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

[Eric Borneman]

Hi Caroline:

Belize: numerous sites, including Rhomboid reefs, Southwater Caye,  
Tobacco Caye, Twin Caye:

S siderea, S. radians, M meandrites, P astreoides, P porites, D  
strigosa, M cavernosa, M ann complex spp., Agaricia spp., Scolymia,  
Oculina, Tubastraea, Phyllangia, Manacina, Millepora spp., Stylaster,  
Distichopora

San Salvador Bahamas: S siderea, S. radians, P astreoides, P porites,  
Agaricia spp., Scolymia, Phyllangia, Manacina, Millepora spp (in a  
single 45 minute snorkel)

This is what I recall or have photos of, and I think from the sites I  
have seen beyond these, the amount of settlement observationally  
rather depends on the location of the mangroves in terms of open water  
exposure and location relative to nearby reefs.

__________________________
Eric Borneman
Dept. of Biology and Biochemistry
University of Houston

On Aug 3, 2009, at 8:03 AM, Caroline S Rogers wrote:

>
> 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
>
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