Lophelia pertusa Where canitbefound? Where What is Lophelia pertusa? isLopheliapertusa? What What are the pictures? thepictures? are What How doesitbuild reefs? but it has also been reco but ithasalsobeen Most sightingscomefrom Conservation for the United Kingdom Project. Conservation for theUnited Kingdom www.lophelia.org and pr fact-sheet waThis foravarietybecomes ahaven ofdifferent animals. take hundredsorthousand s continues toaccumulate thebase accumulates around As thecolony continues complex much andcantrap polyps thecolony, join th skeletoniskeyThe tor as shallow as 40 and as as shallow as40 metres between 100to400 in deep, It isusually found Brazil, west and Africa on Sea, alongthecoasts ofeasternnorth America, SAMS, 2005). A newly pertusa Images fromtop: A of colouredvariety SAMS, 2003). pertusa cupine Seabight(© Newman, 2005). A colony of pertusa light orange-coloured coral. light orange-coloured white aretwo varieties,acolourless There or colour poisonou cles, equippedwith polypous skeleton.Each A polyp indivi isasingle ing togetheronareef. polyps,ranging fromafew Lophelia pertusa , taken laboratory inthe (©J.M.Roberts, reef structure,Min from theMingulay (©G. Reef Complex

is astony is coral. s downloaded from Ifremer & AWI, 2003). collected sample of collected sample eef development. eef development. As more oduced for theDeep-sea deepas3,000metres. dual encasedinacalcare- to grow, coral broken e skeletons becomemore e skeletons rded inthe thenorth-east Atlantic, the mid-Atlantic Ridge. the mid-Atlantic can have upto16tenta-can ediment. processcan This gulay Roberts, (J.M. dark, nutrient-rich watersdark, nutrient-rich to manythousandsliv- to s of years andthereef s of , butsomerecordsare moremudandsand. Lophelia s cellstocaptureprey. ofthelivingcoral,and It livesincolonies Mediterranean pertusa, Por- Lophelia Lophelia Lophelia

the North the North found in coral reef-building the dominant is coral’ ‘white known asthe Lophelia,