Spotfin butterfly fish

Tiger grouper

This close-up image of symmetrical brain coral (Diploria strigosa) shows the grooved surface of the coral which os one of its most defining features.

Christmas tree worms (Spirobranchus giganteus) at East Flower Garden Bank. Each pair of of colorful tree-like appendages are the gills of one animal. Its body, up to a foot long, resides in a tube encased within the coral boulder.

A cluster of male ruby brittle stars (Ophioderma rubicundum) atop a brain coral. These males will soon release sperm during a night-time spawning event.

This hermit crab (Paguristes hernancortezi) was found scuttling across the sea floor in deeper areas of Flower Garden Banks NMS. The photo was taken with an ROV.

A close-up look at the eye stalks of a queen conch (Strombus gigas) observed in a sand flat at West Flower Garden Bank.

This murex, a type of marine snail, is sitting atop a bright red sponge at Stetson Bank.

A red night shrimp (Cinetorhynehus manningi) perched on the reef.

A sea hare (Aplysia morio) swimming at Stetson Bank.

Fire coral (Millepora alcicornis) covers a rocky pinnacle at Stetson Bank. The coral-spong communities of Stetson Bank were added to Flower Garden Banks NMS in 1996.

Spiny lobster

Spiny lobster

A tiger grouper (Mycteroperca tigris) pauses at a fish cleaning station so small neon gobies (Gobiosoma oceanops) can remove parasites, dead skin, etc.

Redlip blenny (Ophioblennius atlanticus) often perch on their pelvic fins on top of coral heads.

Creole wrasse

A scuba diver swims amid a school of fish

Brine seep at East Flower Garden Bank. A close view of the brine lake and its apparent salt encrustations.

Brine seep at East Flower Garden Bank. The brine pool flows through a channel to a deep part of Flower Garden Bank.

Brine seep at East Flower Garden Bank. Areas of apparent salt encrustation and bacteria on the sea floor beneath the brine lake.

Brine seep at East Flower Garden Bank. One edge of the brine lake.

Brine seep at East Flower Garden Bank. A pool of super-saline water visible in the channel leading away from the brine lake.

Brine seep at East Flower Garden Bank. Ripples visible across the surface of this pool of briny water within the ocean.

Brine seep at East Flower Garden Bank. Salt encrustations surrounding a pool of briny water.

Mud volcano caused by methane gas bubbling up through the sea floor with a resultant small cone that looks similar to a lava producing volcano. The plumes are of methane gas pushing up an accompanying cloud of sediment.

Close up view of the gas plume emanating from a mud volcano. The shiny top is a bubble of gas.

Bubbles of methane gas pushing up sediment from the crater of a mud volcano.

A large bubble of methane gas emanating upward from the crater of a mud volcano.

A fish swimming above the overflow channel streaming down the side of a mud volcano. Note what appear to be well-defined levees on the sides of the channel. Numerous holes on the side of the mud volcano might be indicative of faunal activity.

The coral cap at West Flower Garden Bank.

Black corals and octocorals are found in deep water communities in the vicinity of Flower Garden Banks.

Wire coral (Stichopathes leutkeni), a black coral, with two curled up basket stars attached in the deep water environment in the vicinity of Flower Garden Banks.

Excavation pit left by treasure hunters searching for the supposed wreck of a Spanish galleon on Bright Bank.

Dan Basta, director of the National Marine Sanctuary Program, standing at the chart table of the Flower Garden Banks Marine Sanctuary R/V MANTA during shakedown cruise operations at Bellingham, Washington.

Captain Chuck Curry at the helm of the R/V MANTA during shakedown operations near Bellingham, Washington.

National Marine Sanctuary Director Dan Basta takes the first leap from the diving platform of the R/V MANTA in Lake Washington. Sanctuary Director G.P. Schmahl is suited up for the second leap.

Sanctuary superintendent G.P. Schmahl welcomes everyone and gives an overview of the capabilities of the R/V MANTA at official dedication ceremony .

Tim Keeney, NOAA Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere at dedication ceremony of R/V MANTA.

The MANTA underway doing a 360 off Pier 21 Galveston.

Sanctuary offices received a fresh coat of paint as well as new windows, doors, and roof in the months preceding Hurricane Ike. A small portico was also added to the west entrance. All survived the onslaught .

A beautiful muti-colored grotto on one of the banks.

Nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum)

Brown Chromis (Chromis multilineata)

A large yellow mouth grouper swimming over

Spotted moray (Gymnothorax moringa)

Two large red shrimp on a coral bottom

A hermit crab on a yellow/orange sponge.

Christmas tree worms (Spirobranchus giganteus). The feathery "branches of the spiral "trees" serve as both feeding organisms for collecting food and respiratory organs. The remainder of the worm lives in a hole commonly bored into massive coral heads in which it secretes a calcareous tube for additional protection.

Extended coral polyps

A queen conch (Strombus gigas) on a sandy seafloor habitat.