Peer Aquatic Biology
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Using remotely operated surveys conducted in 2014 with the ROV Hercules on the E/V Nautilus, we surveyed coral assemblages and ambient seawater variables between 162 and 2,157 m on Dog Seamount, Conrad Seamount, and Noori Seamount.
Living specimens of the ahermatypical stony coral species Dendrophyllia alternata were also found, this is probably one of the few in situ photos ever taken, usually only white skeletal parts are shown.
The growth of a scleractinian coral and the formation of the aragonitic calcium carbonate skeleton are generally dependent on the saturation state of the surrounding seawater with aragonite being greater than 1 Ωarag, i.e. supersaturated.
However, some deep-water stony corals, including the cosmopolitan species Solenosmilia variabilis and Enallopsammia rostrata, have been recorded well below the saturation horizon (der) on Tasmanian seamounts.
A recent survey of seamounts in the northwestern Hawaiiian Islands and Emperor Seamounts documented living colonial stony coral reefs at a Ωarag of only 0.71
Dendrophyllia alternata is a cold-water species that depends on a continuous catch of zooplankton and marine snow.
Due to the regular water depth, very few people will be able to enjoy a live colony.
Etnoyer, PJ, TC Shirley, KA Lavelle. 2011.
Deep Coral and Associated Species Taxonomy and Ecology
(DeepCAST) II Expedition Report. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS 137.
NOAA/NOS Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research, Charleston, SC. 42 pp.
Living specimens of the ahermatypical stony coral species Dendrophyllia alternata were also found, this is probably one of the few in situ photos ever taken, usually only white skeletal parts are shown.
The growth of a scleractinian coral and the formation of the aragonitic calcium carbonate skeleton are generally dependent on the saturation state of the surrounding seawater with aragonite being greater than 1 Ωarag, i.e. supersaturated.
However, some deep-water stony corals, including the cosmopolitan species Solenosmilia variabilis and Enallopsammia rostrata, have been recorded well below the saturation horizon (der) on Tasmanian seamounts.
A recent survey of seamounts in the northwestern Hawaiiian Islands and Emperor Seamounts documented living colonial stony coral reefs at a Ωarag of only 0.71
Dendrophyllia alternata is a cold-water species that depends on a continuous catch of zooplankton and marine snow.
Due to the regular water depth, very few people will be able to enjoy a live colony.
Etnoyer, PJ, TC Shirley, KA Lavelle. 2011.
Deep Coral and Associated Species Taxonomy and Ecology
(DeepCAST) II Expedition Report. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS 137.
NOAA/NOS Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research, Charleston, SC. 42 pp.
