Amphipods on Plumarella

Sorry its been forever since a posting. What can I say? Its been a long field season!

Getting ready to head West again. Kinda hoping to see more deep-sea tube-dwelling amphipods this year. The video shows the little Amphipod buggers crawling all over a colony of Plumarella longispina from 500 m depth in Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary just last summer.

The sea fans make a home for these amphipods, so it makes you wonder if the benefits to rockfish from sea fans are more direct, as refuge, or more indirect, as substrate for prey like amphipods. Does anyone know do rockfish eat amphipods? They look yummy.