canyon

21 March, 2012

Source: PLoS one

Authors: Robert J. Miller, John Hocevar, Robert P. Stone, Dmitry V. Fedorov

Continental margins are dynamic, heterogeneous settings that can include canyons, seamounts, and banks. Two of the largest canyons in the world, Zhemchug and Pribilof, cut into the edge of the continental shelf in the southeastern Bering Sea. Here currents and upwelling interact to produce a highly productive area, termed the Green Belt, that supports an abundance of fishes and squids as well as birds and marine mammals.

Continue reading Structure-Forming Corals and Sponges and Their Use as Fish Habitat in Bering Sea Submarine Canyons

19 January, 2012

Published by: Natural Environment Research Council, Planet Earth Online

Author: Peter Hurrell

Bottom trawling fishing boats have devastated many cold water coral reefs along the margin of the North East Atlantic Ocean. Now, researchers have found large cold water coral colonies clinging to the vertical and overhanging sides of submarine canyons 1350 metres below the surface of the Bay of Biscay.

Continue reading Cliffhanging corals avoid trawler damage

22 July, 2011

Deep-sea corals area among the most vulnerable ecosystems and the United Nations has called for their protection. Most of these interesting communities have disappeared from large extensions of European waters and the Mediterranean due to bottom trawling, changes in water temperature or natural catastrophic events.

Continue reading A deep-sea, white coral reef has been discovered in the Alboran sea (Western Mediterranean) during Oceana Ranger’s 2011 expedition.