Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

Welcome to the Virtual Dive Gallery of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. Click on an image below to start your dive. These sanctuary views can be enjoyed on a personal computer or a smartphone. Pair your smartphone with a virtual reality headset or goggles of your choice (and click the googles icon ) for an extra-immersive experience.

Barrel sponge at East Garden Bank (2014)

Large barrel sponges are part of the landscape throughout the coral reefs of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary...

Healthy times

Extraordinarily healthy, high coral cover, dominated by massive brain and star corals, is the norm at the East and West Flower Garden Banks...

Big barrel sponge (West Flower Garden Bank, 2016)

A massive barrel sponge sits among corals suffering from coral bleaching near buoy #2, West Flower Garden Bank...

Bleached brain coral (2016)

This large bleached brain coral has expelled its symbiotic algae, which normally provides the color to coral tissues...

Bleaching, algae, and a lionfish, OH MY!

Coral bleaching was the worst on record in 2016 - the white corals are stressed, having suffered from prolonged, elevated water temperature...

Images created in collaboration with The Ocean Agency. For more information regarding virtual diving in NOAA's national marine sanctuaries, contact Mitchell.Tartt@noaa.gov

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