 These banks were
created and brought into shallow water by the emergence of two salt domes in the ocean
floor. The banks were raised into shallow
water where light is sufficient to support organisms requiring such. Over millions of years, thriving coral reefs have developed on these banks
in these clear, warm, offshore sub-tropical waters. Their
significance has been recognized by the US government, and they have been declared the
NOAA Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. These
reefs are isolated by hundreds to thousands of miles from other reefs in the Gulf. Up
until the 1940s, there was no other shallow hard-bottom in offshore waters of the Gulf. But then we began deploying oil and gas drilling
platforms there. In all, ~6,000 major
platforms have been installed. ~4,000 remain
at this time (2002).
We
have recently found
that these platforms have acted as new settling substrate for corals. In fact, in a study of ~10-15 platforms within a
50-mile radius of the Flower Garden Banks, we have found that some of the platforms have
substantial coral populations on them – of both reef-building (hermatypic) and
non-reef-building (ahermatypic) types. The
corals seem to be most abundant on the older platforms (> 12 yrs). These are all common Caribbean corals.
The
platforms are also covered with other plants and animals associated with Caribbean coral
reefs - algae, sponges, tunicates, crabs, sea fans, etc.
They are also home to abundant populations of reef-associated fish. These include demersal reef fish, such as
damselfish, parrotfish, and surgeonfish; semi-demersal fish, such as chromids; and pelagic
fish, such as sharks, cobia, amber jack, etc. These artificial structures, over time, have become true living, breathing
coral reefs.
 
Photos by Josh Collins and Toby Armstrong |
