Knowledge of American Samoan mesophotic (low light level) reefs is very limited. They are the some of the deepest and farthest in the archipelago from humans, and thus help to delineate what unimpacted coral reefs are like in the territory (1-3).Unfortunately, there are no good examples of shallow , unimpacted reefs around Tutuila, where human impacts are greatest. Therefore, knowledge about natural, unimpacted reefs in the territory – including deep, mesophotic reefs – is very important for gauging the impacts humans have had on reefs there.
The...