Norwegian Fjords & West Coast of Sweden
When we think of corals, visions of tropical lagoons and colourful fish often come to mind. But far from these sunlit seas, in the cold, dark waters of Scandinavia, lies a quieter wonder: cold-water corals.
These are not reefs kissed by sunlight, but gardens of shadow and stone, growing where the sea is silent and cold, yet very much alive.
Unlike tropical corals that depend on sunlight and shallow waters, cold-water corals thrive in temperatures as low as 4°C, often hundreds of meters deep...
But along the Scandinavian coast, especially in Norway’s fjords and at the west coast of Sweden, cold and nutrient-rich currents allow certain coral species to survive at relatively shallow depths.
The most iconic of the coldwater corals is Lophelia pertusa (now classified as Desmophyllum pertusum), a reef-building coral that creates vast underwater structures, some thousands of years old.
These reefs are oases of biodiversity, providing shelter to fish,
crustaceans, and countless invertebrates in a landscape that otherwise
seems bare and barren. Usually found hundreds of meters deep, Lophelia reef has been recorded as shallow as 39 meters.
Other cold-water species, such as soft corals like Dead Man’s Fingers and colorful sea anemones, are more commonly found at diveable depths, contributing to vibrant underwater landscapes.
Poetic in name and haunting in form, Alcyonium digitatum, commonly known as Dead Man’s Fingers, is one of the most recognizable cold-water corals in Scandinavia.
Found from just a few meters below the surface down to around 50 meters, these soft corals appear as pale, finger-like projections, sometimes orange, sometimes ghostly white, clinging to rocks, wrecks, and piers. For divers, they offer one of the most accessible glimpses into cold-water coral life, a soft, surreal forest beneath the waves.
Dive a little deeper and you might be lucky enough to witness the Fireworks Anemone (Pachycerianthus multiplicatus), an ethereal creature that looks more like a celestial spectacle than a living being.
Buried in soft mud, this anemone extends long, delicate tentacles that radiate like fireworks frozen in time. With translucent pinks, purples, and creams, it is both fragile and mesmerizing, feeding passively on plankton drifting in the deep.
The Fireworks Anemone is highly sensitive to disturbance, thriving in calm, undisturbed seabeds, habitats that are increasingly rare due to bottom trawling and sediment disruption from activities like dredging, aggregate extraction, and offshore installations.
Despite their resilience to cold and darkness, cold-water corals remain highly vulnerable to human activity. Bottom trawling, where weighted nets are dragged along the seafloor, can destroy reef structures that have taken centuries to form. Sedimentation from coastal development and intensive fishing can smother delicate suspension feeders and anemones, disrupting entire benthic ecosystems.
For those willing to brave the cold, the waters off the Scandinavian coast offer a rare and humbling diving experience. To descend into these depths is to enter a cathedral of stillness, where ancient life clings to rock and current, largely unnoticed by the world above.
You won’t find swarms of tropical fish here. Instead, you’ll find a slow, intricate dance of life: a forest of fingers, a burst of silent fireworks, and corals sculpted not by sunlight, but by time.
These are the cold gardens of the North, and they are every bit as precious, and at risk, as any reef in the tropics.
Cold-water corals represent a rare and fragile ecosystem of great biodiversity, one that we cannot afford to lose. They remind us of something fundamental: that life, in all its strangeness and adaptability, can thrive even in the darkest, most overlooked environments on Earth.
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