Dense cold-water coral garden of Paragorgia johnsoni suggests the importance of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge for deep-sea biodiversity.

ABSTRACT: Mid-ocean ridges generate a myriad of physical oceanographic processes that favor the supply of food and nutrients to suspension- and filter-feeding organisms, such as cold-water corals and deep-sea sponges. However, the pioneering work conducted along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge failed to report the presence of large and dense living coral reefs, coral gardens, or sponge aggregations. Here, we describe the densest, near-natural, and novel octocoral garden composed of large red and white colonies of Paragorgia johnsoni Gray, 1862 discovered at 545-595 m depth on the slopes of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, in the Azores region. This newly discovered octocoral garden is a good candidate for protection since it fits many of the FAO criteria that define what constitutes a Vulnerable Marine Ecosyst

SUBMITTER: Morato T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8668736 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature