. Cold-water Coral Reefs: out of sight - no longer out of mind. UNEP-WCMC Biodiversity Series 22. Cold-water coral reefs. (A) Coral garden off Adak Island (Aleutians) containing blacl( corals lAntipathes , gorgonlan octocorals, sponges and a basl<et star. IBI Octocorals from Adak Canyon (Aleutians) witfi brittle stars. (C) Juvenile sharpchin rockfish between Primnoa resedaeformis from the Gulf of Alaska. (D) Paragorgia arborea, the home of associated shrimp and crabs, Gulf of Alaska such as Primnoa resedaeformis can live for centuries (Risk et al., 2002; Andrews et al., 20021. An increa
. Cold-water Coral Reefs: out of sight - no longer out of mind. UNEP-WCMC Biodiversity Series 22. Cold-water coral reefs. (A) Coral garden off Adak Island (Aleutians) containing blacl( corals lAntipathes , gorgonlan octocorals, sponges and a basl<et star. IBI Octocorals from Adak Canyon (Aleutians) witfi brittle stars. (C) Juvenile sharpchin rockfish between Primnoa resedaeformis from the Gulf of Alaska. (D) Paragorgia arborea, the home of associated shrimp and crabs, Gulf of Alaska such as Primnoa resedaeformis can live for centuries (Risk et al., 2002; Andrews et al., 20021. An increase in the number of studies of deep and cold-water habitats being carried out has led to the discovery of a growing number of octocoral-dominated ecosystems, which are being described as octocoral gardens or forests. The region that probably harbours the highest abundance and diversity of octocorals is the thousand-mile-long Aleutian Island chain between Alaska and Russia, in the northern Pacific (Stone and Malecha, 20031. Rich octocoral communities are also found in the neighbouring Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska (Heifetz, 20021. In these areas, the deep shelf and continental slope is punctuated with volcanic seamounts and island archi- pelagos that act as sieves for nutrient-rich water flows. The octocoral gardens are rich in rockfish ISetasfesI, with six species that seek protection within and between the coral colonies IKrieger and Wing, 20021. Other common protection seekers are shrimp and crustaceans. The associated suspension feeders consist of feather stars Icrinoidsl, basket stars \Gorgono- cephalus] and sponges. Some species have been iden- tified as polyp feeders on the corals, and these include sea stars [Hippasteria heathi], nudibranchs [Tritonia exuisans] and snails IKrieger and Wing, 20021. Another octocoral hotspot is the Gully, off Nova Scotia, Canada (Figure 221. The Gully is the largest submarine canyon of the eastern Canadian continental margin and is more th
Size: 1998px × 1250px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bhlconsortium, book, bookcollectionbiodiversity, bookleafnumber32
