A-43 



Aoanella arbusculUf Pennatula sp. , Anthomastus grandiflorus 

 and Flabellum alabastrum were seen. 



Numerous corals were seen during dive 781 in Corsair 

 Canyon near the northern limit of the study area. This dive 

 provides coverage of a transect from the axis up the canyon 

 wall. Aoanella arbusaula, Fennatula sp., Anthomastus 

 grandiflorus and Flabellum alabastrum were seen on the soft 

 substrates, while Paramuriaea borealis and Anthomastus 

 agassizii were restricted to occasional outcrops. 



Coral Communities 



The most striking result of a rotated principal compo- 

 nents analysis on the corals in the data matrix is that the 

 coral assemblages exhibit very little cohesive structure. 

 The general category of sea pens was again excluded from this 

 analysis because of the problems with species recognition dis- 

 cussed in the preceding section. Eighty-six percent of the 

 variance within the data matrix can be explained by the first 

 ten end-members (Table VI) . Seven of these end-members are 

 monospecific, while three are dispecific. The general 

 interpretation of the results of this analysis is that the 

 distributions of most of these deep-sea corals are being 

 controlled by different parameters. This trend was also 

 found in the community analysis of the total fauna, namely a 

 shallow zone dominated by one species and a general tendency 

 of some species to become shallower with increasing latitude. 



