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Black corals (Anthozoa: Antipatharia) of the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone

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Abstract

The antipatharian fauna of the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone is discussed. Five species of black corals from three genera were identified in collections from this area, including one new species. A list is provided of the 15 species of antipatharians that have been collected at depths greater than 3000 m, and a figure is included that shows the bathymetric distribution of all genera in the order. A new genus, Alternatipathes, in the family Schizopathidae is also described herein.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Geoff Keel (Smithsonian Institution), Pedro Martinez (Senckenberg am Meer DZMB), Stanislav Melnik (Yuzhmorgeo), Andrew Cabrinovic (UKNHM), and Lenaick Menot (Ifremer) for access to the specimens studied; Carsten Rühleman (BGR, Hannover) for allowing study of the material from KM1307; Antonina Kremenetskaya (IORAS) and Ole Tendal (ZMUC) for the photographs of antipatharians from the Galathea Expedition; Galina Kolyuchkina (IORAS) for histological preparations; and two anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments and suggestions regarding the manuscript. A visit by TNM to the Smithsonian Institution in August 2015 was supported by a U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) grant to the Smithsonian Institution. The authors are very appreciative of the DoJ’s support of black coral research. This research was funded in part by RSF grant 14-50-00095 (SEMs of type material). The research leading to these results has also received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under the MIDAS project, grant agreement no. 603418. DMO is a Research Associate of the Smithsonian Institution and gratefully acknowledges that affiliation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, RAS, 36 Nakhimovski prospect, 117997, Moscow, Russia

    Tina N. Molodtsova

  2. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA

    Dennis M. Opresko

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  1. Tina N. Molodtsova
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  2. Dennis M. Opresko
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Correspondence to Tina N. Molodtsova.

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Communicated by S. S. M. Kaiser

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Molodtsova, T.N., Opresko, D.M. Black corals (Anthozoa: Antipatharia) of the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone. Mar Biodiv 47, 349–365 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-017-0659-6

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