The corals of Mediterranean, “Gorgonia”, are mysterious creatures. Unlike tropical corals, we locate them deep in the sea under the half-light of the Aegean. They are unique shelters for a huge variety of underwater life, consisting of over 1.200 species of marine organisms.
We came up with the idea of a mission about corals a sunny winter day in Lesvos. We had the luck to host in this mission and be toured in the “gardens” of the corals by the former professional sponge- diver Theodoros Katsaros, who is also father of the pilot of “Thetis” bathyscaph.
Scientist of Hellenic Center for Marine Research hope that they’ll come in view of the same bottom of the sea as Theodoros Katsaros did several decades ago.
The remote-controlled robot “Achilles” and the bathyscaph “Thetis” contribute in the attempts of the scientists to explore the corals deep in the sea. That’s because they can reach in such depths where diving would need excessive and demanding diving techniques. What we saw and recorded in the bottom of the sea is magic! It seems that marine wealth still resists and rekindles the hope of survival for these petite underwater paradises.
