Hard bottom communities are benthic habitats dominated by epifaunal organisms such as sponges, hard and soft corals, hydroids, anemones, barnacles, bryozoans, decapod crustaceans and gastropods. By nature, these organisms are sessile and most are attached directly to the hard substrate. Although hard bottom communities do not dominate Florida's estuarine and marine benthos, they are found throughout the central to southern coastal regions of the state from Port Canaveral on the east coast to Hernando Beach on the west coast. Community composition varies as bottom type varies from the well-documented coral reefs of southeastern and Keys region of the state to the vermetid and coquina reefs of east central Florida and the limestone outcroppings of the west central coast.