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First Alaska Explorations | Recent Work | Main Coral Page
| 1886 |
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Congress approves the use of the Albatross, a U.S. Fisheries steamship, to study the area from "California northward to Alaska" - primarily to explore new commercial fisheries. |
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| 1906 |
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During dredge surveys, the Albatross brings back evidence of a variety of corals from the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. |
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| 1912 |
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Based on samples gathered during the Albatross exploration, zoologist Charles Nutting identifies five previously unknown species of coral in the area, collecting others far from their presumed habitat, including the Thouarella striata, which had previously only been seen in the South Seas. One new species, Leptogorgia beringi, a light yellow, many-branched coral, was found at a depth of over 1,000 fathoms - more than a mile beneath the waves. |
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| 1938 |
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Also using samples gathered during the Albatross expedition, Walter Kenrick Fisher publishes "Hydrocorals of the North Pacific Ocean." The North Pacific is far richer in indigenous species than the north Atlantic, he notes - and these corals bear no relation to tropical corals found in the Galapagos Islands. One site east of the Andreanof Islands of the Aleutian Chain is particularly rich in hydrocorals, Fisher writes. He speculates that bottom currents rich in oxygen and plankton feed the corals.
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The Albatross
Illustration by C. B. Hudson in The Century Magazine
As intriguing as the early finds were, the new Alaska corals remained just a historical footnote for nearly a century. Only recently, with the assistance of new technologies, has greater exploration been pursued. |
The Albatross drops anchor in Southeast Alaska during a northern cruise.
Credit: NOAA/Northeast Fisheries Science Center historical photograph archives.
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