They are surprisingly barren. In other mesophotic reefs, there are some algae (red or green), octocorals, maybe some echinoderms, sponges or bryozoans... any idea why they aren't colonized?
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Ironically those conditions exist here too. Most of my photos are of places where we took samples, which included looking for areas without much of that living mesophotic stuff. Also, just 20m shallower (120-130m) there is a lot more, in part because reef morph. flattens (a past sea level reponse)
That is consistent with some of the sites I worked on; there was a very sharp drop in coverage around 140-150m (where the LGM reefs were hanging out).
Cool stuff, in any case.
In Hawaii, from my coral dating, the global melt water pulse 1a uptick in sea level rise (for ~500yr at 14 kyr ago) fostered fast reef growth (e.g. these outcrops), followed by a slowing of sea level rise that fosters more diversity on the paleo reef, less vertical growth, & flatter seabed.
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Cool stuff, in any case.