In News
- Recently, five new species of black corals were discovered in the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea off the coast of Australia.
About Black Corals
- Colonial animals: Black corals or antipatharians are colonial animals which are related to sea anemones and stony corals.
- They are named for the color of their stiff, black or brownish skeleton.
- More than 150 species of black corals have been described. At least 14 species of black corals are currently known from Hawai’i.
- Distribution: Black corals are found in all oceans, but are most common in deep water habitats of tropical and subtropical seas.
- Black corals are carnivores.
- Characteristics
- Black corals can be found growing both in shallow waters and down to depths of over 26,000 feet (8,000 meters), and some individual corals can live for over 4,000 years.
- Many of these corals are branched and look like feathers, fans or bushes, while others are straight like a whip.
- Black corals are filter feeders and eat tiny zooplankton that are abundant in deep waters.
- While colourful shallow-water corals rely on the sun and photosynthesis for energy.
- Similarly to shallow-water corals that build colourful reefs full of fish, black corals act as important habitats where fish and invertebrates feed and hide from predators in what is otherwise a mostly barren sea floor.
Major Challenges associated with Black Corals
- In the past, corals from the deep parts of this region were collected using dredging and trawling methods that would often destroy the corals.
- Current expeditions were the first to send a robot down to these particular deep-water ecosystems, allowing the team to actually see and safely collect deep sea corals in their natural habitats.
- Many black corals are threatened by illegal harvesting for jewellery.
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What are Coral Reefs?
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR)
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Source: TH
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