The Florida Middle Grounds

Habitat Area of Particular Concern

The Florida Middle Ground is a broad carbonate platform that occurs some 137 km offshore along the northeastern Gulf of Mexico in an area generally known as the West Florida Shelf.  Its formation suggests that it is a relict coral-reef complex that has morphological similarities to modern patch-reef complexes.  It is the most extensive area of high relief (> 2 m) hardbottom in the northeastern Gulf in less than 60 m depth.  The faunal assemblage is distinctly tropical, with a stony coral-gorgonian-sponge dominated community considered the furthest north “coral reef” on the North American continental shelf.  The fauna may persist with recruitment of largely Caribbean species transported by northward intrusions of the Loop Current.