The Dendrophyllia Topping on the Cone
F. Tempera • M. Carreiro-Silva • K. Jakobsen • F.M. Porteiro • A. Braga-Henriques • J. Jakobsen
Fig. 1 a. Mont´Ana bathymetry (yellow circle delineates reef area). b. Eguchipsammia reef photographed from Lula 1000. c. Reef framework. d. Close-up of polyps. / A reef formed by the azooxanthellate scleractinian coral genus Eguchipsammia Cairns, 1994 (Dendrophylliidae), identified following the morphological descriptions by Zibrowius (1980) and Cairns (2000), was discovered in July 2013 off the Faial-Pico Channel (Azores, Northeast Atlantic). This is the first record of such an extensive living Eguchipsammia framework and the first major discovery by the Rebikoff-Niggeler Foundation with its recently-inaugurated manned submersible Lula1000.
The recently located reef was found at 280-300m depth, on the very top of a partially collapsed and rejuvenated volcanic cone (Fig. 1A). This dense framework covers an estimated 1000m2 with the living bright yellow polyps standing out from the dead skeletons (Fig. 1B-D). The underlying substrate is partially visible, suggesting that the reef is less than 1m thick.
The distribution range of the genus Eguchipsammia in the Atlantic Ocean previously included multiple localities in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, at depths between 9 and 300 m, and southwestern Europe, from the Coral Patch Seamount to the Celtic Sea at depths ranging 330-960 m (Cairns 2000; Wienberg et al. 2013). The present record attests the presence of the genus in the central North Atlantic, filling the gap within its amphi-Atlantic distribution range. It also extends the number of dendrophylliid corals known from the Azores to eight (Braga-Henriques et al. 2013).
The present discovery suggests that the bioengineering role of this genus may be undervalued. Similar to some formerly-congeneric Dendrophyllia species in the geological record (e.g., Lauridsen et al. 2012), this Eguchipsammia may be an important upper-slope cold-water reef-building coral in the present.
Acknowledgements FT was supported by Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT-IP, Portugal) post-doctoral grant (SFRH/BPD/79801/2011); MCS was supported by FCT post-doctoral grant (SFRH/BPD/34634/2007). AB-H was funded by the Regional Government of the Azores (RGA) - Regional Fund for Science and Technology doctoral grant (FRCT/M3.1.2/F/016/2008). The Rebikoff-Niggeler Foundation’ Lula 1000 submersible was partially funded by the RGA (PROCONVERGENCIA, RAAFDR-07-0381-FEDER-000024). Projects: FCT-IP/MCE - PEst-OE/EEI/LA0009/2011-2014, CORALFISH (FP7-ENV/2007/1/213144), MeshAtlantic (AA-10/1218525/BF), MORPH (FP7 – ICT 2011-7/ 288704).
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F. Tempera, M. Carreiro-Silva*, FM. Porteiro, A. Braga-Henriques
Centre of IMAR of the University of the Azores, DOP & LARSyS, 9901-862 Horta, Portugal, * E-mail:
K. Jakobsen, J. Jakobsen
Rebikoff-Niggeler Foundation, Rocha Vermelha, Apt. 249, 9900–909 Horta, Portugal