Extreme longevity in proteinaceous deep-sea corals
- E. Brendan Roarka,1,2,
- Thomas P. Guildersonb,c,
- Robert B. Dunbara,
- Stewart J. Fallonb,3 and
- David A. Mucciaronea
- aEnvironmental Earth Systems Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305;
- bCenter for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, LLNL, L-397 7000 East Avenue, Livermore CA 94551; and
- cDepartment of Ocean Sciences and Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz CA 95064
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Edited by Edward A. Boyle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, and approved February 10, 2009 (received for review October 29, 2008)
Abstract
Deep-sea corals are found on hard substrates on seamounts and continental margins worldwide at depths of 300 to ≈3,000 m. Deep-sea coral communities are hotspots of deep ocean biomass and biodiversity, providing critical habitat for fish and invertebrates. Newly applied radiocarbon age dates from the deep water proteinaceous corals Gerardia sp. and Leiopathes sp. show that radial growth rates are as low as 4 to 35 μm year−1 and that individual colony longevities are on the order of thousands of years. The longest-lived Gerardia sp. and Leiopathes sp. specimens were 2,742 years and 4,265 years, respectively. The management and conservation of deep-sea coral communities is challenged by their commercial harvest for the jewelry trade and damage caused by deep-water fishing practices. In light of their unusual longevity, a better understanding of deep-sea coral ecology and their interrelationships with associated benthic communities is needed to inform coherent international conservation strategies for these important deep-sea habitat-forming species.
Footnotes
- 1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: broark{at}geog.tamu.edu
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Author contributions: E.B.R., T.P.G., and R.B.D. designed research; E.B.R., T.P.G., R.B.D., S.J.F., and D.A.M. performed research; E.B.R., T.P.G., R.B.D., and S.J.F. analyzed data; and E.B.R., T.P.G., R.B.D., and S.J.F. wrote the paper.
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↵2Present address: Department of Geography, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3147.
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↵3Present address: Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
