Arctic and Antarctic scleractinian сorals. Comparisons, the similarities and differences

Abstract

A comparison of the fauna of coldwater Scleractinia corals inhabiting the Polar regions of the Arctic and Antarctic revealed that in similar sub-zero temperatures of the surrounding waters, not only the character of the distribution of corals but also the number of species and their morphological characteristics in the Arctic and in the Antarctic radically different (in the sub-Antarctic region 17 coral species occure including 6 species endemic in the region, whereas the Arctic and high latitudes are inhabited by 2 species). We believe that the difference between these two faunas is due to the difference in geological history of these regions. In the southern hemisphere the formation of Circum-Antarctic currents ended the Neogene and in the sub-Antarctic region of stable conditions that existed millions of years that led to the formation of well-developed fauna scleractinia and the appearance of species endemic to this area. whereas in the Northern hemisphere hydrological stable conditions in high latitudes and the Arctic have existed since the beginning of the Holocene, approximately 11–12 thousand years, and when the colonization of corals by species of wide distribution.