Mexican Coral Reefs
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␥20 Mexican Coral Reefs W. David Liddell and John W. Tunnell Jr. The Mexican reefs of the southern Gulf of Mexico occur Late 1800s in 2 distinct provinces, the Campeche Bank to the north Professor Angelo Heilprin led the first scientific expedi- and west of the Yucatan Peninsula and the Veracruz shelf tion to the coral reefs of the southern Gulf of Mexico in reefs near the coast in the Tuxpan–Veracruz area of the 1890. This expedition was sponsored by the Academy of southwestern Gulf of Mexico. Reefs differ greatly in size, Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (now Philadelphia Acad- geomorphology, and diversity, reflecting differences in emy of Sciences), which Heilprin directed. The expedi- the underlying geologic structures and ambient envi- tion’s purpose was to “investigate the natural history of ronments. The reefs of the Campeche Bank, generally, the Yucatan Peninsula and Mexico” (Heilprin 1890). The are better developed than those of the Tuxpan–Veracruz expedition documented the tropical nature of marine area, perhaps due to the deleterious effects of high clas- biota of the southern Gulf and described corals and coral tic sedimentation and cooler temperatures in the latter reefs (Heilprin 1890) and many other marine inverte- area. brates (Ives 1890, 1891; Baker 1891). Heilprin (1890) also described reefs and islands occurring off the city of Vera- History of Research cruz and noted the “vast quantity of coral” used in con- struction there. The reefs of the southeastern Gulf of Mexico (Fig. 20.1) have a long prehistory, dating back to the Mesozoic 1900s–1970s opening of the Gulf of Mexico (Liddell 2007). Modern historical accounts began with the English adventurer With the exception of Joubin’s 1912 map of coral reefs, William Dampier, who mentioned the prolific nesting little research was conducted on southern Gulf reefs until seabirds occurring on the islands of Alacrán and Trián- Smith’s (1954) work. Smith utilized Heilprin’s (1890) and gulos (Dampier 1699). A century would pass before oth- Joubin’s (1912) works and various unpublished sources ers again noted the vegetation, seabirds, sea turtles, and and nautical charts (refer to Tunnell 2007a, his Table 1.1) West Indian monk seal associated with these and other to create a coral reef distribution map. Smith also com- Campeche Bank islands (Smith 1838; Marion 1884; Ward piled a list of coral species from the southern Gulf. In 1887; Agassiz 1888). 1955, Moore (1958) briefly visited Blanquilla Reef off Tux- pan. He described 44 invertebrate species from this, the most northerly emergent reef in the southwestern Gulf of 341 342 ~ Liddell and Tunnell Mexico. In 1956, Emery (1963) sampled reef sediments During the 1960s, interest and research on all south- offshore of the city of Veracruz. His work was published ern Gulf of Mexico coral reefs increased greatly (Tables in both English and Spanish, raising the level of interest in 20.1, 20.2). Because the reef localities were remote, field this unique (terrigenous) setting for coral reefs. Kornicker studies tended to be performed during extended expedi- et al. (1959) took part in a large, collaborative effort to tions to the reef systems. Huerta M. and Barrientos (1965) study Alacrán, the most northerly reef on the Campeche reported on the algae of Blanquilla and Isla de Lobos reefs, Bank (Fig. 20.1). Although the expedition largely focused near Tuxpan. Rigby and McIntire (1966) described the on geology, several biological studies also resulted from geology and ecology of Isla de Lobos Reef, while Cham- it, making Alacrán Reef one of the best- known Gulf reefs berlain (1966) reported on gorgonians from Lobos that (Table 20.1). were studied during the same Brigham Young Univer- From 1959 to 1963, the Department of Oceanography sity expedition. Hidalgo (Hidalgo and Chávez 1967) and at Texas A&M University undertook a major, multiyear Chávez (Chávez et al. 1970; Chávez 1973; Bautista- Gil and study of the Campeche Bank or Yucatan Shelf in the south- Chávez 1977) conducted multiple expeditions to Isla de eastern Gulf. The project was funded by the National Sci- Lobos Reef with their students from the Instituto Politéc- ence Foundation, the American Petroleum Institute, the nico Nacional in Mexico City. Chávez (1966) reported on Office of Naval Research, Shell Development Company, the fishes of Triángulos and Cayo Arenas reefs. and Mobil Oil Company. The project was the longest and Students from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de most productive study of southern Gulf reefs to that date Mexico conducted their “professional theses” on a vari- and contributed greatly to the knowledge of coral reefs ety of topics within the Veracruz Reef system. Villalobos and reef and shelf sediments of the region (Logan 1962, summarized much of this work in the proceedings of an 1969a, b; Logan et al. 1969). In addition, Cayo Arenas was international symposium on the Caribbean Sea and adja- studied in more detail as a side project (Busby 1966). cent regions (Villalobos 1971) and in a later review article Figure 20.1. Geographic distribution of coral reefs within the southern Gulf of Mexico. Tuxpan and Veracruz systems are in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico and Campeche Bank Reefs are in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico (reprinted from Tunnell 2007b, with permission of Texas A&M Press. Mexican Coral Reefs ~ 343 Table 20.1. Principal literature by reef or island for certain coral reefs and islands on the Campeche Bank. Listed counterclockwise from Alacrán in the north to Cayos Arcas in the south. Subject by area References Alacrán bathymetric mapping Liceaga- Correa and Euan- Avila 2002 communities benthic communities Solís 1990 reef communities Liddell and Ohlhorst 1988 geology Kornicker et al. 1959; Kornicker and Boyd 1962; Hoskin 1962, 1963, 1966, 1968; Bonet 1967; Macintyre et al. 1977 organisms algae Múzquiz 1961 birds Fosberg 1961, 1962; Folk 1967; Boswall 1978; Tunnell and Chapman 1988, 2001 fish Hildebrand et al. 1964; González- Gandara et al. 1999; González- Gandara and Arias- González 2001a, 2001b; Brulé et al. 2003; González- Gandara et al. 2003 foraminiferans Davis 1964 mollusks Rice and Kornicker 1962; Aranda et al. 2003 stomatopods and decapods Martínez- Guzmán and Hernández- Aguilera 1993 vegetation Marion 1884; Millspaugh 1916; Fosberg 1961, 1962; Bonet and Rzedowski 1962; Folk 1967 reef growth model Bosscher and Schlager 1992 sediments Folk 1962, Folk and Robles 1964; Folk 1967; Folk and Cotera 1971; Novak 1992; Novak et al. 1992 spatial distribution Torruco et al. 1993 Cayo Arenas geology Busby 1966 Triangulos and Cayo Arenas organisms coral Carricart- Ganivet and Beltrán- Torres 1993 fish Chávez 1966 sponges Hernández 1997 environmental Ferre- D’Amare 1995 Cayos Arcas organisms coral Farrell et al. 1983 environmental Ferre- D’Amare 1995 meteorology Salas de Leon et al. 1992 (Villalobos- Figueroa 1980). Other studies on southern late 1980s and 1990s, Universidad Veracruzana in Jalapa, Veracruz reefs from this time included algae (Huerta M. and Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Avanzados 1960) and foraminiferans (Lidz and Lidz 1966). More- (CINVESTAV)–Unidad Mérida of the Instituto Politéc- lock and Koenig (1967), Edwards (1969), and Freeland nico Nacional, also contributed to research on Veracruz (1971) conducted geologic studies during the 1960s on reefs and Alacrán Reef, respectively. the southern Veracruz reefs. The reefs of northern Veracruz State are the least stud- ied of those in the southwestern Gulf region due to their 1970s–1990s remoteness. Of the 6 northernmost reefs, Isla de Lobos has received the most attention (Table 20.2). From 1970 to 1990, three groups were largely responsible Over 20 coral reefs exist in the extreme southwestern for research on the southern Gulf of Mexico coral reefs: Gulf, located offshore of the city of Veracruz and offshore (1) Secretaría de Marina, Dirección General de Ocean- of the fishing village of Antón Lizardo. Since these reefs ografía, (2) Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi, and are more accessible than the northern Veracruz reefs, they (3) Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. In the have received considerably more study (Table 20.2). Per- 344 ~ Liddell and Tunnell Table 20.2. Principal literature by reef or island for certain coral reefs and islands on the Tuxpan–Veracruz area. Listed from Blanquilla Reef in the north to Enmedio Reef in the south. Reef or island Subject References Tuxpan Reef system Blanquilla algae Moore 1958; Huerta M. and Barrientos 1965 Isla de Lobos algae Huerta M. and Barrientos 1965; Rigby and McIntire 1966; Hidalgo and Chávez 1967 crustaceans Ray 1974 crabs Allen 1982 fish Márquez- Espinosa 1976 foraminiferans Bautista- Gil and Chávez 1977 gorgonians Chamberlain 1966 mollusks Tunnell 1974, 1977 polychaetes Roberts 1981 reef communities Chávez et al. 1970; Chávez 1973 Veracruz Reef system Veracruz Area algae Huerta M. 1960 geology Emery 1963; Morelock and Koenig 1967; Freeland 1971; Hernandez 1987 foraminiferans Lidz and Lidz 1966 benthic communities Kühlmann 1975 La Blanquilla coral ecology Santiago 1977 ecology Villalobos 1971 fish Reséndez- Medina 1971 hydrography Rodríguez and Fuentes 1965 sponges Green 1977 Verde algae Mateo- Cid et al. 1996 coral taxonomy Beltrán- Torres and Carricart- Ganivet 1993 lead pollution Horta- Puga and Ramírez- Palacios 1996 stomatopods & decapods Morales- García 1986 Sacrificios stomatopods & decapods Morales- García 1987 Enmedio algae Huerta M. et al. 1977; Lehman and Tunnell 1992a, 1992b; Lehman 1993 ciliates Lubel 1984 corals Rannefeld 1972; Nelson 1991 crabs Rickner 1975, 1977; Allen 1982 echinoderms Henkel 1982 fish Choucair 1992; Riley and Holt 1993 IXTOC I oil impacts Tunnell and Dokken unpublished; Baca et al. unpublished mollusks Tunnell 1974, 1977 shrimps White 1982 sponges Stinnett 1989 haps the most studied of all reefs in this region is Enme- y Mar Caribe). This program first operated from a small dio Reef. Gutiérrez et al. (1993) compared the coral reefs station (Estación Oceanográfica) in the city of Veracruz, of the Veracruz region to those within the Sian Ka’an but it is now housed within a new institute building at Biosphere Reserve located along the Caribbean coast of Antón Lizardo.