Coral reefs of the Virgin Islands

The coral reefs found offshore of St. Thomas and St. John are distributed patchily around the islands.

[2] More specifically based on a survey from 2001-2006, listed are a total of 215 fishes from St. John and 202 from St.

[4] The coral reefs are impacted by freshwater environments from the Amazon and Orinoco River in the form of anticyclonic rings which are rich in nutrients.

There is black-band disease which infects major coral reefs such as Montastraea annularis.

[4] The branching acroporid have been influenced the most by elevated sea temperatures that lead to bleaching and mortality.

Corals picture taken from Brewers Bay on St. Thomas
Formation of fringing reefs (top), barrier reefs (middle) and atolls (bottom). [ 1 ]
Corals picture taken from Brewers Bay on St. Thomas.
Corals picture taken from Brewers Bay on St. Thomas