Deep sea corals in the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

Dubokomorski okoliš donedavno je bio neistražen i čovjeku gotovo nepoznat, no u posljednjih nekoliko desetljeća krenula su detaljnija istraživanja zahvaljujući razvoju novih tehnologija. Velik dio raznolikosti toga okoliša na čvrstoj podlozi čine dubokomorski koralji. Oni u dubinama formiraju kompleksna trodimenzionalna staništa koja su sklonište, hranilište i rastilište mnogih drugih organizama, nekih čak i komercijalno važnih. Znanstvenici su u Sredozemnom moru otkrili niz lokacija na kojima su zajednice dubokomorskih koralja vrlo dobro razvijene. U ovom radu predstavljen je kratak pregled tri najvažnija sredozemna područja s zajednicama dubokomorskih koralja: Sicilijski kanal, Santa Maria di Leuca u Jonskom moru te južni dio Jadranskog mora. Na tim staništima prevladavaju dubokomorski kameni koralji u suživotu s mnogobrojnim vrstama drugih organizama. Ove su dugoživuće i spororastuće zajednice izrazito osjetljive na okolišne promjene uzrokovane čovjekovim djelatnostima te su zato i krajnje ugrožene.Until recently, deep sea environment was unexplored and almost unknown to man, but in the past few decades detailed research has begun due to development of new technologies. A great part of biodiversity of that environment on the hard substrata refers to deep sea corals. In the deep, they create complex three-dimensional habitats, which provide shelter, food and nursery ground to many other organisms, some even commercially important. The scientists discovered a number of locations in the Mediterranean Sea where deep sea coral communities are very well developed. In this paper, three most important Mediterranean areas with deep sea coral communities are presented: Sicily channel, Santa Maria di Leuca in the Ionian Sea and the southern part of the Adriatic Sea. These habitats are dominated by deep-sea scleractianian (stony) corals living side-by-side with numerous species of other organisms. Those long-living and slow-growing communities are very sensitive to environmental changes caused by human activities and therefore they are extremely endangered