around 1,476 feet (450 m), where the water temperature is between 46 and 54°F (8–12°C), or roughly the same as that found in Puget Sound, Washington; the age of one of these was determined to be 2,742 years. The specimens were not very large, less than 6.5 feet (2 m) in height, and the radial growth rates of the branches, or how fast a branch got thicker, were extremely low at 0.013–0.001 inch (4–35 μm) per year. Savalia individuals of such ancient age are not restricted to Hawai’ian waters; a Savalia skeleton that had lived 1,800 years before it died was recently recovered near the Bahamas. Large stand of staghorn Acropora. Because they reproduce by fragmenting, a particular genome could theoretically be millions of years old. THINGS ARE LOOKING BLACK The Antipatharians, or black corals, are corals that have wholly proteinaceous skeletons and small polyps with only six tentacles. Typically found in deeper waters, a few species are common at diving depths, and occasionally a specimen is collected for the aquarium hobby. They may be quite large, particularly the whip-like wire or whip corals, Cirripathes species, which may reach over 16 feet (5 m) in length as they extend from deep reef walls, but most branching black corals look rather like gorgonians and are found in the same size range, up to 65 feet (a couple of meters) high. The common name, black coral, reflects the color of the skeleton, not the color of the living tissue, which typically is in hues of orange or yellow for shallower forms. Some of the deep-water species are stark white, as are individuals of a number of other deep-water species, particularly those of the stony coral Lophelia. Because the skeletons of black corals are proteinaceous, their ages are typically determined radiometrically, primarily using the abundance of the radioactive 14 C isotope of carbon incorporated into them as it was deposited. This isotope decays into the stable 12 C at a known and highly calibrated rate. By measuring the proportional abundances of both carbon isotopes, the age of the sample can be determined. To measure the ages of these corals, very small samples of the skeleton are vaporized and the isotope abundances are determined; then, using some reference data, it is relatively easy to determine the age of the sample. Examination of a few specimens of Antipathes dichotoma from shallow, 164-foot-deep (50-m) Hawai’ian waters showed ages from 12 to 32 years. These colonies were also growing quite rapidly, adding as much as 0.04 inch (1.1 mm) in branch diameter per year. On the other hand, samples from several individual corals in what are probably several different species of Leiopathes are the “All-Coral” winners of the “olde age lottery.” One specimen each of an indeterminate species and Leiopathes glaberrima from near Hawai’i were 4,265 and 2,377 years old, respectively. The radial growth rates of these colonies were less than 5μm per year. Leiopathes species are ubiquitous in the deep sea and have been collected from the Northwest Pacific, near Antarctica, and many areas in between. Given that the ages of fewer than a dozen speci- CBPIX/SHUTTERSTOCK 82 CORAL
TK CORAL 83
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THE REEF & MARINE AQUARIUM MAGAZINE
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EDITOR & PUBLISHER | James M. Lawre
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CORAL 5
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getting a species out of the endang
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Purchasing Marine Animals Will Neve
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Hatchery in Puerto Rico, which was
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The coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae
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of the warming of the Mediterranean
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Parenting comes at a price for male
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Inspired by Mother Nature. Engineer
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Text & images by SCOTT W. MICHAEL E
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off the coast of East Africa, east
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ONLY POLY-FILTER®AND KOLD STER-IL
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Photo courtesy of Georgia Aquarium
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Over the last four years we also id
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tually, tissue. Large water changes
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An enhanced, natural salt manufactu