| Summary: | 9 pages, 3 figures, 1 table Growth rates of the cold-water corals (CWC) Madrepora oculata, Lophelia pertusa, Desmophyllum dianthus and Dendrophyllia cornigera were measured over 8 mo under controlled conditions (12°C in the dark, fed 5 times a week) by means of the buoyant weight technique. Additionally, linear growth rates were measured in M. oculata and L. pertusa for 2 and 1 yr, respectively. The weight measurements revealed growth rates, expressed as percent growth per day (mean ± SD), of 0.11 ± 0.04 for M. oculata, 0.02 ± 0.01 for L. pertusa, 0.06 ± 0.03 for D. dianthus and 0.04 ± 0.02 % d–1 for D. cornigera. Growth in M. oculata was significantly higher (p < 0.0001) than in the other 3 CWC species. For M. oculata and L. pertusa, also linear growth was recorded. These values (mean ± SD) were 0.014 ± 0.007 and 0.024 ± 0.018 mm d–1 for M. oculata and L. pertusa, respectively. This is the first study that compares the growth rates of 4 different CWC species under the same experimental conditions of water flow, temperature, salinity and food supply. These corals have different growth rates, both in terms of total weight increase and linear increase, and these growth rates can be related to interspecific physiological differences. Data on growth rates are essential to understand the population dynamics of CWC as well as the recovery capacity of these communities after disturbance This work was funded by the European Projects HERMES (Goce-CT-2005-511234-I) and HERMIONE (Grant Agreement Number 226354) and the Spanish Project DEEP CORAL (CTM2005-07756-C02-02/MAR). This collaborative study was also partly supported by the Government of the Principality of Monaco. C. Orejas was supported by a I3P postdoctoral contract from Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC (I3P-PC2006L), co-financed by the European Social Fund, and G. Tsounis by a postdoctoral fellowship by the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation (E-08-2007-1673618) Peer reviewed
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