Reproduction of Red Tree Corals in the Southeastern Alaskan Fjords: Implications for Conservation and Population Turnover

Abstract

In September 2010 38 colonies of Red Tree Coral, Primnoa pacifica, were tagged from a single population living at 18 m depth in Tracy Arm fjord, south of Juneau, Alaska. This species of coral usually resides at 150–900 m depth in the Gulf of Alaska, and so its emergence to shallow water in the fjords provides a unique opportunity to study the seasonal reproductive ecology of a deep species in an accessible habitat.