Th 

 is gi 

 aggre 

 overg 

 (Fig. 

 overg 

 taxon 

 i nter 

 {% of 

 subor 

 for e 

 0/0; 

 6/0, 



Wi 

 sors 

 the g 

 was n 

 depth 

 aggre 

 depth 

 10% o 

 1 i s t e 

 thems 

 Hemec 

 (23%) 



e rel 

 ven i 

 ssors 

 rowth 



3A). 

 rown 

 omic 

 actio 



all 

 d i n a t 

 ach t 

 zoant 

 0/0, 

 th in 

 chang 

 orgon 

 ever 

 . At 

 ssor , 

 . Si 

 r gre 

 d bel 

 el ves 

 tyon 



Ver 



a t i v e c 

 n Figs. 

 , monot 

 s and t 

 Coral 

 species 

 groups 

 ns . Th 

 interac 

 es) for 

 a x o n o m i 

 hids - 

 1/3. 

 c r e a s i n 

 ed subs 

 acean E_ 

 recorde 

 30' th 

 i n i t i a 

 mi 1 arl y 

 ater of 

 o w with 

 i n i t i a 

 (23%), 

 o n g i a ( 



ontribution of the three most frequent interactors 



3A & 3B. Clearly sponges were the most common 

 onically increasing both the frequency of their 

 heir relative standing as aggressors with depth 

 s on the other hand were by far the most frequently 

 , especially at depth (Fig. 3B). Several other 

 were also frequently involved in these overgrowth 

 eir relative contributions are given below as the 

 tions as aggressors )/ (% of all interactions as 



depths of 10', 30', 60', 90' and 120' respectively 

 c group: millepore corals - 12/34, 16/5, 0/0, 0/0, 

 12/0, 4/0, 0/0, 0/0, 2/0; ascidians - 1/1, 10/1, 



g depth the relative importance of various aggres- 

 tantially. At the shallowest depth studied, 10', 

 rythropodi urn was the most dominant aggressor, but 



d as a 

 e demo 

 ting 2 

 , at 6 

 all o 

 the p 

 ted at 

 1 rcini 

 11%); 



n aggressor in any observations below this 

 sponge Age! us was the most influential 

 5% of aTT aggressive interactions at that 

 0', 90' and 120', those species that initiated 

 vergrowths were demosponges; these genera are 

 ercentage of the total overgrowth that they 



each depth: 60' = Chondrilla (34%), 

 a (11%); 90' = Chondrilla (40%), Hemectyon 

 120' = Verongia (34%), Chondrilla (26%). 



100- 

 80- 

 60- 

 2 40" 

 O 20 - 



(/) 



® AGGRESSORS 



O O ,oo 



<. 



** w 60- 



2 40- 

 20- 

 



*GORGONIANS 



SPONGES' 



CORALS 



-.is^ t • ^ f 



III II I 



SUBORDINATES 



"V-f**-^.. *GORGONIANS 



CORALS* 



SPONGES* 



DEPTH (FT) 



Fi gure 3 . Percent of all interactions versus depth. Each taxonomic 

 group was scored as either A) an aggressor (was overgrowing another 

 species) or B) a subordinate (was being overgrown). 



58 



