Cuba’s Mesophotic Reefs and their Regional Connectivity

Cuba has the largest shelf habitat in the Caribbean and while its shallow coral reef communities are well-studied, little is known about the country’s mesophotic coral ecosystems. Cuba’s central location, relatively well-preserved coral reefs, and oceanographic regime suggest that these coral reef ecosystems are playing an important role in the regional connectivity dynamics of the wider Tropical Western Atlantic. In recognition of this physical and ecological connectivity and the need for shared governance among coral reefs in the U.S. and Cuba, government agencies from both countries developed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). 

This MOU established a “Sister Sanctuary” relationship among the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, Dry Tortugas National Park, and Biscayne Bay National Park in the United States and Banco de San Antonio and Guanahacabibes Marine Sanctuaries in western Cuba. This MOU provided the framework needed to support an international research collaboration between U.S. and Cuban scientists from the Centro de Investigaciones Marinas at University of Havana, Centro Nacional de Áreas Protegidas, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar, Geocuba Estudios Marinos, Acuario Nacional de Cuba; and for the U.S., two NOAA Cooperative Institutes: the Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research, and Technology at FAU-Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) at the University of Miami.

A joint research expedition was conducted in the summer of 2017 which circumnavigated the Cuban archipelago surveying and exploring the mesophotic coral reefs with a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). The main objectives of this cruise were to:

1. Characterize and map the extent of Cuba’s mesophotic reefs
2. Assess the biodiversity and health status of Cuba’s mesophotic communities
3. Collect oceanographic data
4. Sample benthic macro-invertebrate and macro-algal species for taxonomic analyses
5. Conduct targeted sampling of species to assess the genetic connectivity among Cuba’s mesophotic coral ecosystems and mesophotic and shallow reefs across the Tropical Western Atlantic

Cuba Cruise 2017, Leg 1 participants

Cuba Cruise 2017, Leg 2 participants

Following the expedition, the Voss Lab has been contributing to the assessment of benthic cover and biodiversity using the almost 20,000 underwater stills and 100 hours of video recordings captured by the ROV. In addition, lab members are contributing to the development of a coral species identification guide, using images collected from the cruise. We have also started implementing molecular approaches to assess the genetic structure and regional connectivity of samples of the coral Montastraea cavernosa collected from shallow reefs in Cuba. The Voss Lab is planning to return to Cuba in the summer of 2019 to conduct both ROV and technical diving based sampling of mesophotic scleractinians for molecular analyses. We hope to incorporate these samples into a RADseq based single nucleotide polymorphism generation pipeline in order to conduct high resolution genotyping of M. cavernosa and their algal symbiont communities. Keep an eye on our “News” section to follow updates on the upcoming expedition and to learn about the results generated from the Cuban mesophotic reefs projects. ​​

Partners: Centro de Investigaciones Marinas at University of Havana, Centro Nacional de Áreas Protegidas, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar, Geocuba Estudios Marinos, Acuario Nacional de Cuba, NOAA Fisheries (Andrew David, Felicia Drummond), UNCW Undersea Vehicles Program (Lance Horn, Jason White)

Funding: Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research, and Technology, Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies

Links: Cuba’s Twilight Zone Reefs and Their Regional Connectivity

* Denotes lab alumnus