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Article History

Received: 11 April 2024

Accepted: 23 December 2024

First Online: 3 February 2025

Declarations

: All applicable guidelines for sampling, care, and experimental use of organisms were followed, but as this work was conducted with an unregulated invertebrate species, no approvals from research ethics committees were required. This work was supported by the Coral Propagation Technique Development project. Funding for the Mesophotic and Deep Benthic Communities Coral Propagation Technique Development Project was provided by the Open Ocean Trustee Implementation Group to restore natural resources injured by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. All authors contributed to the study conception, design, and manuscript preparation. Julia Johnstone prepared the histological material, drafted the manuscript, compiled the figures (except for the map, which was provided by E. Salgado), and analyzed the data. Will Jenkins, Mackenzy Jankeiwicz, Jonathan Quigley, Janessy Frometa, Enrique Salgado, and Ben Higgins collected the data across the two years of spawning and provided edits and images during the drafting of the manuscript. Amanda Demopoulos, Chris Gardner, Peter Etnoyer, and Kris Benson supported the work as federal project managers or lab leads. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are included as online supplementary information. The scientific results and conclusions, as well as any views or opinions expressed herein, are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA, the Department of Commerce, USGS, or the Department of the Interior. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.