Due to its high-latitude location within the Gulf of Mexico, the Flower Garden Banks hosts only 31 of the 82 scleractinian coral species found elsewhere in the Caribbean. However, coral cover remains close to 50 percent and is dominated by Orbicella spp., Montastraea cavernosa, Colpophyllia natans, and Pseudodiploria strigosa.
Coral Cover
Image courtesy of the Voss Lab at Florida Atlantic University, Harbor Branch. Download larger version (jpg, 10.9 MB).

Due to its high-latitude location within the Gulf of Mexico, the Flower Garden Banks hosts only 31 of the 82 scleractinian coral species found elsewhere in the Caribbean. However, coral cover remains close to 50 percent and is dominated by Orbicella spp., Montastraea cavernosa, Colpophyllia natans, and Pseudodiploria strigosa.

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