Unlike the well-publicized turmoil of pelicans, turtles, fish and other obvious animal victims of the Gulf oil spill, the fate of corals more than 1,000 feet below the surface remains unknown. "There are increasing reports from some colleagues out at sea right now who are finding subsurface oil plumes at depth that are moving around," said Erik Cordes, a marine ecologist at Temple's College of Science and Technology. "Those are the things that are starting to scare us."