the ocean current. They grow very slowly, usually no more than an inch per year depending on the variety, but can live to be hundreds, even thousands of years old. Anchored to outcroppings of rock on the ocean floor, they form habitats that provide homes and food for other sea life such as sponges, sea anemones, sea squirts, and fish.

Deep-sea corals are thought to make up the majority of all known coral species. Yet because of their remote habitat, it is generally believed that there are many more species that have yet to be discovered. After pulling up large sections of coral while fishing, fisherman often speculated on what they thought were the great, petrified tree forests hidden in the depths below. Only now, as manned and unmanned submersibles explore previously unknown coral habitats, can these legendary forests be examined. Of the known varieties, 15-20 species of deep-sea corals have been found in the Gulf of Maine. Two of the more prolific types that have been identified are Paragorgia arborea, nicknamed "bubblegum tree" for its orangey-pink color and lumpy texture, and Primnoa resedaeformis, known as "sea corn" or "red trees" for the kernel-like bumps that cover its branches when dried. Both corals have been known to form wide and high branches that extend out many feet from their origin.

Corals are large contributors to the boon humankind reaps from the ocean. Pharmaceutical scientists and manufacturers look to the sea, recruiting marine life (including deep-sea corals and some of the other animal species that call this habitat home) to create some of the drugs now made with ingredients derived from nature. New knowledge about these formerly elusive corals may lead to development of products spanning from dietary supplements to cosmetics. Scientists are also hoping that large coral skeletons can provide clues regarding changes in the ocean environment over time. Just as the growth rings of a tree serve as a permanent record of drought, pestilence, and other habitat changes, coral growth layers may give insights into variations in water temperature and chemical composition, and the effects of sediment and pollution on coral growth. Perhaps by understanding past events, scientists will be able to predict future changes.

The deep-sea oases formed by corals are also a Mecca for a variety of fish and shellfish species. Coral thickets provide a rest from ocean currents, cover for young fish, and an ideal area for spawning. Many species such as Acadian redfish (Sebastes faciatus), cusk (Bromse bromse), monkfish (Lophius americanus), black sea bass (Centropristis striata), and shrimp have been observed congregating among these coral havens—and their numbers have not gone unnoticed. Commercial fishermen have enjoyed increased catches of these fish in areas known to be coral-rich environments. Unfortunately, this knowledge, coupled with advanced fishing technology and techniques, threatens many pristine and epic deep-sea coral forests.

Fishermen once avoided these jagged formations with their long skeletal branches that snag lines and ruin nets, creating costly equipment losses. New developments in trawling, however, allow nets to traverse the bottom without getting hung up. Bottom trawling can be extremely destructive to corals when trawl doors weighing several tons inadvertently crush or injure coral formations. Global Positioning Systems and fish finders also better help fishermen locate their quarry, sometimes within these vulnerable deep-sea coral habitats. Once impacted, recovery is difficult. Because of their slow growth, coral forests may take hundreds of years to rebuild, and recent studies are finding that some coral colonies may cease growing altogether after being damaged.

In recognition of the potential importance and vulnerability of the deep-sea coral habitat, scientists worldwide are rushing to locate and identify coral forests in an effort to further understand their biology and contributions to the marine environment. In the past three years, deep-sea coral conferences have been held from Ireland to Hawaii, bringing together experts interested in dispersing knowledge and promoting potential conservation efforts. Hopefully, these efforts will lead to balanced management approaches that protect these beautiful and diverse deep-sea coral reefs that nature has taken thousands of years to create.