Zootaxa
Info
With the help of the ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) Faxian, a cable-guided underwater vehicle for great depths, two new species of deep-sea gorgonians were discovered in April 2014 and described for the first time in ZooKeys.
The holotype of the gorgonian Parachrysogorgia binata was discovered, photographed and collected on a shallow submarine mountain (Guyot) of the Magellan Seamounts in the Mariana Trench at a “superficial depth of 1,669 meters”, the Mariana Trench is about 11,000 meters deep, so deep that the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest at 8,848 meters, would easily disappear in it.
Since no daylight can penetrate to such depths, the gorgonian, which has developed a fan-shaped structure, is dependent on catching zooplankton and marine snow.
The holotype of Parachrysogorgia binata reached a height of 16cm and was 15cm wide.
At a depth of 1670 meters there is a pressure of 167 bar, which corresponds to a pressure of 167 kg per square centimeter!
A diver's watch can withstand a pressure of about 20 bar, the absolute pressure in a car tire is about 3.3 bar.
In this respect, it is apparently a miracle that life is even possible at such depths.
The first description of this deep-sea horn coral was published in October 2019.
Synonym: Chrysogorgia binata Xu, Li, Zhan & Xu, 2019
Source:
Xu Y, Li Y, Zhan Z, Xu K (2019)
Morphology and phylogenetic analysis of two new deep-sea species of Chrysogorgia (Cnidaria, Octocorallia, Chrysogorgiidae) from Kocebu Guyot (Magellan seamounts) in the Pacific Ocean. ZooKeys 881: 91-107. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.881.34759
The holotype of the gorgonian Parachrysogorgia binata was discovered, photographed and collected on a shallow submarine mountain (Guyot) of the Magellan Seamounts in the Mariana Trench at a “superficial depth of 1,669 meters”, the Mariana Trench is about 11,000 meters deep, so deep that the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest at 8,848 meters, would easily disappear in it.
Since no daylight can penetrate to such depths, the gorgonian, which has developed a fan-shaped structure, is dependent on catching zooplankton and marine snow.
The holotype of Parachrysogorgia binata reached a height of 16cm and was 15cm wide.
At a depth of 1670 meters there is a pressure of 167 bar, which corresponds to a pressure of 167 kg per square centimeter!
A diver's watch can withstand a pressure of about 20 bar, the absolute pressure in a car tire is about 3.3 bar.
In this respect, it is apparently a miracle that life is even possible at such depths.
The first description of this deep-sea horn coral was published in October 2019.
Synonym: Chrysogorgia binata Xu, Li, Zhan & Xu, 2019
Source:
Xu Y, Li Y, Zhan Z, Xu K (2019)
Morphology and phylogenetic analysis of two new deep-sea species of Chrysogorgia (Cnidaria, Octocorallia, Chrysogorgiidae) from Kocebu Guyot (Magellan seamounts) in the Pacific Ocean. ZooKeys 881: 91-107. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.881.34759
