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Mediterranean Bioconstructions Along the Italian Coast 81

Fig. 6 (A) Cold-water corals (L. pertusa and M. oculata) in the deep sea. (B) distribution of
living cold-water corals along Italian coast. Points represent data with no associated sur-
face area. Boundaries of points of data layers are enhanced for illustrative purposes and
do not reflect the real habitat extent. Panel (A): Alberto Gennari.

pseudo-reef-forming coral D. dianthus, are also known as “white corals”
(P ere `s and Picard, 1964; Roberts et al., 2006). CWCs can live in large
(monospecific or mixed) aggregations that change the structural heterogeneity
of the environment, hence acting as habitat formers from 200 to 1000m depth
(Chimienti et al., 2018b; Freiwald et al., 2009; Lo Iacono et al., 2018;
Mastrototaro et al., 2010). The great biodiversity associated with CWCs