Deadman's fingers

Photo: Sylvain Le Bris · CC BY-NC

The cold, nutrient-rich water at 68 metres supports dense colonies of Alcyonium palmatum, a soft coral that drapes the aircraft's structural members in pale lobed growths. It is a suspension feeder that thrives in moderate current, catching plankton with retracted polyps. The contrast between the wartime machine and the slowly encrusting marine life gives the B-17 wreck its particular visual quality.