On September 6-10, 2018 the SEDCI supported a five-day expedition aboard the R/V Manta. Led by Emma Hickerson, the expedition surveyed banks in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico using the ROV Mohawk operated by the UNCW-UVP. Funds provided by the SEDCI paid for five days of ship time of the R/V Manta, which leveraged five days of ROV operations at no additional cost to the project. During the expedition, 21 ROV dives were completed to depths between 80-126 m. These dives targeted five different banks around FGBNMS (Alderdice, Parker, Sidner, Rezak and Bouma) and focused on collecting information to characterize the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico, including sites within proposed expansion of the FGBNMS (ONMS 2016). Still images will be processed by Raven Walker (FGBNMS) to quantify the benthic fauna on the banks. Additionally, 37 coral samples and 32 algae, sponge and invertebrate samples were collected during the expedition. Mercer Brugler at the City University of New York (CUNY) will process the black coral samples for taxonomic and phylogenetic analyses. David Hicks at the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) will process the octocoral samples for genetic analyses.