Mediterranean: What future for deep-water corals?

Mediterranean: What future for deep-water corals?

We all have images in our heads of brightly coloured coral reefs, home to fabulous biodiversity. We imagine ourselves swimming in the warm turquoise waters of the tropics to explore them. But few images come to mind of the coral reef world of temperate or sub-polar regions. Yet a far more mysterious world lies hidden in the depths of these oceans… a world threatened by global warming and the acidification of Mediterranean waters.

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Lophelia orange, a hard coral in the Lacaze-Duthiers canyon in the western Mediterranean. Photo taken at a depth of 500 m by an underwater robot as part of the ‘Extreme marine environments, biodiversity and global change’ programme. © Nadine LE BRIS/Fondation Total/UPMC/CNRS Photothèque