The Diseases of Deep-Water Corals

This chapter is a synthesis of the current knowledge of the diseases of deep-sea corals. Corals comprise solitary or many individual polyps. Within the tentacle tissues are stinging cells, cnidocytes, each containing a nematocyst. The mesenteries bear the polyp gonads and digestive cells. The arrangement of these cavities, if they are complete and reach the actinopharynx or not, the number of tentacles, and characteristics of the coral skeleton differentiate the coral groups Scleractinia, Octocorallia, Antipatharia and Stylasteridae from each other. Bottom fishing methods are one of the most significant risk factors to the health of deep-sea corals, as it damages or destroys long-lived corals and reduces the three-dimensional habitat complexity leading to decreased species diversity and faunal biomass. Potential effects of climate change are viewed as a significant threat to deep cold-water corals. Little research exists on the physiology, reproductive biology, growth rates, immunology, longevity or disease of deep-sea corals.