Diversidad y abundancia relativa de corales, octocorales y esponjas en el Parque Nacional Jaragua, República Dominicana

Abstract

[English] The Jaragua National Park is located in a remote area to the SW coast of the Dominican Republic. Fishing and mining are the major human activities. The main reef formations of the Park include: (a) long bank reefs (spur and groove) growing as bands over the platform and running in a SW-NW direction at 12-25 m depth, (b) well developed, deep, fringing reefs at the platform edge (drop-off) areas which could extend from 10 to 45 m depth, and (c) small patch reefs and poorly developed coral-octocoral-sponge-algal communities in shallow platforms near shore, rocky bottoms, and over the submerged walls of the uplifted reef. Nine reef localities were surveyed between Cabo Beata and Bahia Honda using Scuba diving to inventory the diversity and relative abundance of scleractinian corals, octocorals and sponges.