PINNACLES

Off the shores of Mississippi and Alabama, on the edge of the continental shelf, an area of steep-sided, drowned deep-sea reefs called the Pinnacles can be found. These formations concentrate high biodiversity near the shelf edge and are important habitat and spawning sites for commercially fished species in the Gulf of Mexico. Pinnacles are pointed formation, such as the peak of a mountain.


Habitats in the Pinnacles Region are extremely diverse and vary from hard bottom, ideal for coral attachment and growth, to brine seeps with methane and hydrocarbon fluid which support tubeworms and mussels adapted to these unique conditions. Other habitats include deep rocky reefs, drowned reefs, algal sponge communities, fault scarps and chemosynthetic communities.


Alabama Alps is located in the western part of the Pinnacles Region. It is about 3280 ft long and is characterized by vertical walls and a predominately flat top. Invertebrate diversity is high with sponges, corraline algae, crinoids, black corals, and other coral species found in the area.