Paragorgia arborea

Erling Svensen Two Paragorgia arborea from Norway. One from 1997 and one picture taken 2 days ago.

KÃ¥re Telnes It has obviously grown signficantly on those 16 years.

Floris Bennema Are these pictures from Tronheimfjord or are there more places where divers can visit them?

KÃ¥re Telnes These pictures are from the Trondheim Fjord. You can of course find them elsewhere, but propably deeper.

Keith Hiscock Not grown very much to my mind and 16 years between the pictures = long-lived, slow growing and unlikely to be replaced if lost. An important message for conservation.

KÃ¥re Telnes Based on the number of polyps from the base to the edge, it seems like the height has doubled. If you look closely, you will also notice a few new P. resedaeformis, just in front of the P. arborea, that were not there in 1997. But obviously, it will take many decades to grow this size. My experience with sea fans in the Trondheim Fjord, is that they grow with a few centimeters each year. I have been following some of them for the last decade. Yesterday we used underwater scooters to dive a stretch of 700 meters at 50 metres depth in the same area as Erling took his photos. We saw many hundreds if not thousands of P. placomus and P. resedaeformis, but no more P. arborea. We will continue the survey later.

Erling Svensen ..... or this one - Paragorgia arborea - 2,5 meter high and just beautiful.....

Frank Emil Moen and it hasn't been growing much since 1997 (was it?)

Frank Emil Moen The numbers of Gorgonocephalus' are higher this time

Erling Svensen I bet this Paragorgia has been growing at least 1/2 meter. I have the "old" picture on the wall in front of me and can see the difference, so.....

Joanne Porter I'd like to see some of that when I come to Norway next year Erling Svensen

Francis StPierre Daly Bunker Fantastic. What are the small yellow ones?

Erling Svensen The small ones (yellow) is Paramuricea placomus. The orange one upper left is Primnoa resedaeformis, and the Sea tree have a lot of Gorgonocephalus sitting and filtrating.

Joanne Porter Maybe we will have a chance to see this Bill Sanderson

Joanne Porter Do you see any bryozoans growing on these corals Erling Svensen

Erling Svensen No, I have not seen any. We see Filigrana implexa and some other animals, but not bryozoans. But I will zoom in and take a look.