This species of stony coral is a deep sea reef-forming coral. It is considered the most widespread reef-framework forming cold-water coral--the skeletons form massive deep-sea coral reefs and are considered local centers of biodiversity because of the large number of organisms they support (
Lophelia.org 2011). This species is found around the world and is still being discovered in new locations from North America to South America, Europe, and Africa. (
Wikipedia 2011). In British Columbia, it is reported from the Strait of Georgia (newly reported in 2007) and the west coast of Vancouver Island (older collection redetermined to this species) (Conway et al. 2007). The authors describe the Georgian Strait coral discovery "The coral field, which is composed of masses of well-preserved branches, indicates that a community of deep-sea corals dominated the site for centuries."
Jamieson (2009) provides the following insight into this species in BC: "Conway et al. (2007) documented the remains of a large dead coral reef in the Strait of Georgia at 255 m, identified as Lophelia pertusa (S. Cairns, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, pers. comm. to K. Conway) (Jamieson et al., 2006). While this particular reef did not contain live corals, its presence in British Columbian waters strongly suggests that other as-of-yet undiscovered Lopheli reefs likely exist in British Columbian waters."
Wikipedia (2011) provides the following information on this species: "Lophelia pertusa is a reef building, deep water coral, which is unusual for its lack of zooxanthellae - the symbiotic algae which lives inside most tropical reef building corals. Lophelia lives between 80 metres (260 ft) and over 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) depth, but most commonly at depths of 200–1,000 metres (660–3,300 ft), where there is no sunlight, and a temperature range from about 12–4 °C (54–39 °F)....Lophelia reefs can grow to 35 metres (115 ft) high, be hundreds of metres wide, and the largest recorded reef measures 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) off the Lofoten Islands, Norway." (Wikipedia 2011).
Read more about four important cold-water corals.
Read about the occurrence of Lophelia pertusa in British Columbia.
