DEEP CORAL ECOSYSTEMS OF THE U.S. PACIFIC COAST: CA, OR, WA

[AquaticEngineer]

Found a very cool paper on the NOAA website and thought I would share.

 

Heres a few blurbs that I thought were interesting:

Records of deep corals off the U.S. Pacific coast span latitudes between 32 and 49°N and from the shoreline out to the seaward boundary of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), including depth zones from the intertidal down to the bathyal (3900 meters). In total, 101 species of corals from six cnidarian orders have been identified within the EEZ including 18 species of stony corals (Class Anthozoa, Order Scleractinia) from seven families, seven species of black corals (Order Antipatharia) from three families, 36 species of gorgonians (Order Gorgonacea) from 10 families, eight species of true soft corals (Order Alcyonacea) from three families, 27 species of pennatulaceans (Order Pennatulacea) from eleven families, and five species of stylasterid corals (Class Hydrozoa, Order Anthoathecatae, Family Stylasteridae; Appendix 3.1).

 

How about some branching NPS stony corals??

 

Stony corals (Class Anthozoa, Order

Scleractinia)Stony corals off the Pacific coast include 18 species from seven families (Appendix 3.1). Most of the records of stony coral are of solitary, non-branching cup corals (e.g., Balanophyllia elegans). However, at least seven branching species are known to occur in the region, including Lophelia pertusa, Oculina profunda, Madrepora oculata, Dendrophyllia oldroydae, Astrangia haimei, Labyrinthocyathus quaylei and Coenocyathus bowersi.

 

Here's some google image pics of the above listed stony corals.

 

Lophelia pertusa

 

Madrepora oculata

 

Colonial Cup Coral Photo, Coenocyathus bowersi

 

LINK TO NOAA PDF FILE

[lgreen]

That's awesome. I had no idea there was that much coral diversity at those depths/temperatures in the Pacific.

[iAquanaut]

Thanks for sharing! This just helped me to identify a polyp that hitchhiked into my tank!

[d'Espresso]

nice

[bigmikey177]

Those cup corals look awesome!!!

[AquaticEngineer]

Those cup corals look awesome!!!

 

Yeah I would really like to get some of the colonial cup corals like in the picture, but they are found further south

 

I did however find out that the spot I went collecting last time does indeed have cup corals, I just wasn't looking in the right places for them.