Uploaded January 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
What has become of Caribbean "coral" reefs?
This is a video survey of reefs around the Caribbean at 40-80 ft depth (10-25 m), mostly recorded in 2018 and 2019 at recreational dive sites. The survey shows that (1) fore-reefs are surprisingly similar across the Caribbean, (2) reef-building coral cover is very low, (3) there are lots of seaweeds and octocorals (gorgonians), and (4) giant barrel sponges are common, and provide important structure on these reefs. While sponges may be providing homes for fishes and invertebrates, they also grow over the few remaining reef-building corals, and hold space that baby corals would need to recruit.
What has become of Caribbean "coral" reefs?
This is a video survey of reefs around the Caribbean at 40-80 ft depth (10-25 m), mostly recorded in 2018 and 2019 at recreational dive sites. The survey shows that (1) fore-reefs are surprisingly similar across the Caribbean, (2) reef-building coral cover is very low, (3) there are lots of seaweeds and octocorals (gorgonians), and (4) giant barrel sponges are common, and provide important structure on these reefs. While sponges may be providing homes for fishes and invertebrates, they also grow over the few remaining reef-building corals, and hold space that baby corals would need to recruit.
