Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems
Table 1. Deepest in situ observations of obligate zooxanthellate corals by island (see Figure 1 for location).
Deepest in situ observations of obligate zooxanthellate corals by island.
Latitude ( o N)
Depth (m)
Reference
Location
Hawai ‘ i
19.5
153
Kahng and Maragos 2006
Maui Nui
21.0
131
Kahng and Maragos 2006
O ‘ ahu
21.3
115
Blythe-Skyrme et al. 2013
Ni ‘ ihau-Kaula
21.6
111
pers. obs., HURL P5-571
Kaua ‘ i
21.9
110
pers. obs., HURL P4-223
French Frigate Shoals
23.7
77
Blythe-Skyrme et al. 2013
Pearl & Hermes
27.9
67
Luck et al. 2013
Midway
28.2
66
Luck et al. 2013
Kure
28.4
66
Luck et al. 2013
While MCEs in Hawai‘i are subject to the same natural and anthropogenic disturbances as other MCEs (reviewed in Bongaerts et al. 2010a), Hawai‘i’s evolutionary isolation and low species diversity of shallow-water marine fauna likely increase its susceptibility to non-indigenous invasive species from underrepresented taxa (Stachowicz and Tilman 2005, Kahng 2006). At mesophotic depths in Maui Nui, the invasive octocoral Carijoa riisei , which is cryptic in shallow-water, has been reported to be dominating rugose substrate and overgrowing antipatharian and scleractinian fauna (Kahng and Grigg 2005, Kahng 2007). On the island of Oahu, the invasive green alga Avrainvillea sp. (first reported in 1981) has been
observed forming vast meadows to depths of 90 m (Peyton 2009, Spalding 2012). At French Frigate Shoals, the bluestripe snapper, Lutjanus kasmira , was recorded as the second most abundant fish at 30–90m(Kane et al. 2014). Introduced toOahu in 1955, it is prolific in shallow water across the archipelago (Friedlander et al. 2002, Gaither et al. 2013). Therefore, its abundance on mesophotic reefs in the Main Hawaiian Islands is probably significant. These reports demonstrate the potential susceptibility of Hawai‘i’s MCEs to biological invasions, which have been well documented in shallow-water and terrestrial ecosystems (U.S. Congress OTA 1993, Coles and Eldredge 2002, Eldredge and Carlton 2002, Smith et al. 2002).
MESOPHOTIC CORAL ECOSYSTEMS – A LIFEBOAT FOR CORAL REEFS? 42
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