Abstract
Vastly understudied, mesophotic coral ecosystems lie below shallow reefs
(> 30 m depth) and comprise ecologically distinct
communities. Brooding reproductive modes appear to predominate among
mesophotic-specialist species and may limit genetic connectivity among
populations. Using reduced representation genomic sequencing, we
assessed spatial population genetic structure (at 50 m depth) in an
ecologically important mesophotic-specialist species, Agaricia
grahamae among locations in the Southern Caribbean. We also tested for
hybridisation with the closely related (but depth-generalist) species
Agaricia lamarcki, within their sympatric depth zone (50 m). In
contrast to our predictions, no spatial genetic structure was detected
between the reefs of Curaçao and Bonaire (~ 40 km apart)
within A. grahamae. However, cryptic taxa were discovered within
both nominal species, with those in A. lamarcki (incompletely)
partitioned by depth and those in A. grahamae occurring
sympatrically (at the same depth). Hybrid analyses and demographic
modelling identified contemporary and historical gene flow among cryptic
taxa, both within and between A. grahamae and A. lamarcki.
These results (1) indicate that spatial genetic connectivity in these
ecologically important mesophotic species may be maintained over large
geographic distances and (2) highlight that gene flow links taxa within
this relativity diverse Caribbean genus.