Mesophotic Reefs with Yi Kai Tea | The Deep Sea Podcast | Episode 60

An image comes to mind when we think of coral reefs, but how deep does the reef go? It turns out to be hundreds of meters. We are discussing the often-overlooked mesophotic reefs.

In this episode…

Alan has been checking out hypercars while sharks have been checking out Thom. In the news, we have art, anglerfish, squid and sea spiders. Then an orafish turns up and we are all doomed.

In this month's episode, we discuss mesophotic reefs, the deeper extents of coral reefs that have been overlooked in the past. It’s a wild ride that leads us to home-made hyperbaric chambers, the aquarium trade and the world’s most expensive fish. Strap in for a rollercoaster ride as we dive to the limits of scuba.

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Keep up with the team on social media
Twitter:
Alan - @Hadalbloke
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Thom - @ThomLinley
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Instagram:
Thom - @thom.linley
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Inkfish - @inkfishexpeditions
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BlueSky:
Thom @thomaslinley.com
https://bsky.app/profile/thomaslinley...

Reference list
Discord Updates
Join our Patreon to get access to the Discord
  / deepseapodcast  

The New Zealand wandering anemone
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlyc...

The supergiant amphipod wiki page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicella

News
Under the Sea Exhibit
https://www.mokuartstudio.com/under-t...

Anglerfish radiation paper
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/art...
Alexes website
https://www.anoplogaster.com/

Oarfish are turning up everywhere
https://www.theguardian.com/environme...
Andrew and Thom’s oarfish blog
https://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2025/07/0...

DOSI new podcast - Think Deep!
https://www.dosi-project.org/think-deep/

Marine Snow Carbon Transport
https://phys.org/news/2025-06-marine-...

Methane Powered Sea-Spiders
https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073...

Ancient Oceans filled with Squid
https://phys.org/news/2025-06-ancient...

Interview
Kai’s website
www.yikaitea.com

Instagram
  / kaithefishguy  

Bluesky
https://bsky.app/profile/kaithefishgu...

Twitter
https://x.com/FishGuyKai

Mesophotic fish collecting video
   • Mesophotic fish collecting  
Taken by Ghislain Bardout from Under The Pole. The diver is Timothy Bennett, and he was collecting for the Australian Museum Research Expedition

One of Kai’s recent mesophotic reef papers
https://link.springer.com/article/10....

The hyperbaric chamber for fishes
https://www.calacademy.org/press/rele...

The paper where the chamber is described
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/...

FishPix
https://fishpix.kahaku.go.jp/fishimag...

The peppermint Angelfish
https://www.liveaquaria.com/general/g...

Kai’s video of the peppermint angel
   • Paracentropyge boylei  

Teresa’s project
http://www.coastcaboverde.eu

Her recent paper on black corals
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...

Coffee with Andrew
Ribbonfish larvae paper
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/11898...

Credits
Theme: Hadal Zone Express by Märvel
Logo image: The peppermint angel by Yi-Kai Tea