{"id":445,"date":"2020-12-16T00:09:27","date_gmt":"2020-12-16T05:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/portal.gulfcouncil.org\/cp\/?p=445"},"modified":"2021-10-16T00:13:32","modified_gmt":"2021-10-16T05:13:32","slug":"ancient-deep-sea-corals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/portal.gulfcouncil.org\/cp\/ancient-deep-sea-corals\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient Deep-Sea Corals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some of the oldest known benthic marine organisms are black corals of genus Leopathes<\/em>.\u00a0 These ancient deep-sea corals (Leiopathes <\/em>spp.) are very slow-growing black coral species.\u00a0 In the Gulf, large colonies of the black coral Leiopathes glaberrima<\/em> have been estimated to be over 2,000 years old.\u00a0 They are characterized by their black or dark brown skeleton which is covered by lighter colored polyps. \u00a0The black skeleton of Leiopathes<\/em> corals grow in a plant-like manner.\u00a0 Colonies tend to have a middle stem that grows upward, with branches or arms that extend from the middle structure. \u00a0The main stem stops growing after a certain time, and a new branch grows out from the side.\u00a0 Leiopathes<\/em> colonies are abundant and widespread throughout the Gulf, with some colonies reaching heights of more than a 1 m, which make them important providers of benthic habitat. Read more about the Ancient deep-sea corals from here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some of the oldest known benthic marine organisms are black corals of genus Leopathes.\u00a0 These ancient deep-sea corals (Leiopathes spp.) are very slow-growing black coral species.\u00a0 In the Gulf, large colonies of the black coral Leiopathes glaberrima have been estimated to be over 2,000 years old.\u00a0 They are characterized by their black or dark brown… Continue Reading Ancient Deep-Sea Corals<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":401,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[62,19,80],"class_list":["post-445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discover","tag-corals","tag-deep-sea","tag-leopathes","latest_post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t