Precious Corals (Coralliidae) from North-Western Atlantic Seamounts

Two new species belonging to the precious coral genus Corallium were collected during a series of exploratory cruises to the New England and Corner Rise Seamounts in 2003-2005. One red species, Corallium bathyrubrum sp. nov., and one white species, C. bayeri sp. nov., are described. Corallium bathyrubrum is the first red Corallium to be reported from the western Atlantic. An additional species, C. niobe Bayer, 1964 originally described from the Straits of Florida, was also collected and its description augmented.

Anthropogenic Impacts on the Corner Rise Seamounts, North-West Atlantic Ocean

Here we report the first direct underwater observations of extensive human-caused impacts on two remote seamounts in the Corner Rise complex (north-western Atlantic). This note documents evidence of anthropogenic damage on the summits of Kukenthal peak (on Corner Seamount) and Yakutat Scamount, likely resulting from a limited Russian fishery from the mid- 1970s to the mid-1990s, highlighting how bottom trawling can have long-term detrimental effects oil deep-water benthic fauna.