Abstract
Prosperous deep coral mounds including living colonies of Lophelia pertusa together with Madrepora oculata and Desmophyllum dianthus (= D. cristagalli) have been discovered in 2000, by fishery operations on the eastern side of the Ionian Sea. The living coral mounds are located between ca. 300 and 1,100 m on a gently dipping shelf off Apulia at Santa Maria di Leuca (SML), and characterized by a complex seabed topography. Side scan sonar, shallow high-resolution seismics and sampling indicate that these Lophelia-bearing coral mounds colonize quasi-indurate (firmground) Pleistocene sediment. At places live corals were found on Pleistocene coral-hardgrounds. The fauna associated with these Ionian modern coral mounds is less diversified than modern Eastern Atlantic counterparts. The core of living coral mounds colonies is at present located in 500–700 m and is tentatively suggested that their survival is mostly controlled by oceanographic factors. The SML coral banks represent so far a unique example of living Lophelia-bearing coral mounds in the Mediterranean basin.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Captain, Officers, Crew and Colleagues onboard r/v Urania during cruise CORAL for their cooperation. The mission was funded by CNR and ISMAR-Bologna with additional support provided by the Universities of Milano, Bari, Bologna, Trieste and Erlangen. We are indebted with Fabio Trincardi for valuable discussions and the critical reading of the manuscript. Thanks are due to Helmut Zibrowius and to an unknown referee for useful comments that helped to improve this text. This article is a contribution to SINAPSI, ESF Euromargins “MOUNDFORCE” and FIRB “APLABES” programmes. IGM scientific contribution no. 1417
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Taviani, M., Remia, A., Corselli, C. et al. First geo-marine survey of living cold-water Lophelia reefs in the Ionian Sea (Mediterranean basin). Facies 50, 409–417 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-004-0039-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-004-0039-0