. Cold-water Coral Reefs: out of sight - no longer out of mind. UNEP-WCMC Biodiversity Series 22. Cold-water coral reefs IGngg, 197'1; Garrabou and Harmelln, 20021. Such a case is CoralUum. Its hard calcareous skeleton and the intense red colour unfortunately make it very attractive to the coral trade. A vi/ell-known hotspot with a diverse community of precious corals is found along the deep slopes of the Hawaiian Islands and seamounts. Precious corals have recently been discovered in the southwestern Atlantic off Brazil, associated with L. pertusa (Castro et al., 20031. Sea fans Probably the
. Cold-water Coral Reefs: out of sight - no longer out of mind. UNEP-WCMC Biodiversity Series 22. Cold-water coral reefs IGngg, 197'1; Garrabou and Harmelln, 20021. Such a case is CoralUum. Its hard calcareous skeleton and the intense red colour unfortunately make it very attractive to the coral trade. A vi/ell-known hotspot with a diverse community of precious corals is found along the deep slopes of the Hawaiian Islands and seamounts. Precious corals have recently been discovered in the southwestern Atlantic off Brazil, associated with L. pertusa (Castro et al., 20031. Sea fans Probably the largest octocoral colonies are found within the sea fans, or gorgonian corals. Sea fans are anchored to the bottom by a holdfast, out of which grows a central flexible trunk that branches up into the water column. Colonies that are several centuries old can be as high as 5 m, and are likened to trees' in a cold-water environment (Andrews et al., 20021. Gorgonians produce a protein skeleton which is made up of a wood-like core that is surrounded by a softer layer called the rind. Coral polyps are embedded in this rind and extend their bodies through openings in order to feed. Their huge fan-like colonies are oriented to prevailing currents. Common genera with a cosmopolitan distribution are Ptacomus. Paragorgia and Primnoa. Bamboo corals A third group of octocorals frequently found in deep- and cold-water environments are bamboo corals, which have a peculiar skeletal arrangement strongly resembling bamboo plants. Heavily calcified skeletal elements alternate with proteinaceous gorgonin elements. Bamboo corals develop fragile colonies measuring several tens of centimetres across. Common genera are Acanella, Isidetla and Keratoisis. Cold-water lace corals IStylasteridael Lace corals are hydrozoan corals with a calcified and delicately branched skeleton. In tropical coral reefs lace corals are widely known as fire corals because of the fierce- ly stinging abilities of MiUepora. Lac
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