Thank you for your information. I've seen the first 2 papers before and they really emphasize the shallow waters, I'm curious if you know if its common or unusual to find them in waters deeper than 10 m? I'm struggling to find more than vague references to it such as the third paper you attached where its mentioned that they do go to 40m, but how common is this?

Dear Alicia

Most records in Curaçao an Bonaire are < 10 m depth since at the leeward side of the islands this the reef zone with most soft corals. At the windward side of Bonaire I once saw several individuals on a Gorgonia colony that must have been somewhat deeper (~12 m).

On St Eustatius Flamingo tongues occurred at depths of 16, 17 and 19 m - I know due to synchronisation of camera-time with the dive profile of a Suunto D4 dive computer (works out very good). Dates (2015) and dive locations available on request.

Godfried,

Thank you, I have sent you a private message requesting the information!

Dear Alicia,

The depth limitation of C. gibossum would be ultimately determined by their food sources. It feeds preferentially on several shallow water octocoral species. preferentially on G. ventalina which I think has the deepest distribution, 40 - 50m. They are scarse at those depths and we have not observed snails l on them. The population explosion observed in Mona found sea fans with snails down to 40m I think, But this is an extreme case probably reflecting a succesful recruiting event and high survivorship of the juveniles which might have produced high intraspecific competeition and displacement to deeper habitats with less food resources. Hope this is of help!!  EW

Ernesto,

Thank you so much for your thoughts/information. I would love to chat more with you about this topic as I'd love to hear your insight. I will send you a private message! 

Thanks!

Alicia

Ernesto's comments fit our observations in the Florida Keys, where we have rarely seen them below 10 m.  They seem to be most abundant in the very shallow 1-3 m zone in areas where the gorgonians are abundant.