Flower Garden National Marine Sanctuary

The Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary is located approximately 110 miles off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, in the Gulf of Mexico. Each year on the eighth day after an August full moon, the waters of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary explode in a riot of incandescent white as coral reefs begin spawning. The twin salt domes that constitute the Flower Gardens Sanctuary were first discovered by fishermen over 100 years ago. The area was first mapped and charted in the 1930s and early 1960s divers from the Houston Museum of Natural Science discovered massive coral reefs and scores of tropical fish and other invertebrates. Below are links that provide information about the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.