Large coral fans, like this bamboo coral were abundant on current-swept ridges in deep waters of the Line Islands.
Coral Fans
Photograph by Terry Kerby or Max Cremer, courtesy of the Hawaiʻi Undersea Research Laboratory. Download larger version (jpg, 2.2 MB).

Large coral fans, like this bamboo coral were abundant on current-swept ridges in deep waters of the Line Islands. Their high densities were probably due to the high productivity of the waters near the sea surface in this region caused by upwelling of nutrient-rich waters, creating the rain of food from the surface that is carried in the deeper currents of the region.

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