New research出版in the journal珊瑚Reefs发现深水光合珊瑚的高增长率出乎意料。该研究测量了深水的增长率瘦肉夏威夷的珊瑚，发现每年1英寸至0.3英寸或（25mm - 7.5mm）之间的增长率。
Very little is known about coral growth rates in themesophotic zone, an area in the ocean below 130 feet (40m) to 500 feet (110m). At the lower end of their depth range, the sunlight available to the瘦肉species from this study is less than 0.2% percent of surface light levels.
The new study, led by Samuel Kohng, from the University of Hawaii海洋学部, alters the assumption that deep corals grow extremely slowly. Until recently a single species of瘦肉fragiliscollected at 60m in the Red Sea was used at the growth standard for deepwater photosynthetic coral species, recorded at 0.04 inches (1mm) of growth per year.
Accessing these depths requires technical diving equipment, submersibles, or科学Rov的，使研究和观察稀缺。在这项研究中，团队收集了四个Letptoseriscolonies in the Au’au Channel, Hawai’i usingHURL’sPisces IV/Vsubmersibles.
They found one species, in particular,瘦肉hawaiiensishad growth rates between 1 inch (25mm) per year at 225 feet (68m) and 0.3 inches (7.5mm) per year at 360 feet (110m) depth.
最大化光吸收
The research team found that these low light, deep water specialists employ an interesting strategy to dominate their preferred habitat. Their thin skeletons and plate-like shape allow for an efficient use of calcium carbonate to maximize surface area for light absorption while using minimal resources to form their skeleton. These thin corals only grow radially outward, not upward, and do not thicken over time like encrusting or massive corals.
“Additionally, the optical geometry of their thin, flat, white skeletons form fine parallel ridges that grow outward from a central origin,” said Kahng. “In some cases, these ridges form convex spaces between them which effectively trap light in reflective chambers and cause light to pass repeatedly through the coral tissue until it is absorbed by the photosynthetic machinery.”[soest]
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理查德·皮尔（Richard Pyle）和研究人员深入研究了250英尺以上的珊瑚生长。2011年3月出版 -阅读更多
研究人员试图了解瘦素田如何在300英尺深的地方生长。2011年5月出版 -阅读更多
