[Coral-List] BP Crude Oil Found in Heterotrophic Corals

Eugene Shinn eugeneshinn at mail.usf.edu
Wed Apr 10 14:54:21 EDT 2013


Steve, I am not sure what you mean by "predatory corals" but would like 
to point out that at least 6,000 natural oil seeps have been documented 
in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Generally they are associated with seep 
comunities that include several deep water coral species that include 
/Lophylia sp/. Drilling is not allowed on such seep associated 
communities.  For more go to 
<http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12lophelia/welcome.html> I 
doubt if the oil in these seeps can be distinguisehed from BP oil if it 
does not contain the sufactant Corexit that was used to break up the 
oil. That would be the only way to proove if the oil is from the BP 
blowout. Gene
  I-- No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS) 
------------------------------------ ----------------------------------- 
E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor University of South Florida College of 
Marine Science Room 221A 140 Seventh Avenue South St. Petersburg, FL 
33701 <eugeneshinn at mail.usf.edu> Tel 727 553-1158 
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