[Coral-List] Tubastraea micranthus in Gulf of Mexico

Billy Causey - NOAA Federal billy.causey at noaa.gov
Thu Feb 7 13:05:02 EST 2013


Ken,
I will leave it to GP Schmahl or  Emma Hickerson from the Flower Garden
Banks National Marine Sanctuary to respond with details, but they have
documented Tubastraea on the Flower Garden Banks coral reef and on the oil
and gas platforms in the vicinity.  I made dives with them in October of
last year and found it to be abundant on one of the platforms within the
boundary of the Sanctuary.

I will leave the rest to GP or Emma for comment.  Billy

On Wed, Feb 6, 2013 at 1:52 PM, Ken Marks <data at agrra.org> wrote:

> Paul Sammarco reported on /Tubastraea micranthus/ being discovered on
> oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico in his paper which he announced on this
> list back in August of 2010.
>
>         Sammarco, P.W., S.A. Porter, and S.D. Cairns. 2010. A new coral
>         species introduced into the Atlantic Ocean - /Tubastraea
>         micranthus/(Ehrenberg 1834) (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Scleractinia):
>         An invasive threat? Aquatic Invasions 5 (2): 131-140.
>
> http://www.aquaticinvasions.net/2010/AI_2010_5_2_Sammarco_etal.pdf
>
>
> My question to the readers of this list is about the current status of
> this exotic species in the tropical western Atlantic. Has it been
> reported on additional oil rig platforms in the northern Gulf of Mexico?
> Have any sightings of this species been documented beyond the initially
> discovered invasion site? Does anybody have photos of this species /in
> situ/ outside of its naturally occurring range?
>
>
> Thanks in advance for any replies.
>
>
> --
> Ken Marks
> AGRRA Data Manager
>
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>



-- 
Billy D. Causey, Ph.D.
Regional Director
Southeast Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Region
NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries
33 East Quay Road
Key West, Florida 33040

Office:  305 809 4670 (ex 234)
Mobile: 305 395 0150
Fax:     305 293 5011
Email:  Billy.Causey at noaa.gov

Will Our Grandchildren Remember Us For What We Conserved and Protected or
For What We Let Slip Away?


More information about the Coral-List mailing list