My OperaCold Water Coral Reefs
Friday, June 15, 2012 9:39:15 AM
I think that most of us tend to associate coral reefs and living corals with shallow, well lighted, clear tropical waters. Corals, however, also grow in the deep, cold sea. The dominant reef building, deep water coral is Lophelia pertusa - at least as far as the North Atlantic is concerned. Unlike its tropical relatives, Lophelia does not need algae and light for survival and it is mainly found in deep water at depths between 200-1000 metres. The record for the deepest reef stands at 3000 m while the shallowest record of a living Lophelia reef is at 40 m in Trondheimsfjorden, Norway.
Lophelia is abundant in Norwegian waters, and the world's largest known Lophelia-reef, the Røst-reef, is located at Lofoten, in northern Norway. It was discovered in 2002.
Three so far unknown coral-reefs have recently been discovered in the Norwegian waters off the coast of Trøndelag, a geographical region in the central part of Norway. The discoveries were done in the ongoing Norwegian sea-mapping project MAREANO.
In Norwegian:
Lophelia is abundant in Norwegian waters, and the world's largest known Lophelia-reef, the Røst-reef, is located at Lofoten, in northern Norway. It was discovered in 2002.
Three so far unknown coral-reefs have recently been discovered in the Norwegian waters off the coast of Trøndelag, a geographical region in the central part of Norway. The discoveries were done in the ongoing Norwegian sea-mapping project MAREANO.
- http://www.fisheries.no/ecosystems-and-stocks/Marine-protected-areas/coral_reefs_in_Norwegian_waters/
- http://www.imr.no/coral/news.php
- http://coris.noaa.gov/about/deep/
- http://www.ices.dk/marineworld/deepseacoral.asp
- http://www.ices.dk/marineworld/deepseacoral.asp
In Norwegian:
