Three-dimensional reconstruction of high latitude bamboo coral via x-ray microfocus computed tomography

• Published in: Scientific Data
• Main Authors: Williams, Thomas J., Basford, Philip J., Katsamenis, Orestis L., Solan, Martin, Foster, Gavin, Standish, Christopher, Godbold, Jasmin, Archambault, Philippe
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: Arctic; Baffin Bay; Baffin; Labrador Sea
• Online Access: https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/490549/; https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/490549/1/williams_et_al_SciData_cleanversion.pdf; https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/490549/2/s41597-024-03396-9.pdf

The skeletons of long-lived bamboo coral (Family Keratoisididae) are promising archives for deep-water palaeoceanographic reconstructions as they can record environmental variation at sub-decadal resolution in locations where in-situ measurements lack temporal coverage. Yet, detailed three dimensional (3D) characterisations of bamboo coral skeletal architecture are not routinely available and non-destructive investigations into microscale variations in calcification are rare. Here, we provide high-resolution micro-focus computed tomography (µCT) data of skeletal density for two species of bamboo coral ( Acanella arbuscula : 5 specimens, voxel size, 15 µm (central branch scans) and 50 µm (complete structure scan); Keratoisis sp.: 4 specimens, voxel size, 15 µm) collected from the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay deep-water basins, Eastern Canadian Arctic. These data provide reference models useful for developing methods to assess structural integrity and other fine-scale complexities in many biological, geological, and industrial systems. This will be of wider value to those investigating structural composition, arrangement and/or composition of complex architecture within the fields and subdisciplines of biology, ecology, medicine, environmental geology, and structural engineering.