Orange Roughy at Gothic Seamount

An orange roughy swims across coral forest on the Gothic Seamount, Graveyard Seamount complex, north Chatham Rise, New Zealand. Gothic is a small underwater mountain of 173 metres elevation. The top of Gothic is 987m below sea level. The coral is Madrepora oculata which grows 1 metre high. A single coral can grow hundreds of metres across and form the habitat of molluscs, squid, starfish and primitive lobsters. This species of coral was prevalent on the Chatham Rise, although healthy reefs now appear to be restricted to a few small underwater features that haven't been fished.