RT Report
T1 Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems: A lifeboat for coral reefs?
A1 United Nations Environment Programme, 
A2 Baker, Elaine
A2 Puglise, Kimberly
A2 Harris, Peter
A2 Andradi-Brown, Dominic
A2 Appeldoorn, Richard
A2 Baker, Elaine
A2 Ballantine, David
A2 Bejarano, Ivonne
A2 Bridge, Thomas
A2 Colin, Patrick
A2 Eyal, Gal
A2 Harris, Peter
A2 Holstein, Daniel
A2 Jones, Rachel
A2 Kahng, Samuel
A2 Laverick, Jack
A2 Loya, Yossi
A2 Pochon, Xavier
A2 Pomponi, Shirley
A2 Puglise, Kimberly
A2 Pyle, Richard
A2 Reaka, Marjorie
A2 Reed, John
A2 Rooney, John
A2 Ruiz, Héctor
A2 Sealover, Nancy
A2 Semmler, Robert
A2 Schizas, Nikolaos
A2 Schmidt, Wilford
A2 Sherman, Clark
A2 Sinniger, Frederic
A2 Slattery, Marc
A2 Spalding, Heather
A2 Smith, Tyler
A2 Villalobos, Shaina
K1 ecosystem
K1 coral reef
K1 coral reef conservation
K1 biodiversity
K1 fishery
K1 climate change
K1 sedimentation
K1 pollution
PB United Nations Environment Programme
SN 978-82-7701-150-9
YR 2016
FD 2016
LK https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/7566
UL https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/7566
NO Picture a coral reef — most people will probably imagine brightly coloured corals, fish and other animals swimming in well-lit shallow waters. In fact, the coral reefs that live close to the surface of the sea — the ones that we can swim, snorkel, or dive near and see from space — are only a small portion of the complete coral reef ecosystem. Light-dependent corals can live in much deeper water (up to a depth of 150 m in clear waters). The shallow coral reefs from the surface of the sea to 30–40 m below are more like the tip of an iceberg. They are the more visible part of an extensive coral ecosystem that reaches into depths far beyond where most people visit. These intermediate depth reefs, known as mesophotic coral ecosystems, are the subject of this report.
DS UN Environment Document Repository
RD Sep 19, 2026