The “trees” of the Great Purple Gorgonian colony are made up of thousands of polyps on thick irregularly divided branches. The colonies are normally a dark red colour, and can be almost a purple colour but sometimes youcan find extremely yellow specimens on these redpurple trees. Although they need a whole year to only grow one centimetre, these long living organisms are often more than a metre high. These corals live on vertical or sloping rocky substrate, in shady areas where there are strong sea currents, and where the temperature is no more than 23ºC. In the Mediterranean they can be found at depths of between 25 to 140 metres, whilst in the Adriatic because of the high temperatures at the upper levels, their colonies are most often found at depth of 40 metres or more.
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GREAT PURPLE GORGONIAN Paramuricea clavata (Risso, 1826) KORNATI’S MAGICAL UNDERWATER WORLD Intensive research into the Great Purple Gorgonian, with the aim of their conser- vation, has started only recently in our part of the Adriatic. If you would like to contribute to their protection and conversation, then we kin- dly ask you: • Not to break off parts of the coral! • To avoid anchoring and fishing on steep slopes! • To respect the natural surroundings and the environment in all walks of life! How can you participate in the conservation of the Great Purple Gorgonian? 20 000 leagues Marine explorers’ society Bukovčeva 12 - 21 000 Split tel: + 385 91 790 83 87 fax: + 385 35 410 127 [email protected]www.20000milja.hr Ecological association Argonauta Pijaca Društva seoske izobraženosti bb HR-22243 MURTER Tel./fax: +385 (0)22 434 827 Mob: +385 (0)91 206 6656 +385 (0)91 206 6657 [email protected]www.argonauta.hr This leaflet was produced as part of the project “Contribution to Biodiversity Protection in Croatia’s Kornati Archipelago” supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Republic of Croatia, in the framework of MATRA/KNIP pro- gramme. If you would like to give financial assistance for further research into the conservation of the Great Purple Gorgonian, which is today an endangered species in the Adriatic, then you can do so by making a donation to the Argonauta Ecological Associaton (www.argonauta.hr), to account number 2411006 – 1100038360 at Jadranska Banka (indicating the following: “For the Great Purple Gorgonian”). Every donation of HRK 200 or more will receive an original photo of the Gorgonian.
Transcript
Great PurPle GorGonian paramuricea clavata (Risso, 1826)
KORNATI’S MAGICAL UNDERWATER WORLDIntensive research into the Great Purple Gorgonian, with the aim of their conser-vation, has started only recently in our part of the Adriatic.If you would like to contribute to their protection and conversation, then we kin-dly ask you:
This leaflet was produced as part of the project “Contribution to Biodiversity Protection in Croatia’s Kornati Archipelago” supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Republic of Croatia, in the framework of MATRA/KNIP pro-gramme.
Ifyouwouldliketogivefinancialassistanceforfurtherresearchintotheconservationof the Great Purple Gorgonian, which is today an endangered species in the Adriatic, then you can do so by making a donation to the Argonauta Ecological Associaton (www.argonauta.hr), to account number 2411006 – 1100038360 at Jadranska Banka (indicating the following: “For the Great Purple Gorgonian”). Every donation of HRK 200 or more will receive an original photo of the Gorgonian.
The “trees” of the Great PurpleGorgonian colony are made up of thousands of polyps on thick irregularlydividedbranches.Thecolonies are normally a dark red colour, and can be almost a pur-ple colour but sometimes you canfindextremelyyellowspeci-mens on these redpurple trees. Although they need a whole year to only grow one centimetre, these long living organisms are often more than a metre high.These corals live on vertical orsloping rocky substrate, in shady areas where there are strong sea currents, and where the temper-ature is no more than 23ºC. In the Mediterranean they can be found at depths of between 25 to 140 metres, whilst in the Adriatic be-cause of the high temperatures at the upper levels, their colonies are most often found at depth of 40 metres or more.
Great PurPle GorGonian What makes them so special? What is endangering them?
Diving tourism – the large number of divers who visit the Great Purple Gorgonian colonies damage them due to their inex-perience, carelessness or negli-gence. They also remove parts,or all, of the colony. This is forsouvenirs or even as substitutes for the even rarer red coral.
Mooring and fishing - on the ver-tical slopes, which are frequent diving locations, it is often possi-ble to see Great Purple Gorgoni-an colonies that have been dam-aged as a result of the anchoring of tourist-diving boats. An equal danger comes from the anchor-ingoffishingboatsand theuseof equipment such as nets and dead-lines.
Global warming is fatal for the Great Purple Gorgonian, which cannot cope with temperatures above 23oC.
TheGreatPurpleGorgoniancoloniesareanimportantelementofmarinebiodiversity,andmanyspeciesliveontheirthickbranchesorintheirvicinity.Thus,theyareahabitat,anurs-ery and a food source.
Due to their tremendous beauty, they are very attractive to many divers making the colo-nies of Great Purple Gorgonian one of the most appealing diving locations.
