Lophelia pertusa landscapes and megafaunal biotopes on the Blake Plateau off the southeastern U.S. and in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico ...

• Main Authors: Sulak, Kenneth J., Ross, Steve W., Nizinski, Martha S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: ASC 2004 - AA - Theme session 2024
• Subjects: Ecosystem observation, processes and dynamics; Pressures, impacts, conservation, and management; Lophelia pertusa
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.25349149; https://ices-library.figshare.com/articles/conference_contribution/Lophelia_pertusa_landscapes_and_megafaunal_biotopes_on_the_Blake_Plateau_off_the_southeastern_U_S_and_in_the_northeastern_Gulf_of_Mexico/25349149

No abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.Off eastern North America, Lophelia pertusa reefs are known from one locality off Sable Island, Nova Scotia, one locality on the west wall of Oceanographer Submarine Canyon, and along the Blake Plateau from Cape Hatteras to South Florida. Earlier indications of Lophelia coral at two localities in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico have recently been confirmed, as well, by submersible observations. Along the Blake Plateau from North Carolina to Florida; nearly all Lophelia reefs documented by underwater exploration align closely with the high velocity core of the Gulf Stream. The relative ubiquity of Lophelia reefs in this area contrasts markedly with the apparent near absence of this deep-water coral in the province of major submarine canyons, from Virginia to New England, a region of the continental slope that has been extensively explored by submersible, camera sled and ROV, and extensively sampled by bottom trawl. Off the U.S. southeastern ...