The utility of museum records for documenting distributions of deep-sea corals off the southeastern United States

Abstract

Museum records can enhance distribution maps of deep-sea corals (DSC), but museum data usually acquired from online internet catalogues may be of uncertain quality. Also, many museum records are unavailable through online sources. Holdings of four structure-forming DSC species (Lophelia pertusa, Madrepora oculata, Enallopsammia profunda, Enallopsammia rostrata) collected from off the southeastern US were evaluated from the US National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ), University of Miami's Marine Invertebrate Museum, and Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History. Data were gathered from online sources, selected publications, and personal visits to the MCZ and NMNH. Each record was located, if possible, specimens were photographed and additional data obtained, including whether the specimen was collected alive or dead. The resulting database was imported into ArcGIS to examine coral distributions. Museums yielded 304 records: 126 L. pertusa, 62 M. oculata, 113 E. profunda, 3 E. rostrata. Most (87%) records occurred between 400 and 900 m depths; some were <300 m (46–248 m) and >900 m (965–2195 m). Museum records confirmed geographic and bathymetric ranges of these corals and suggested areas for further exploration. Problems encountered in the museum data were varied but generally minor. Museum collections are useful for investigating DSC distributions; however, these data require more scrutiny than they usually receive. Visits to museums and/or interaction with museum staff are recommended to improve museum data utility.

Keywords:

• Deep-sea corals
• cold-water corals
• Lophelia pertusa
• Madrepora oculata
• Enallopsammia profunda
• Enallopsammia rostrata

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Acknowledgements

We thank the Environmental Defense Fund for support of this project, and especially Doug Rader (EDF) for encouragement and facilitating this work. The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council provided some funds for this project, and we thank Myra Brouwer and Anna Martin of the Council for helping with the project. The Friends of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences provided administrative assistance through Stephanie Hollomon, Liz Baird, and Angela Baker-James. We thank Dr Stephen Cairns for assisting with our visit to the Smithsonian Institution coral collections and Adam Baldinger who assisted our visit to the MCZ. Dr Eric Lazo-Wasem (Yale Peabody Museum), Dr Nancy Voss (University Miami, Marine Invertebrate Museum), and Dr Martha Nizinski (NOAA Fisheries Systematics Lab) assisted with locating museum and cruise data. Kelly Roth helped begin this project. Mike Rhode (UNCW) assisted with making maps and managing the database. We thank Dr J.M. Roberts (Heriot-Watt University) for providing Figure 1 (from Roberts et al. 2006), which was reprinted with permission from AAAS. Partial support for this project was provided by the Department of the Interior US Geological Survey under Cooperative Agreement No. 05HQAG0009, subagreement 05099HS004, and we especially thank Dr Gary Brewer (USGS) for encouraging and facilitating our work.

Notes

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark