Scientists yesterday announced they have identified seven new species of bamboo coral in the deep waters of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

The discoveries resulted from a NOAA-funded research mission to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands that also found a 5-foot-tall yellow bamboo coral tree that had never been described before, new beds of deep-water coral and sponges, and a giant sponge scientists dubbed the "cauldron sponge" that is approximately 3 feet tall and 3 feet across.

Scientists expect to identify even more new species as analysis of samples collected during the November 2007 mission continues, according to a NOAA news release.

Richard Spinrad, NOAA's assistant administrator for the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, said the discoveries are important because deep-sea corals support diverse seafloor ecosystems and may be among the first marine organisms to be affected by ocean acidification, a change in ocean chemistry due to excess carbon dioxide.

"Deep-sea bamboo corals also produce growth rings much as trees do and can provide a much-needed view of how deep ocean conditions change through time," Spinrad said.

Six of the new bamboo coral species may represent entirely new genera, which NOAA described as "a remarkable feat" given the broad classification a genus represents. A genus is a major category in the classification of organisms, ranking above "species" and below "family."

The research voyage also discovered a "coral graveyard" covering about 10,000 square feet on a seamount's summit at a depth of more than 2,000 feet. Scientists estimated the death of the coral community occurred anywhere from several thousand to more than 1 million years ago, but the reason for its demise is unknown.

The species of coral had never been recorded in Hawai'i before, according a Smithsonian Institution coral expert who was consulted.

The Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory, sponsored by NOAA and the University of Hawai'i, piloted the Pisces V submersible to the discovery sites at depths between 3,300 and 4,200 feet. The three-week research effort did not set out to find new species, NOAA said, but instead was focused on locating and predicting locations of high-density deep-sea coral beds in the marine monument and looking at growth rates of deep-sea corals.

Rob Dunbar, a Stanford University scientist, was along to study long-term climate data by examining long-lived corals.

"We found live, 4,000-year-old corals in the monument, meaning 4,000 years worth of information about what has been going on in the deep ocean interior," he said.

"Studying these corals can help us understand how they survive for such long periods of time, as well as how they may respond to climate change in the future."

Other researchers included Christopher Kelley of UH and NOAA scientist Frank Parrish. Identification of the corals was provided by UH's Les Watling.