Abstract
The earliest records of cold-water corals from the Mediterranean Sea date back to the eighteenth century when Linnaeus first described Madrepora oculata based on specimens from the central Mediterranean and Tyrrhenian Sea. It was only towards the end of the nineteenth century that cold-water corals were recorded from elsewhere in the Mediterranean, thanks to early research cruises that explored the Mediterranean deep-sea benthos. Although the first records of live cold-water corals date back to the early twentieth century, further observations of living individuals were extremely rare and most records made by the end of the century were actually based on dead or fossil fragments. This led to the idea that extant Mediterranean cold-water coral assemblages are merely relicts of the communities that thrived during the Pleistocene. However, several sites with live framework-forming cold-water coral species were discovered since the year 2000, including six regions identified as cold-water coral provinces given that they support a dense growth of living corals. The emerging picture is that thriving cold-water coral assemblages that are hotspots of deep-sea biodiversity still occur in the Mediterranean, but have a rather punctuate distribution along the circulation path of the Levantine Intermediate Water, which appears to be a main driver for cold-water coral distribution in the Mediterranean.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Duncan PM (1873) A description of the Madreporaria dredged up during the expeditions of HMS ‘Porcupine’ in 1869 and 1870. Trans Zool Soc Lond 8:303–344. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1873.tb00560.x
Linnaeus C (1758) Systema naturae per Regna tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I: Regnum animale (10th ed). Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
Marsilli LF (1725) Histoire physique de la mer. Aux dépens de la Compagnie, Amsterdam
Mastrototaro F, Matarrese A, Tursi A (2002) Un mare di coralli nel Mar Ionio. Biol Mar Medit 9:616–619
Milne Edwards H, Haime J (1850) Recherches sur les Polypiers. Cinquième mémoire: monographie des Oculinides. Ann Sci Nat Zool (sér 3) 13:63–110
Pérès JM, Picard J (1964) Nouveau manuel de bionomie benthique de la mer Méditerranée. Rec Trav Stat Mar Endoume 47:3–137
Schembri PJ, Dimech M, Camilleri M, et al (2007) Living deep-water Lophelia and Madrepora corals in Maltese waters (Strait of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea). Cah Biol Mar 48:77–83
Taviani M, Freiwald F, Zibrowius H (2005) Deep coral growth in the Mediterranean Sea: an overview. In: Freiwald A, Roberts JM (eds) Cold-water corals and ecosystems. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 137–156
Taviani M, Angeletti L, Antolini B, et al (2011) Geo-biology of Mediterranean deep-water coral ecosystems. In: Brugnoli E, Cavaretta G, et al (eds) Marine research at CNR – 2- marine geology (DTA/06–2011), Dipartamento Terra e Ambiente, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Roma, pp 705–719
Taviani M, Angeletti L, Canese S, et al (2017) The “Sardinian cold-water coral province” in the context of the Mediterranean coral ecosystems. Deep-Sea Res Part 2 Top Stud Oceanogr 145:61–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2015.12.008
Zibrowius H (1980) Les scléractiniaires de la Méditerranée et de l’Atlantique nord-oriental. Mém Inst Océanogr (Monaco) 11:1–284
Zibrowius H (2003) The “white coral community”, canyon and seamount faunas of the deep Mediterranean Sea. RAC/SPA – Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas, Tunis, 39 pp
Cross References
Chimienti G, Bo M, Taviani M, et al (this volume) Occurrence and biogeography of Mediterranean cold-water corals
Rueda JL, Urra J, Aguilar R, et al (this volume) Cold-water coral associated fauna in the Mediterranean Sea and adjacent areas
Taviani M (this volume) Changing views about Mediterranean cold-water corals
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Evans, J., Knittweis, L., Borg, J.A., Schembri, P.J. (2019). 3 Cold-Water Corals in the Mediterranean: A History of Discovery. In: Orejas, C., Jiménez, C. (eds) Mediterranean Cold-Water Corals: Past, Present and Future. Coral Reefs of the World, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91608-8_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91608-8_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-91607-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-91608-8
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)