Dear Valued REEF Members,

We are pleased to bring you this end-of-summer edition of our e-newsletter, REEF-in-Brief. As always, summer is a busy time at REEF (which is why the "August" newsletter is arriving to you in September!). At REEF HQ in Florida, staff are gearing up for the first lionfish derby series in the Keys. This invasive non-native species is rapidly becoming a common sight throughout the western Atlantic and REEF is at the forefront of the outreach, research, and control efforts. We have also been putting the finishing touches on our 2011 Field Survey schedule. A preview of these trips is below. Watch for more details in the coming weeks. And a new scientific paper was just published that includes an analysis of REEF data on shark populations in the Caribbean. We are excited to announce a unique opportunity to own a pre-release, numbered and signed copy of the highly anticipated Reef Creature Identification - Tropical Pacific ID guide. Pre-release copies #1-#5 have been donated to REEF and we will be auctioning them off through eBay starting this Sunday (September 12). The auction will close on September 22. During this time, you can view the auction and bid on the books here. And finally, REEF's Director of Science, Dr. Christy Pattengill-Semmens, as well as REEF Board of Trustee Heather George and a team of 4 other REEF volunteers, just returned from American Samoa to mark the official launch of REEF's Fish Survey Project in the South Pacific. A full report about this trip and the new program will be included in the next newsletter.

Best "Fishes"