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Deep-water coral Paragorgia arborea and a Coryphaenoides fish at a depth of 1,255 m (4,117 ft) on the Davidson Seamount. The habitat of deep-water corals, also known as cold-water corals, extends to deeper, darker parts of the oceans than tropical corals, ranging from near the surface to the abyss, beyond 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) where water temperatures may be as cold as 4 °C (39 °F).
Callogorgia is a genus of deep sea corals that are ideally suited to be habitats for different organisms. They reproduce both sexually and asexually, clinging to the hard substrate of the ocean during their maturation process. Callogorgia are found
Black corals occur throughout all the oceans from the surface down to the deep-sea, though nearly 75% of species are only found at depths below 50 m (164 ft). The sole oceanic area in which black corals have not been found are brackish waters, though they can inhabit areas with decreased salinity. [15]
The classification of corals has been discussed for millennia, owing to having similarities to both plants and animals. Aristotle's pupil Theophrastus described the red coral, korallion, in his book on stones, implying it was a mineral, but he described it as a deep-sea plant in his Enquiries on Plants, where he also mentions large stony plants that reveal bright flowers when under water in ...
Alcyonacea are an order of sessile colonial cnidarians that are found throughout the oceans of the world, especially in the deep sea, polar waters, tropics and subtropics. Whilst not in a strict taxonomic sense, Alcyonacea are commonly known as soft corals.
Lophelia pertusa is a reef building, deep water coral, but it does not contain zooxanthellae, the symbiotic algae which lives inside most tropical reef building corals. [6] Lophelia lives at a temperature range from about 4–12 °C (39–54 °F) and at depths between 80 metres (260 ft) and over 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), but most commonly at ...
Researchers speculate that Davidson Seamount is an ideal habitat for deep-sea corals and sponges because it has favorable bottom rock (bare lava rock), a steady food supply (supplied by a water current favoring the seamount; see the section above), and has not been disturbed by strong bottom currents than often bother other seafloor areas.
Because it is difficult to access deep sea corals for study, relatively little is known about the microbiome of P. arborea. It has been found to have a host-specific microbiome and an external surface mucopolysaccharide layer (SML), which is a mucus that acts as a defense against water-borne pathogens and helps the coral filter feed. [4]