On behalf of the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM) AquaBiota will compile a knowledge building program for deep reef habitats in marine Atlantic region/ the North Sea. The deep reef habitats include the habitat type 1170 reefs, and the OSPAR habitats Deep-sea sponge aggregations, Lophelia pertusa reefs and Coral gardens. In these habitats a number of species on the Swedish red list are found, such as the corals Lophelia pertusa, Paramuricea placomus and Primnoa resedaeformis.
![A close-up of the scleractinian coral Lophelia pertusa from the Mississippi Canyon 751 site at approximately 450 m depth. This image was taken with the SeaEye Falcon DR ROV during the first cruise.s](https://www.aquabiota.se/wp-content/uploads/kunskapsuppbyggande-program-300x225.jpg)
Lophelia pertusa. Photo: NOAA Ocean Explorer [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons