A new amphipod species found in black coral forests in Canary islands

Autors:

Navarro‑Mayoral S, Gouillieux B, Fernandez‑Gonzalez V, Tuya F, Lecoquierre N, Bramanti L, Terrana L, Espino F, Flot JF, Haroun R, Otero‑Ferrer F. Coral Reefs (2024)

Article summary: 

Black corals are engineer species (they modify their environment) that can form dense animal forests. By aggregating, their colonies create a 3-dimensional space, and provide shelter and food to mobile species (molluscs, crustaceans, worms), that thus gather in the forest, leading to a higher biodiversity. This association between an engineer species and mobile fauna has been mainly studied regarding anemones and corals, while black coral has received less attention, especially in the mesophotic zone (30-200m) due to technical constraints.  

To fill in the gap, the authors of this study studied the biodiversity associated to mesophotic black coral Antipathella wollastoni forests from Lanzarote Island (Canary Islands, eastern Atlantic Ocean). Mobile fauna on black coral colonies at 60 meters depth has been collected three times: February, April and October (2021), with Lorenzo Bramanti, the scientific director of DEEPLIFE, being part of this project. 

Of the approximately 1700 organisms collected and identified, 86% belonged to an unknown amphipod (crustacean) species. Authors have then described and named this new species: Wollastenothoe minuta. Considering that other studies on seaweeds, red calcified algae, or sediments of Canary Islands have never found this species, it seems that it lives specifically with this black coral. Its small size (less than 2 millimeters) and the depth where it was found (60 meters) could easily explain this late discover. 

Moreover, authors have shown that the bigger is the colony (up to 1,80 meters), the more amphipods do live on it (up to 500 individuals). However, the abundance of amphipods also depends on the season, with the highest abundances occurring in October. This could be explained by the higher water temperature at this period impacting the lifecycle of amphipods, but it still needs to be investigated. More studies are needed to really understand the association between these amphipods and mesophotic black corals.