Dr. Rachel O’Neill and graduate student, Kate Castellano, spent two weeks with a team of researchers from Woods Hole, OceanX, and NASA aboard the Alucia research vessel.

With the help of an underwater submersible, they were able sequence the DNA of coral ecosystems thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean; in the protected Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, 130 miles off the coast of Massachusetts.

Click here for the full National Geographic article.