Epibionts assemblages of Late Pleistocene cold-water corals from Maldives archipelago

• Autores: Matías Reolid, J. Reolid, C. Betzler, S. Lindhorst, M.G. Wiesner, N. Lahajnar
• Localización: Actas de las XXXII Jornadas de la Sociedad Española de Paleontología / Guillermo Meléndez Hevia (dir.), Alizia Nuñez (dir.), Marta Tomás (dir.), Antonio Goy Goy (hom.), 2016, ISBN 978-84-9138-016-0, págs. 485-488
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Cold-water corals rubble of the Late Pleistocene (21,400 – 22,500 BP) are recorded from the sea-bottom of two channels (Kardiva Channel at 457 m depth and Malé Vaadhoo Channel at 443 m depth) of the eastern Maldives atolls. Coral assemblages are mainly composed of Lophelia pertusa, and secondarily of Madrepora oculata and Enallopsammia sp. The benthic life (mainly sessile forms) is concentrated in areas with deep-water coral patches, whereas it is clearly absent off-mound. The main epibionts are tube-dwelling polychaetes (mainly Spirorbis and Serpula), bryozoans, siliceous sponges, barnacles, gorgonids, solitary corals, encrusting foraminifera and microbial mats. The analysis of epibionts assemblages shows different biocoenoses between both studied sites as well as a dependency of the epibiont coverage with regard to the coral genus. Some living benthic organisms such as brachiopods, bivalves, gastropods, barnacles and ophiurids find refuge among coral branches. The common record of juvenile specimens of vagile organisms such as small ophiurids is probably related to the nursery function of the cold-water corals, in spite of the fact that they are fossils.