Biocenosis of Mediterranean upper bathyal rock
Description (English)
The deep sea corals, also called white corals, imperfectly known in the Mediterranean, basically includes two major ramified species Lophelia prolifera and Madrepora oculata, which are relicts of the cold fauna of the Quaternary. These white coral clumps only exist at appreciable depth, starting from 200 meters down, on the edges of canyons, where the slope and turbulence are sufficient for the hard substratum (standing rock or consolidated thanatocoenosis) to carry little sediment. The living parts of these clumps usually seem to be reduced to the tips of the branches. The dead parts that are not under mud are very much colonised by bryozoans, brachiopods and serpulid polychaetes, and constitute centers of diversity for the sessile fauna of the continental slope. These species are able to create two single facies or a third, characterised by the copresence of these two species.
Source: EUNIS habitat classification
Quick facts
EUNIS habitat type | code ME151 |
---|---|
Relation to | Resolution 4 habitat type (used for designation of Emerald sites) |
Legal status
Relation to other habitat types mentioned in legal instruments
Vegetation types
Relation to vegetation types (syntaxa)
Not availableSpecies mentioned in habitat description
Species scientific name | English common name | Species group |
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Madrepora oculata | Invertebrates |
Other classifications
Classification | Code | Habitat type name | Relationship type |
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EUNIS Habitat Classification 2007 (revised descriptions 2012) | A6.1 | Deep-sea rock and artificial hard substrata | narrower |
History
Classification | Code | Habitat type name | Relationship type | Comment |
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EUNIS Habitat Classification 200410 | A6.1 | Deep-sea rock and artificial hard substrata | same | |
EUNIS Habitat Classification 200308 | A5.1 | Deep-sea rock and artificial hard substrata | same | |
EUNIS Habitat Classification 200202 | A5.1 | Deep-sea rock and artificial hard substrates | same | |
EUNIS Habitat Classification 199910 | A5.1 | Bathyal zone hard substrates | same | |
EUNIS Habitat Classification 199811 | A5.1 | Bathyal zone rock (continental slope floor) | same | |
Palaearctic Habitat Classification 199905 | 11.211 | Bathyal benthic communities | wider | |
Palaearctic Habitat Classification 1997 | 11.211 | Bathyal benthic communities | wider | |
Palaearctic Habitat Classification 1996 | 11.211 | wider | ||
Palaearctic Habitat Classification 1993 | 11.211 | wider |