Journal
BULLETIN OF MARINE SCIENCE
Volume 91, Issue 4, Pages 491-510Publisher
ROSENSTIEL SCH MAR ATMOS SCI
DOI: 10.5343/bms.2015.1025
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Brazilian energy company, PETROBRAS
- Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa - CNPq (PROTAX) [562320/2010-5]
- FACEPE - Fundacao de Amparo a Ciencia e Tecnologia do Estado de Pernambuco [APQ-0828-2.04/12]
- FACEPE
- CNPq
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Since the 1960s, it has been accepted that the distribution of reef-building corals off Brazil has its northernmost limit at the Manuel Luis Marine State Park (approximately 0 degrees 46'S, 44 degrees 15'W), about 530 km south of the Amazon River mouth. In the present study, we challenge this view and report a geographic extension of coral distribution of over 550 km to the north (to 02 degrees 13'48 '' N and 48 degrees 10'12 '' W). The Amazon River is believed to be the greatest barrier to the distribution of marine species between Brazilian and Caribbean waters. After examining specimens deposited in museums and documented in scientific literature, we recorded 38 coral species offshore of the Amazon River mouth, including 27 octocorals, 9 scleractinians, 1 hydrocoral, and 1 black coral. Corals were found at depths between 18 and 125 m, providing evidence of mesophotic coral ecosystems adjacent to the mouth of Amazon River, which raises important questions about the origin and connectivity between populations of reef organisms off Brazil and those in the Caribbean region.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available