The Deep-sea Coral Taxonomy Workshop was held at the Marine Natural History Museum of Colombia - Makuriwa, part of the Institute of Marine and Coastal Research – INVEMAR, in the city of Santa Marta, Colombia, during December 2-4 2019.

Corals are some of the most iconic taxa in marine ecosystems, with over 70% of all coral species found in the deep-sea. Coral taxonomy is difficult and has rapidly changed as molecular data is combined with morphological observations. As their shallow-water counterparts, deep-sea corals suffer from taxonomic issues due to hybridization, character lability, recent speciation, and phenotypic plasticity, among others (Forsman et al. 2015, Dueñas and Sánchez 2009). Although molecular techniques are now commonly employed to confirm the identification of specimens, traditional taxonomy is essential for the initial identification of species and paramount for the description of new ones. A new synthesis, or integrative taxonomy, requires stronger expertise in both molecular and morphological aspects (Sheth and Thaker 2017), and this is why traditional taxonomy must be kept alive (Bik 2017).

Many leading coral taxonomy experts are close to or already retired, and their positions are unfortunately not being replaced. It is now imperative that their expertise and knowledge is transferred to emerging taxonomists (early-career scientists, promising students, and museum staff), much of which is nearly impossible to acquire via manuscripts or books. Workshops are an excellent way in which knowledge is transferred from an expert to more than one emerging taxonomist at a time.

The Makuriwa Museum holds the largest deep-sea coral collection in Colombia, with 2631 lots from the southern Caribbean and the Pacific, product of two decades of sampling. Many of these samples come from deep-sea coral formations in the Colombian Pacific and Caribbean, including the Deepwater Corals National Natural Park, a Marine Protected Area created specifically to protect deep-sea coral ecosystems. Although the curators who have worked in the Makuriwa Museum have worked to identify the specimens, hundreds of lots remain virtually untouched. The knowledge of deep-sea biodiversity in the Caribbean has increased in the last years. However, most of it remains unexplored. For this reason, it was crucial to have emerging taxonomists, students, and local scientists gain taxonomic expertise by working alongside leading coral taxonomy experts to shed some light not only on taxonomic identification, but in deep-sea coral biodiversity.

Goals

The Deep-Sea Coral Taxonomy Workshop brought together international deep-sea coral taxonomy experts, emerging taxonomists, students, and local scientists to:

1. provide a training opportunity for the next generation of deep-sea coral taxonomists;
2. nurture taxonomic capacity building in Colombia and Latin America broadly; and
3. advance the knowledge of deep-sea coral diversity in the southern western Caribbean.

Agenda

The workshop was mainly a hands-on experience that focused on the study of Octocorallia and Antipatharia. The activities during the workshop included introductory talks about the taxonomy of these groups, a tour through the Makuriwa Museum and identification activities focused on different octocoral and black coral families using biological samples (Table 1, Fig. 1).

Table 1. Download as CSV 

Agenda for the Deep-Sea Coral Taxonomy Workshop.

Date	Time	Activity	Place	Responsible
Dec 2	8:15 - 8:30	Registration	Auditorium
	8:30 - 9:00am	Welcome, introduction of participants	Auditorium	Luisa
	9:00 - 10:00am	Introduction to Octocoral Taxonomy	Auditorium	Phil and Odalisca
	10:00 - 10:30am	Coffee break
	10:30 - 11:30m	Introduction to Black Coral Taxonomy	Auditorium	Tina
	11:30 - 12:00am	Safety instructions for working at the collection	Collection	Catalina and Cristina
	12:00 - 1:30pm	Lunch	Cafeteria
	1:30 - 3:00pm	Hands on: Octocorals	Collection	Phil and Odalisca
	3:00 - 3:15pm	Coffee break
	3:15 - 5:30pm	Hands on: Octocorals	Collection	Phil and Odalisca
Dec 3	8:30 - 10:30am	Hands on: Octocorals	Collection	Phil and Odalisca
	10:30 - 10:45am	Coffee break
	10:45 - 12:30pm	Hands on: Octocorals	Collection	Phil and Odalisca
	12:30 - 2:00pm	Lunch	Cafeteria
	2:00 - 3:15pm	Hands on: Octocorals	Collection	Phil and Odalisca
	3:15 - 3:30pm	Coffee break
	3:30 - 5:30pm	Hands on: Octocorals	Collection	Phil and Odalisca
Dec 4	8:30 - 10:30pm	Hands on: Black Corals	Collection	Tina
	10:30 - 10:45am	Coffee break
	10:45 - 12:30pm	Hands on: Black Corals	Collection	Tina
	12:30 - 2:00pm	Lunch	Cafeteria
	2:00 - 3:15pm	Hands on: Black Corals	Collection	Tina
	3:15 - 3:30pm	Coffee break
	3:30 - 5:00pm	Hands on: Black Corals	Collection	Tina
	5:00 - 5:30pm	Closing Remarks	Auditorium	Luisa and Cristina

Figure 1.  

Photographs representing different activities, and samples seen during Deep-Sea Coral Taxonomy Workshop, Colombia 2019.

The workshop included the participation of Phil Alderslade (CSIRO, Australia), Tina Molodtsova (P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology RAS, Russia), Juan A. Sánchez (Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia) and Odalisca Breedy (Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica) as taxonomy experts. Eighteen participants, from 6 different countries in America and Europe, gathered for the three-day workshop at the Makuriwa Museum in INVEMAR, where we had access to the deep-sea coral collection. Participants were represented by undergraduate students, graduate students, postdocs, early career researchers, and professors (Fig. 2, Table 2).

Table 2. Download as CSV 

List of participants for the Deep-Sea Coral Taxonomy Workshop.

Name	Role	Affiliation	Country	Career Stage
Luisa F Dueñas	Organizer	Universidad Nacional de Colombia	Colombia	Assistant Professor
Cristina Cedeño	Organizer	Invemar	Colombia	Researcher / Curator
Juan A Sánchez	Expert	Universidad de Los Andes	Colombia	Full Professor
Phil Alderslade	Expert	CSIRO	Australia	Senior Researcher
Tina Molodtsova	Expert	P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology	Russia	Senior Researcher
Odalisca Breedy	Expert	Universidad de Costa Rica	Costa Rica	Full Professor
Sandra Pareja	Participant	Invemar	Colombia	Graduate student
Katherine Mejía	Participant	Invemar	Colombia	Graduate student
Viviana Sanchez	Participant	Universidad Nacional de Colombia	Colombia	Undergraduate student
Carlos E Gomez	Participant	Universidad de Los Andes	Colombia	Posdoctoral researcher
Salome Buglass	Participant	Charles Darwin Foundation	Ecuador	Early Career Researcher
Ralf Cordeiro	Participant	Federal Rural University of Pernambuco	Brazil	Full Professor
Giovanni Chimienti	Participant	University of Bari	Italy	Assistant Professor/Researcher
Poppy Keogh	Participant	Memorial University of Newfoundland	Canada	Graduate student
Antonella Lavorato	Participant	Universidad Autónoma de Baja California	Mexico	Graduate student
Néstor Ardila	Participant	Ecomar / Universidad Nacional de Colombia	Colombia	Associate Professor/Researcher
Livia Loiola	Participant	Independent researcher	Brazil	Independent researcher
Milena Benavides	Participant	Corales de Profundidad National Natural Park	Colombia	Graduate student
Renata Arantes	Participant	Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina	Brazil	Posdoctoral researcher
Ana Lucía Pico	Participant	Universidad de Córdoba	Colombia	Graduate student
Nelson Manrique	Participant	Okeanos S.A.S.	Colombia	Researcher
Andres F. Molina	Participant	CCCP-DIMAR	Colombia	Graduate student
Marco Garzón	Participant	Universidad de Magdalena	Colombia	Assistant Professor/Researcher
Adriana Sarmiento	Participant	Universidad de Los Andes	Colombia	Doctoral student

Figure 2.  

Workshop Participants. Left to right, back row: Giovanni Chimienti, Nelson Manrique, Sandra Pareja, Katherine Mejía, Livia Loiola, Ana L. Pico, Cristina Cedeño. Middle row: Milena Benavides, Odalisca Breedy, Juan A. Sánchez, Poppy Keogh, Luisa F. Dueñas, Tina Molodtsova, Phil Alderslade, Ralf Cordeiro. Front row: Néstor Ardila, Andrés F. Molina, Viviana Sánchez, Salome Buglass, Adriana Sarmiento, Antonella Lavorato, Carlos E. Gómez, Marco Garzón, Renata Arantes.

During the Workshop, 111 samples of the Cnidarian collection were identified, of which 30 corresponded to samples collected in the Pacific region of Colombia (Malpelo and Riscales) and the remaining 81 samples were collected in the Colombian Caribbean. Antipatharia was represented by 37 samples from the families Antipathidae, Aphanipathidae, Myriopathidae and Stylopathidae; three of them of the dry collection and the remaining 34 from the wet collection. Octocorallia was represented by 74 samples from the families Acanthogorgiidae, Chrysogorgiidae, Ellisellidae, Gorgoniidae, Keroeididae, Primnoidae, Plexauridae, Spongiodermidae and Pennatulidae; 20 samples from the dry collection and 54 from the wet collection. Additional octocoral samples were provided by the Museum from the Los Andes University which included specimens from the families Paragorgiidae and Coralliidae.

Thanks to the workshop, in a three-day activity, it was possible to review and update the taxonomic classification of 111 samples from the collection. This particular task would have taken months to achieve for the curator on her own. Additionally, four new species from the families Clavulariidae, Plexauridae and Gorgoniidae were identified and will be described in the near future.

This workshop, the first of its kind in Latin America, provided a unique opportunity for capacity building in the region, and advanced knowledge of deep-sea coral biodiversity in the Caribbean. We are confident this workshop built long-lasting networks of collaborators that will carry-on the taxonomic work in this important animal group.

We wish to thank the Deep-Sea Biology Society for funding the workshop, in particular Rachel Jeffreys, Chris Yesson and Paris Stefanoudis. We thank the Science Faculty from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia for their assistance administering the funds provided by the award, and Viviana Sánchez in particular for her help during the organization and closure of the workshop. We also thank the Institute of Marine and Coastal Research for co-funding the workshop, specially the Coordinator of the Biodiversity and Marine Ecosystems Program (David Alonso), the General Curator (Catalina Arteaga) and staff from the Marine Natural History Museum- Makuriwa who shared the facilities and the deep-sea coral collection with all participants.

The workshop was funded by the Deep-Sea Biology Society (www.dsbsoc.org) through the Lounsbery Workshop Award, given to LD.

Universidad Nacional de Colombia and Institute of Marine and Costal Research-INVEMAR.

All authors with the exception of SH participated in the Workshop. SH contributed with the organization of the event. LD and CCP led the workshop organization. LD chaired the sessions and drafted the manuscript. JS helped in the organization and contributed as a taxonomy expert. All authors commented and edited the manuscript.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.