Research conducted by Dr. Ben Holt from University of East Angila in the UK shows that methods to record marine diversity used by REEF surveyors returned results consistent with techniques favoured by peer-reviewed science. The findings give weight to the growing phenomenon of citizen science programs such as REEF's Volunteer Survey Project. The field study compared methods used by REEF volunteer SCUBA divers with those used by professional scientists to measure the variety of fish species in three Caribbean sites in the Turks and Caicos. The divers surveyed the sites using two methods – the 'belt transect', used in peer reviewed fish diversity studies, and the 'roving diver technique', used by REEF volunteers. Two teams of 12 divers made 144 separate underwater surveys across the sites over four weeks. While the traditional scientific survey revealed sightings of 106 different types of fish, the volunteer technique detected greater marine diversity with a total of 137 in the same waters. Dr Holt led the research in partnership with the Centre for Marine Resource Studies in the Caribbean and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He said: "The results of this study are important for the future of citizen science and the use of data collected by these programs. Allowing volunteers to use flexible and less standardised methods has important consequences for the long term success of citizen science programs. Amateur enthusiasts typically do not have the resources or training to use professional methodology. Our study demonstrates the quality of data collected using a volunteer method can match, and in some respects exceed, protocols used by professional scientists."

Members of REEF's Grouper Moon Project team, including researchers from Oregon State University, have been conducting annual monitoring of the size and color phase of individual Nassau grouper found at the spawning aggregation on Little Cayman in the Cayman Islands. During non-spawning periods Nassau grouper display a reddish-brown-and-white barred coloration. However, while aggregating they exhibit three additional color phases: “bicolor”, “dark”, and “white belly”. Each year, Grouper Moon Project researchers and volunteers use a video camera with lasers mounted on the camera housing. The divers focus the laser caliper equipped video camera on individual fish at the aggregation, capturing several seconds of footage for each fish. We later analyze the video to determine the length of the fish and record the color phase. This paper summarizes five years of video data. Our observations show that the relative proportion of fish in the bicolor color phase increases significantly on the day leading up to the primary night of spawning. The increase in the proportion of the bicolor color phase from 0.05 early in the aggregation to 0.40 on the day of spawning suggests that this color phase conveys that a fish is behaviorally and physiologically prepared to spawn. Additionally, 82.7% of fish exhibiting dark or white belly coloration early in the aggregation period suggests that these color phases are not only shown by female fish as was previously assumed in the scientific literature. This is just one aspect of the important marine conservation research being conducted as part of the Grouper Moon Project. To find out more, visit the Grouper Moon Project webpage.

There is growing concern that lionfish will affect the structure and function of invaded marine ecosystems. Lead author, Stephanie Green, from Simon Fraser University (SFU), along with REEF Director of Special Projects, Lad Akins and other co-authors Aleks Maljković (SFU), and Isabelle Côté (SFU), documented a dramatic 65% decline in 42 species of reef fish eaten by lionfish over a two year period. The study, conducted off New Providence Island in the Bahamas, used data collected during REEF's volunteer lionfish projects to track the explosion of the lionfish population over time, and revealed that lionfish biomass increased from 23% to nearly 40% of the predator biomass on the study sites between 2008 and 2010. This study represents the first documented direct impact of lionfish predation on native reef fishes and highlights the importance of control programs to minimize impacts.

This paper features research findings from powerful genetic techniques and the REEF survey data that reveal two new species of hamlet in the Caribbean. As REEF Caribbean surveyors know, hamlets are a group of colorful small sea basses that can sometimes cause ID confusion because of their myriad of colors and patterns. The varied color patterns in these small predators are thought to be a result of mimicry of other colorful herbivore species. There has been ongoing debate in the scientific world about which are actual species and which are simply just color variants or morphotypes. The research featured in the paper revealed significant genetic differences among what seemed to simply be variations of the well-known Barred Hamlet. The two new species are the Florida Barred Hamlet, Hypoplectrus floridae, and the Contoy Hamlet, H. ecosur. The typical Barred Hamlet (H. puella) that is found throughout the Caribbean will be updated to be called the Caribbean Barred Hamlet. Florida Barred Hamlet have been found in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and South Florida, and it overlaps in range with the Barred Hamlet in those area. At the time of publication, the Contoy Hamlet had only been documented on Isla Contoy near the northern tip of the Yucatan peninsula and possibly Isla Mujeres. Florida Barred Hamlet are distinguished by a pair of symmetrical dark spots at the base of the caudal fin along with a break in the mid-body narrow bar. The Contoy Hamlet is distinguished by the same paid of dark spots at the base of the tail as well as a series of additional dark spots along the upper caudal peduncle and below the dorsal fin.