Grateful to all my co-authors and the expedition leaders that allowed us to sample for this study and made this work possible 🪸

This study provides:
- A reference collection for octocoral research in the Red Sea
- New insights into mesophotic and deep-sea biodiversity, still largely unexplored, as well as 10 new records for the Red Sea
- A foundation for biodiversity assessments in this rapidly developing region

Here, we present the first comprehensive molecular assessment of octocoral diversity in the Saudi Arabian Red Sea, harnessing sampling efforts spanning the latitudinal extension of the basin and more than 800 m depths.