Comparison of deep-water coral reefs and lithoherms off southeastern USA

• Published in: Hydrobiologia Vol. 471; no. 1-3; pp. 57 - 69
• Main Author: REED, John K
• Format: Conference Proceeding Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01.03.2002; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Coral reefs; Deep water; Enallopsammia; Enallopsammia profunda; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Geomorphology; Lophelia; Lophelia pertusa; Marine; Oculina; Oculina varicosa; Sea water ecosystems; Solenosmilia; Synecology; Florida; United States; North America; South Carolina; America; ASW, Caribbean Sea, Little Bahama Bank; ASW, USA, Florida; ASW, Atlantic, Florida Straits; Atlantic Ocean; ASW, Atlantic, Blake Plateau; USA, Florida; Geomorphology; Growth; Vertical distribution; Environmental factor; Coral reef; Deep water; Spatial variation; Scleractinia; Marine environment; Species diversity; Coelenterata; Animal community; Coral; Cnidaria; Dominant species; Invertebrata
• ISSN: 0018-8158; 1573-5117
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1016593018389

Two types of deep-water coral bioherms occur off the coast of southeastern United States: Oculina and Lophelia /Enallopsammia. The deep-water Oculina bioherms form an extensive reef system at depths of 70-100 m along the shelf edge off central eastern Florida. These reefs are comprised of numerous pinnacles and ridges, 3-35 m in height. Each pinnacle is a bank of unconsolidated sediment and coral debris that is capped on the slopes and crest with living and dead colonies of Oculina varicosa, the ivory tree coral. In comparison, deep-water reefs of Lophelia pertusa and Enallopsammia profunda corals occur at depths of 500-850 m (maximum 150-m relief) along the base of the Florida-Hatteras slope in the Straits of Florida. On the western edge of the Blake Plateau off South Carolina and Georgia, 54-m high banks of Enallopsammia and Lophelia occur at depths of 490-550 m, whereas on the eastern edge of the plateau the reefs form structures 146 m in height and at depths of 640-869 m. The geomorphology and functional structure of both the Oculina and Lophelia reefs are similar. North of Little Bahama Bank, at depths of 1000-1300 m, a region of bioherms is dominated by the coral Solenosmilia sp.; Lophelia is reportedly absent. This paper summarizes 25 years of submersible studies on the deep-water Oculina reefs, describes submersible reconnaissance of deep-water Lophelia reefs off the southeastern United States, and contrasts these types of bioherms with the deep-water lithoherms in the Straits of Florida west of the Bahamas.