Document Type
Article
Abstract
Two types of deep-water coral banks occur off the coast of southeastern United States: Oculina and Lophelia/Enallopsammia. The Oculina banks form an extensive reef system at depths of 70-100 m along the shelf edge off central eastern Florida. These reefs are comprised of >100 individual pinnacles and ridges which are up to 24 min height. Each pinnacle is actually a bank of unconsolidated sediment and coral debris that is capped on the slopes and crest with living colonies of Oculina varicosa. the ivory tree coral. In comparison, deep-water banks of Lophelia and Enallopsammia corals occur at depths of 490-870 m along the base of the Florida-Hatteras slope on the west side of the Florida Straits and also on the Blake Plateau off South Carolina and Georgia. The morphology and functional structure of both the Oculina and Lophelia banks are similar. This paper summarizes 10 years of submersible studies on the deep-water Oculina reefs and describes recent submersible reconnaissance of the Lophelia banks off southeastern U.S.A.
Publication Date
1992
Recommended Citation
This manuscript is an author version with the final publication available and may be cited as: Reed, J. K. (1992). Submersible studies of deepwater Oculina and Lophelia coral banks off southeastern U.S.A. In L. B. Cahoon (Ed.), Diving for science…1992: proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences twelfth annual Scientific Diving Symposium, September 24-27, 1992, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, North Carolina (pp. 143-151). Costa Mesa, CA: American Academy of Underwater Sciences.
Comments
Florida Atlantic University. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute contribution 930.