Studied Species - A Visual Delight

After the selection process we ended up with around 70 papers with the necessary data. While reading these articles about the amazing world of cold-water corals I became more and more fascinated. Coral reefs in general are associated with shallow tropical seas; however, deep-ocean explorations have been revealed diverse coral ecosystems in deep waters. Cold-water coral reefs thrive on continental shelves, slopes, seamounts, and ridge systems at global scales, creating habitats of unique and rich communities. These fragile, long-lived ecosystems are increasingly threatened by environmental changes and localised disturbances, such as bottom trawling. The evidence of physical damage caused by trawling for deep-water fish from which recovery to former reef status can take several hundreds or thousands of years, proves that there is an urgent need for long-term conservation and management plans.