The sponges of Gray's Reef not only provide habitat for larger fish species, they also provide a hidden habitat for many smaller creatures. A look at the creatures living in and around the sanctuary's notable invertebrates demonstrates the complexity of habitat and biodiversity protected at Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary.
Recently, College of Charleston graduate student Anna Greene defended her M.S. thesis, Invertebrate Endofauna Associated with Sponge and Octocoral Epifauna at Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary off the Coast of Georgia. Her thesis advisor was Jeff Hyland, a marine ecologist at NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Sciences (NCCOS) Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research in Charleston. Hyland himself has done much research work in the sanctuary.
Greene's study was conducted to characterize the assemblages of invertebrates that live in association with the sponges and soft corals of the live-bottom reefs in the Sanctuary. Sponges and corals were collected from "densely colonized live bottom" mapped by Gray's Reef and NCCOS. Three sponge species and three octocoral species were selected for analysis. The 24 samples examined contained a total of 132,056 solitary and 61 colonial animals, belonging to 115 taxonomic groups.
It is clear from this study that sponges and octocorals at GRNMS provide important habitat for abundant and diverse assemblages of associated endofauna.
For additional information, click here for a link to the entire thesis, and here for a link to a slide presentation on this work.