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Coral reef expedition yields sealife surprises

By EMILY ANTHES
Published July 2, 2005

[Photo by Tim Taylor]

Algae that resembles lettuce and purple, platelike coral were among the findings of the expedition to the Pulley Ridge Reef, part of a submerged barrier island.

	[Times photos: Lara Cerri]
	Researcher Sylvia Earle displays algae Friday that was retrieved from the Pulley Ridge Reef.
	A team of marine researchers returned to Bayboro Harbor in St. Petersburg on Friday after an eight-day expedition to the Pulley Ridge Reef, which is 100 miles off Naples. The team, which included scientists from USF, used the Deep Worker, a one-person submarine that can withstand depths of 2,000 feet for several hours.

ST. PETERSBURG - University of South Florida researchers made big news in January when they announced the discovery of the deepest coral reef in the United States.

On Friday, a team of scientists returned from an eight-day expedition to that reef off Florida's Gulf Coast with troves of photos and samples, as well as a few surprises:

-- Fistfuls of a type of large algae thought to be rare in the Gulf of Mexico.

-- A shell-less, maroon mollusk resembling a jellyfish that expedition scientists had never seen before.

-- A type of worm that lives in tubes on the ocean floor and may be a new species.

"We've come back with a lot of material," said Robert Halley, the chief scientist for the expedition, which included scientists from USF, the Florida Institute of Oceanography, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Mote Marine Laboratory, and the Harte Institute of Texas A&M University. "It's a very unusual reef."

Pulley Ridge is 100 miles off Naples in the Gulf of Mexico. The reef is part of a barrier island submerged in 200 to 300 feet of water. Reefs are unusual at such depths and are not typically found more than 150 feet from the surface, said John Ogden, the director of the Florida Institute of Oceanography.

Reef-building corals have a symbiotic relationship with a certain type of one-celled algae that relies on photosynthesis, meaning that light is necessary for coral growth and survival. The clarity of the water off Florida's Gulf Coast helps the reef get the light it needs, but has led to varieties of coral different from those normally found at shallower depths.

Pulley Ridge provides the opportunity to study a unique type of reef, and the research team collected a number of organisms that members of the expedition were unable to identify.

"We found things that the collective expertise among our group could not identify, and we've got pretty good expertise," said G.P. Schmahl, a biologist on the expedition. "There's a very good chance that we have species that are new to science."

The scientists were particularly excited by a "mysterious region" of the ocean floor covered with what they are calling "coralline reef worms," said David Guggenheim, a member of the advisory council of the Harte Research Institute.

The coralline reef worms live in white tubes made of calcium carbonate, which the worms secrete. The tubes coalesce, forming large white masses that serve as a habitat for fish and other sea life, the scientists reported.

Deep coral reefs are not studied much, Schmahl said, and the expedition's samples will now be sent to scientists all over the world for further analysis.

This week's expedition comes a year after Gov. Jeb Bush launched the Florida Oceans Initiative, which emphasizes marine research and management. Expedition members said the study of deep coral reefs has important implications for reef protection and ocean management. Unlike the coral at the more heavily explored shallow-water reefs, most of the coral at Pulley Ridge is alive.

"Shallow-water coral reefs are in trouble worldwide," Schmahl said. "To find these reservoirs of coral reef in deeper areas is great. They may be the reefs with the resilience to survive."

[Last modified July 2, 2005, 01:20:07]