Black corals in the Canary Islands: zonation and distribution of Antipatharia species

Comunicación presentada al IX International Symposium on Marine Science, celebrado en Valencia entre los días 10 y 12 de julio de 2024

Within the framework of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), the Oceanographic Centre of the Canary Islands has coordinated, for the last 14 years, 13 scientific surveys around the archipelago to, amongst others, describe and monitor the existing mesophotic and deep-sea communities. The methodology followed during these surveys consisted on taking georeferenced videos and samples using two remote operated vehicles (i.e. a video camera towed from the vessel -TASIFE- and a semiautonomous video camera wired to the vessel -LIROPUS-), as well as direct sampling with rock dredge and beam trawl. Later, videos and samples were examined for taxonomic identification to the lowest possible level. Here we present the results regarding the zonation and distribution of Antipatharia species (black corals) in the archipelago. The bathymetric range of the studied species encompassed from 50 to 1500 m depth, with Antipathella wollastoni and Bathypathes cf. patula as the species appearing in the shallowest and deepest depths, respectively. Some species, such as Stichopathes gracilis and Antipathes furcata exhibited a broader spatial distribution, while other species were more spatially-restricted, like Bathypathes cf. patula, Leiopathes glaberrima or Elatopathes abietina. Further, this study constitutes the first validated record of Elatopathes abietina on Canarian bottoms.