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Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Characterization of Northern Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Hard-Bottom Communities with Emphasis on Lophelia Coral

Dataset ID: BOEM_Lophelia_I
Database Version: 20260416-1
Data Provider: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Data Contact: Cordes, Erik: ecordes@temple.edu

Locator Map

Geographic Range

Ocean: North Atlantic
Fishery Management Council Region(s): Gulf (formerly Gulf of Mexico)
Large Marine Ecosystem(s): Gulf of Mexico
Marine Ecoregion(s): Northern Gulf of Mexico

Bounding box

Coordinates are in WGS 84: EPSG:4326

Minimum Latitude: 27.59733
Maximum Latitude: 29.17089
Minimum Longitude: -91.827
Maximum Longitude: -88.01123

Overview

Note: The numbers below only reflect published records. Additional records may be retained by the Program for further review.

Number of records: 29
Number of coral records: 29
Number of sponge records: 0
Records with images: 0
Record type(s): video observation
Minimum depth (meters): 441
Maximum depth (meters): 458
Number of records flagged as <50 meters depth: 0
Time frame: 2004 to 2005

Data Set Description: This is a subset of the Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program’s National Database. The data represent selected deep-sea coral records collected during the Minerals Management Service (MMS, now BOEM) project Characterization of Northern Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Hard-Bottom Communities with Emphasis on Lophelia Coral (Lophelia I). Ten sites on the northern Gulf of Mexico continental slope were visited in 2004 and 2005 during the study using a submersible, the Johnson-Sea-Link (JSL). Three of these were alpha (primary) sites, four were beta (secondary) sites, and three were National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Ocean Exploration sites. Changes to the original dataset may have been made to conform to the National Database Schema and for quality control purposes.

Collection methodogy details:

See link for methods.
Link: https://www.boem.gov/ESPIS/4/4264.pdf

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Data Set Level Citation

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Observation date range: 2004 to 2005. Coral or sponge occurrence observations submitted to the NOAA National Database for Deep Sea Corals and Sponges (www.deepseacoraldata.noaa.gov). Principal investigator: Fisher, Charles R.. DSCRTP Dataset ID: BOEM_Lophelia_I. Database version: 20260416-1.

Note: Individual records within a data set may have additional citations in the ‘Citation’ field.

Taxonomic Summary

Percent of coral, sponge, and fish records by lowest taxonomic rank.

Corals

Number of coral records: 29

Taxon rank	Percent of all coral records
species	100 %

Sponges

Number of sponge records: 0

## No sponge records in this data set.

Fishes

Number of fish records: 0

## No fish records in this data set.

Coral Taxa Observed

Note: Nothing will appear here if no coral taxa were observed.

ScientificName	AphiaID	Order	Family	Records
Desmophyllum pertusum	1245747	Scleractinia	Caryophylliidae	29

Sponge Taxa Observed

Note: Nothing will appear here if no sponge taxa were observed.

## No sponge records in this data set.

Fish Taxa Observed

Note: Nothing will appear here if no fish taxa were observed.

## No fish records in this data set.