[Coral-List] corals growing on red mangrove prop roots--St. John, USVI

[Caroline S Rogers]

Over the last several months I have seen over 30 scleractinian coral
species growing directly on or near the prop roots of red mangrove trees
lining the shorelines of three bays in Virgin Islands Coral Reef National
Monument, St. John, US Virgin Islands. There are a few individuals of
genera that are quite rare on the coral reefs around the island, for
example Scolymia and Mycetophyllia.  Photos are available in the Reef Site
that I just published on line in Coral Reefs.  I see little mention of
corals growing on prop roots in the published scientific literature, and
some major review papers do not mention this at all.  Several coral species
have been reported for the Pelican Cays off Belize but it does not appear
that the number of species is as high as seen in St. John.
I would be very interested to know if other people have seen such a high
diversity of corals in  mangrove habitats anywhere else in the Caribbean or
know of any papers on this.

Thanks--

Caroline


***************************
Caroline S. Rogers, PhD
USGS Caribbean Field Station
1300 Cruz Bay Creek
St. John, USVI 00830
T (340) 693 8950 ext 221
caroline_rogers at usgs.gov