About

Species Identification

Deep-sea and Mesophotic species identification can be difficult without a specimen in hand.  None the less, we can still try to identify as much as possible to help the US Management Counsels make marine environment management decisions.

Data Collection

Data, and lots of it. Collecting and managing very large data sets is my specialty. One of my databases has a table with over a million records, if that gives you an idea what I deal with. The whole point of going to sea is to – get this- COLLECT DATA!

Habitat Classification

Habitat classification is the goal. Using giant data sets to map out areas of deep-sea and mesophotic habitat to help determine the locations of sensitive habitats.

Research

Deep Sea and Mesophotic Habitats

Deep Coral HAPC

The Deep Coral HAPC (Habitat Area of Particular Concern) is a 11,000 km2 area of the eastern coast of Florida.

Closed in 2010

The Deep Coral HAPC was closed to bottom trawling as a result of our research in 2010.

Oculina HAPC

The Oculina Habitat Area of Particular Concern is a 1800 km2 area off the Eastern Coast of Florida

Closed in 1981 and Expanded in 2011

The Oculina Habitat Area of Particular Concern was originally closed in 1982 and expanded based on our discoveries in 2011.

South Atlantic MPAs

Monitoring MPAs off the US from Jacksonville To North Carolina

South Atlantic Marine Protected Areas

Every summer we cruise the eastern coast of Florida diving the mesophotic reefs monitoring the fish and hard bottom habitat health.

Pulley Ridge HAPC

100 miles off Key West, its the deepest shallow water reef in the continental US

Closed in 2005 and expanded 2019

We have done more work on Pulley Ridge then anyone else. We found a 93% coral loss on the main ridge of the reef and a huge area of new coral recruits outside the main HAPC. This is what triggered the expansion proposal in 2019. More…

FKNMS, TER and the Pourtalès and Miami Terraces

Our most recent cruise was off the Florida Keys and the Tortuga's Ecological Reserve

We have completed at least 4 cruises in recent years that covers the areas off the coast of Miami to off shore of Key West. This includes the southern most Lophelia reef in US waters, sink holes, escarpments, mesophotic and deep reefs, just to get started.

Cuba's Mesophotic Coral Reefs

We worked with Cuban Scientists to conduct ROV dives around the entire coast of Cuba

in 2016 we circumnavigated Cuba

We are still working on this data.

At The Surface

Species and Habitat Identification

We use CPCe – Coral Point Count with Excel Extension Software to analyse percent cover of thousands of bottom images to determine the habitat and fauna coverage of the benthos. Each of of these images is georeferenced to the location it was captured. it is also linked to CTD (Conductivity, Temperature and Depth) data.

Data Processing

Analyzing percent cover and individual coral counts.

Reporting and Publishing

Each of our grants requires us to create extensive reports on every location we dive. These reports are called SeaDeSC Reports and they can be 400+ pages long. Visit my ResaerchGate page for more details. 

Mesophotic Habitats

Mesophotic or  the “middle light” zone exists at about 30 to 150 meters (100-500 feet) beneath the surface, is the deepest that sunlight can penetrate the ocean and past recreational SCUBA depths. Only recently, with the invention of tech diving and deep submergence vehicles, have we been able to study it in-depth.

First, mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) have a wide diversity of species, many new to science. Despite these newly discovered species, there are many common shallow-water fauna that are also found at these depths. It is for this reason, that many researchers believe that the mesophotic zone could help replenish stressed shallow water reefs.

Currently, there are studies that are looking at the connectivity between the shallow water reefs and mesophotic coral ecosystems. Many of these include genetic studies.

Deep Sea

The area past the mesophotic zone (>150 m/500 feet) we consider the deep sea. There is no surface light past these depths, therefore there is no photosynthesis and algae, plants and phytoplankton cannot live in this zone. Since these primary producers can’t live here, the deep sea gets energy from elsewhere. There are a few ways of doing this. The first is chemosynthesis. Chemosynthesis is when bacteria use natural chemicals as a primary food source such as on hydrothermal vents and methane seeps.  Finally, and most common is this the consumption of marine snow that drifts down from the photic zone. This sinking organic material is comprised of particulate organic matter (POM) from algal particulates, detritus, and poop from the fauna above.

DeepSea Art

Art created from Sharpie on recycled Styrofoam and Styrofoam cups… and then sent to the bottom of the ocean to be shrunken.

Who I Am

I am a Deep Sea Nerd

I knew I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was about 3 years old. My favorite book was a Donald Duck book with a picture of an octopus on the last page. I can’t tell you how many times I asked my mother to read this book to me. When I was in my teens, I saw a TV documentary that featured Edie Widder and the Johnson-Sea-Link and I told myself, “I will get on that sub one day“. When I was in graduate school at Nova Southeastern University, I finally had the opportunity. I dove to 1,200 feet in the JSL in a sinkhole off Miami. Since that time I have participated in over 25 research cruises and co-authored over 75 book chapters, journal articles, technical reports and presentations.

Current Cruise

NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer

November 1-21, 2019

Stephanie Farrington

Me at sea in the Gulf of Mexico with The Octopus Mom- in progress.

Get In Touch With Me

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