Black corals provide crucial habitat for many other mesophotic (30-150 m depth) reef species, however, they have historically been heavily harvested for making jewellery. Thinking deep scientists have recently found that despite legal harvesting being stopped, these black coral populations have continued to decline, raising concern for future populations.

New open access paper from Thinking Deep team members!
2/3 shallow water species are found on mesophotic reefs globally, following a meta-analysis of existing surveys.
https://rdcu.be/V1o8