1. Home
  2. About
  3. Rezak and Sidner Banks

Rezak and Sidner Banks

Bathymetric map of Rezak and Sidner Banks showing the sanctuary boundary lines, as well as other relevant management zones and infrastructure.
Rezak and Sidner Banks are located to the south of Bouma Bank. Credit: FGBNMS

Rezak Bank

Rezak Depth Range: 197-430 feet (60-131 meters)

Rezak Distance from Land: 108 miles (174 km)

Rezak Area: 3.7 square miles (9.6 sq km)

Rezak Bank is on the southern side of a feature that includes Bouma and Sidner Banks. It was named after Richard Rezak, a Texas A&M University oceanographer. 

Rezak Bank is part of a Habitat Area of Particular Concern (HAPC) that also includes Sidner Bank.

A bushy black coral colony amid a field of algal nodules covered in coralline algae
A black coral grows in algal nodule habitat at Rezak Bank. Photo: FGBNMS/UNCW-UVP
A large white anemone with bright pink tips on its tentacles
An anemone makes itself at home in algal nodule habitat at Rezak Bank. Photo: FGBNMS/UNCW-UVP

Who Was Richard Rezak?

Richard Rezak (1920-2006) was a Texas A&M marine geologist, who studied the Flower Garden Banks and surrounding areas throughout the 1970s and 1980s as part of the Bureau of Land Management Topographic Features Study. From 1968 to 1974, he and Tom Bright led a series of expeditions for this study, along with fellow scientist David McGrail.

Rezak co-authored Reefs and Banks of the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico, the original authoritative work on this region, with Bright and McGrail.

Sidner Bank

Sidner Depth Range: 190-417 feet (58-127 meters)

Sidner Distance from Land: 111 miles (179 km)

Sidner Area: 2.0 square miles (5.2 sq km)

Sidner Bank is on the southern side of a feature that includes Bouma and Rezak Banks. It was named after Bruce Sidner, a Texas A&M University geologist. Sidner Bank is part of a Habitat Area of Particular Concern (HAPC) that also includes Rezak Bank.

A large orange sponge (left) surrounded by leafy algae and smaller sponges with lots of small reef fish swimming overhead
Reef fish swim over a sponge/algae community at Sidner Bank. Photo: FGBNMS/UNCW-UVP
A large fish swimming into an algae covered area with lots of smaller fish around
A large grouper at Sidner Bank eyes a school of fish swimming nearby. Photo: FGBNMS/UNCW-UVP

Who Is Bruce Sidner?

Bruce R. Sidner earned his Master's and PhD in geological oceanography from Texas A&M University while studying the geologic history of the outer continental shelf of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. This included specific analysis of foraminifera at West Flower Garden Bank to understand historic changes in sea level.