Abstract
The population of solitary scleractinian corals on the submarine Nazca Ridge in the southeast Pacific is more closely related to the fauna of the West Pacific than to the fauna of the East Pacific. Poor coral fauna on the southeast coast of the Pacific Ocean is explained by the effect of powerful circulations of water masses. Determination of the age of common species enables us to reveal the relationship of scleractinians with ocean currents in the past. Coral species sampled by us in the West Pacific were older: of the Upper Cretaceous and the Paleogene. We assumed that larvae of these ancient scleractinids could be only benthic and were transported by currents of deep and intermediate water masses. The distribution of larvae of Paleocene benthic species in the Pacific Ocean may be explained by deep currents associated with the Coriolis effect. The direction of migration is suggested without specifying a starting point: from Japan through the Aleutian Archipelago to the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago and through Australia and New Zealand to the Galapagos and Nazca Ridge.
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Translated by I. Bel’chenko
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Keller, N.B., Olshanetsky, D.M. Peculiarities of Solitary Scleractinian Corals of the Nazca Ridge and Their Relationship with Ocean Currents in the Past. Oceanology 62, 860–866 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437022400028
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437022400028