Deep-Sea Coral Collection Protocols - NOAA's Coral Reef ...

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Ahermatypic scleractinians of the western Atlanticby John K. ReedWestern Atlantic Deep-Water Coral ReefsThe dominant corals forming deep-water reefs in the western Atlantic region off southeastern US and Gulf ofMexico are Oculina varicosa, Lophelia pertusa, and Enallopsammia profunda (Reed 2002 a,b,Schroeder et al. 2005). Other branching colonial scleractinia also occur, including Solenosmilia variabilis,Madrepora oculata, and Madracis myriaster, as well as numerous solitary coral species (Cairns, 1979).The deep-water Oculina bioherms form an extensive reef system at depths of 70-100 m along the shelf edgeand are only known off central eastern Florida. These reefs are comprised of numerous pinnacles and ridges,3 to 35 m in height. In comparison, deep-water reefs of Lophelia pertusa and Enallopsammia profundacorals often occur together at depths of 500-850 m from Florida to North Carolina and the Gulf of Mexico.These form reef structures from 10 to 150 m in height. Deep-water Lophelia reefs also occur worldwideand extensively off Norway and Scotland. The structure of both the Oculina and Lophelia reefs are oftensimilar. Each pinnacle may consist of a bank of unconsolidated sediment and coral debris that is capped onthe slopes and crest with living and dead colonies of coral.14.Fig. 12. Colony and branch tip for : top - Oculina varicosa (80m); middle - Lophelia pertusa (490 m); bottom - Enallopsammiaprofunda (585 m). Scale lines = 1 cm; top left fig. scale = 5 cm. From Reed, J. K. 2002.Fig. 13. Morphological features of coral corallite. From Cairns, S. 1981.Fig. 14. Septa patterns of a coral calice. From Cairns, S. 1981.1112.13.
Scleractinian Coral DescriptionsOculina varicosa Lesueur, 1820: In deep water (>60 m), O. varicosa forms spherical, dendroid, bushycolonies that grow to 1 to 2 m in diameter and height (Fig. 12, top). Individual corals may coalesce forminglinear colonies 3-4 m in length or massive thickets of contiguous colonies on the slopes and crests of the deepwaterreefs (Reed, 1980; Reed 2002 a,b). The branches average 3-6 mm in diameter and frequentlyanastomose. Corallites are distributed spirally around the branches, and calices are generally 2-3 mm indiameter with 3 cycles (24) of septa which extend as costae or ridges on the outside of the calices. Thedeep-water form lacks zooxanthellae, whereas in shallow water O. varicosa is usually golden brown withthe algal symbiont. The shallow-water O. varicosa colonies average
Page 1 and 2: DEEP-SEA CORAL COLLECTION PROTOCOLS
Page 3 and 4: DEEP-SEA CORAL COLLECTION PROTOCOLS
Page 5 and 6: Table of ContentsForward ………
Page 8 and 9: Deep-sea coral habitat and rangeby
Page 10 and 11: Branching patterns in octocoralsby
Page 12 and 13: Fig. 9. Examples of deep-water cora
Page 14 and 15: Sclerites in octocoralsby Stephen D
Page 18 and 19: Reproduction in deep-sea colonial c
Page 20 and 21: Although the focus of this chapter
Page 22 and 23: Genetic methods for species identif
Page 24 and 25: Handling procedures adopted by the
Page 26 and 27: Specimen deterioration. We have see
Page 28 and 29: Documenting deep-sea coral collecti
Page 30 and 31: Video protocol (cont.)Video transec
Page 32 and 33: John Reed's August 22 article on St
Page 34 and 35: CollectingThere is a broad range of
Page 36 and 37: Tissue preservationa. Do not let sp
Page 38 and 39: Some preservation techniques for (d
Page 40 and 41: LabelingThe significance of proper
Page 42 and 43: References and further readingAbbia
Page 44 and 45: Etnoyer, P., and L. Morgan. 2005. H
Page 46 and 47: McFadden, C.S., and M.B. Hutchinson
Page 48 and 49: Van Oppen, M.J.H., B.L. Willis, and
Page 50 and 51: Appendix 1. Classification of the D
Page 52 and 53: Appendix 2. Deep-sea coral Panel of
Page 54: Appendix 3. Deep-sea corals onlineN

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