Pictures and text:  Rudolf  Svensen

A small hermit crab is sitting on the polyps of a cold water coral reef in a Norwegian fjord. De reef is built of the coral Lophelia pertusa. These coral reefs occur mainly on deep water, but in the Trondhjemsfjord small reefs are found on shallow depths, which make diving possible. This image is captured on only 40 meters of water in a swift current. Cold water from the deep is directed towards the surface of the shallower area in the fjord.
The Lophelia corals grow with only a few millimeters each year, and they are very vulnerable to human activity like trawling, diving and other activities on the seabed.
Lately, a few coral reefs along the Norwegian coast have been protected. This is just in time while scientist fear that almost 50 % of the Norwegian coral reefs are already ruined. Mainly because of fishermen trawling on the seabed. Some of the reef may be as old as 8000 years, so it is not possible to re-establish those reefs already damaged.