[1] These reefs consist of a series of both high and low relief limestone ledges and pinnacles that exceed 15 metres (49 feet) in some areas.

The roughly 348 NM² of this hardbottom region lies 150 kilometres (93 miles) south of the panhandle coast and 160 kilometres (99 miles) northwest of Tampa Bay between 28° 10' and 28° 45' N and 084°00' and 084°25' W The ridges consist of unconsolidated marine calcareous muddy sand, about 12 meters (40 feet) thick, overlying a weathered, fossiliferous limestone of Miocene age (between 5 and 22 million years old) and capped by a carbonate rock composed primarily of the sessile vermetid gastropod Petaloconchus sp.

However, new research indicates that the ridges likely formed as a series of shore-parallel sediment bars eventually capped and preserved by vermetid gastropods, or "worm snails.

"[3] Today's middle ground reef ecosystem represents the northernmost scope of mid-shelf octocoral communities in North America.

The fish species are markedly tropical, with stony coral, gorgonians, and sponge dominating the community that relies upon the existence of the Loop Current.