Plymouth Marine Institute: ‘The first-ever footage of marine life colonising the UK’s tallest underwater mountains has been obtained by scientists using advanced robotic technology.

Beautiful coral, predatory monkfish and an array of crustaceans are among the many species captured in high definition video living on four seamounts in the North East Atlantic Ocean, between 200 and 450 kilometres west of Scotland.

The pictures have emerged from the pioneering Deep Links project, led by Plymouth University Marine Institute, as part of a joint project with the University of Oxford, the JNCC and British Geological Survey, which will investigate how patterns of population connectivity vary with depth in the deep-sea, and how this influences species diversity. They were taken by one of the most advanced robot vehicles in the world, the Isis remotely operated vehicle (ROV), deployed from RSS James Cook during a six-week research cruise funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).’  To read more and watch the video click here.