About the Authors

Michael G. Reuscher

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

michael.reuscher@tamucc.edu

Affiliation Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Texas, United States of America

Jeffrey G. Baguley

Roles Funding acquisition, Investigation, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Biology, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, Nevada, United States of America

Nathan Conrad-Forrest

Roles Investigation

Affiliation Department of Biology, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, Nevada, United States of America

Cynthia Cooksey

Roles Project administration, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Charleston, South Carolina, United States of America

Jeffrey L. Hyland

Roles Conceptualization, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Charleston, South Carolina, United States of America

Christopher Lewis

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Industrial Economics, Incorporated, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America

Paul A. Montagna

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Texas, United States of America

Robert W. Ricker

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Supervision

Affiliation Office of Response and Restoration, Assessment and Restoration Division, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Santa Rosa, California, United States of America

Melissa Rohal

Roles Investigation

Affiliation Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Texas, United States of America

Travis Washburn

Roles Investigation, Project administration

Affiliation Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Texas, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have the following interests: Ships for sample collection was funded by British Petroleum (www.bp.com). Christopher Lewis is employed by Industrial Economics, Incorporated. The study design and scope of work for the present deep-water/soft-bottom benthic study was approved jointly by representatives of the DWH NRDA Trustees and BP. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.