Author: REEF Staff and Board of Trustees
REEF is excited to introduce three new members of our staff team – Alecia Adamson, Sasha Medlen, and Janna Nichols. Their expertise and passion will help REEF continue our long-standing marine conservation programs and community outreach. They join REEF's other program staff, Lad Akins (Director of Operations) and Christy Pattengill-Semmens (Director of Science), our administrative staff, Jane Bixby (Office Manager) and Janet Bartnicki (Accounts Manager), and our volunteer Fish & Friends coordinator Nancy Perez.
Alecia Adamson joined the REEF staff earlier this month as Field Operations Coordinator, after completing her Masters Degree in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences at the University of Florida. Her research focused on hogfish populations in Florida Keys reserves, and Alecia also assisted with lionfish field work, gag grouper research, and water quality monitoring. Alecia is returning to REEF; she served as a REEF Marine Conservation Intern in the Fall of 2006 and we are thrilled to have her back. Alecia’s duties will include supporting work on the Invasive Lionfish Program, overseeing our artificial reef monitoring program on the Vandenberg, coordinating the Great Annual Fish Count, and working with dive industry partners to more fully develop fishwatching programs. Alecia is based in the Key Largo Headquarters office.
Sasha Medlen joined the REEF staff this winter as Membership Development Coordinator. Sasha graduated from UC Berkley and has worked for a variety of ocean agencies and organizations, including California Coastkeeper, Santa Monica Baykeeper, and NOAA. Most recently, Sasha worked on the outer Washington coast, overseeing rural economic development plans, invasive weed response, and outreach on the impacts of derelict fishing gear. Sasha’s duties include membership services and donor relations, fundraising appeals, and special events. Sasha is based in Huntington Beach, California.
Janna Nichols joined the REEF staff earlier this year as Outreach Coordinator. Janna has been involved with REEF as an instructor and Advanced Assessment Team member since 2000. Janna co-founded the Pacific Northwest Critter Watchers and has taught over 1000 divers in the Pacific Northwest and California the fun of critter watching and REEF surveying. She developed the invasive tunicate training materials that REEF and other organizations use and she serves on a tunicate response advisory panel in Washington State. Janna’s duties include survey training material development, outreach in the west coast region through training seminars and dive shows, and building capacity in REEF’s Field Station Program. Janna is based in Vancouver, Washington.
Author: Janna Nichols, REEF Outreach Coordinator
REEF has been on the road this past month, and was well-represented at two prominent West coast dive shows – the Scuba Show held in Long Beach, CA, and the NW Dive and Travel Expo, in Tacoma, WA. Volunteers - composed of active surveyors and members of the Advanced Assessment Team in California, Oregon and Washington - helped staff the booths. Show-goers seemed to get a kick out of the ‘pop quiz’ (a few common local fish) they were given as they walked by the booth – demonstrating the fact that even if divers only know the ID of one fish, they can get started doing REEF surveys in the Volunteer Survey Project. “Friend of REEF” stickers were freely handed out and put on shirts.
While our main objective was to spread the word about REEF's programs, connect with current REEF supporters, and engage new volunteers, we also sold REEF gear – hats, books, slates, T-Shirts and the new Sensational Seas 2 DVD. Particularly popular were the new REEF water bottles. As always, these items are always available through REEF’s online store if you missed a chance to pick them up at the shows.
Special thanks to Heather George, Sasha Medlen, Matt Dowell, Gerald Winkel, Todd Cliff, Jeanne Luce, Georgia Arrow, Michael Johnstone, Carol McLagan, and Rhoda Green for helping with the booths. We couldn't do it without these REEF ambassadors. REEF also appreciates the support of the show organizers, including Kim and Dale Sheckler and Rick and Kathy Stratton.
Author: Christy Pattengill-Semmens, REEF Director of Science
Internationally renowned marine artist, Ron Rogest Steven recently spent time with youth in Seattle, Washington, to create individual marine art paintings in Rogest's 'dotty' style. Over two days, 13 members of Alki Elementary School Girl Scout Troop #40766, painted whales, turtles, fish, and more. Their paintings were then on display and up for auction at the NW Dive & Travel Expo in Tacoma (WA), with proceeds benefiting REEF! During the show, several members of the troop met with REEF Director of Science, Dr. Christy Pattengill-Semmens, and Christy will also be visiting the elementary school to give a presentation on the marine life of the northwest.
Through creating their artwork, students learned more about the marine life they choose to paint; discovered new ways to conserve; and found out how they can do more to protect what is right in their back yard. Rogest has championed the philosophy to “Think locally and act locally.” This philosophy is passionately shared by the members of this troop. These girls are some of the most socially responsible 8 and 9 year old junior citizens you'll ever meet. Caring, proactive future keepers of the flame, the girls are dedicated to the protection of animal friends above and below sea level. REEF was proud to be a part of this program and we greatly appreciate being included in Rogest's Kid’s Gallery Program.
Author: Christy Pattengill-Semmens, REEF Director of Science, adapted from Benjamin Victor's publication
Long-time REEF supporters, Les and Keri Wilk of ReefNet, recently discovered and photographed a distinctively marked population of the Greenbanded Goby, Elacatinus multifasciatus, on the island of Utila, Honduras. The population was distinguished by a prominent red stripe across the cheek that is not found on other populations of Greenbanded Gobies, as well as more numerous green bars on the body. The Wilks contacted Dr. Benjamin Victor (coralreeffish.com), a reef fish taxonomic expert, who conducted a regional genetic comparison of Greenbanded Gobies to evaluate hidden diversity within this colorful reef fish. As part of the study, the REEF database was used to document the current geographic range of the species. Dr. Victor's results identified the unique looking fish to be a separate species that is now called the Redcheek Goby (E. rubrigenis). He also discovered that, based on genetic results, Greenbanded Goby along coastal Panama, despite looking just like others in the species complex (i.e. a cryptic species, distinguished mainly by differing DNA sequences), are a distinct species that will now be called Panamanian Greenbanded Goby (E. panamensis). The study was published last month in the Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation.
The new species, the Redcheek Goby, replaces the Greenbanded Goby on the island of Utila and has not been sighted at any other location, potentially one of the smallest ranges reported for a Caribbean reef fish. With few exceptions, coral reef fishes have pelagic larvae that spend weeks to months developing in off-reef waters. As a result of this high dispersal ability, most Western Atlantic reef fish species have geographic ranges throughout the Caribbean Sea and adjacent areas. Endemic marine species (those only found in a given region or location and nowhere else in the world) are generally uncommon in the western Atlantic region. Furthermore, many of these widespread species show little, if any, variation in their genetic patterns between areas, particularly within the bounds of the Caribbean Sea with its many stepping-stone islands. Nevertheless, some groups of fishes, presumably those with more-restricted larval dispersal and strong local selection, show interesting patterns of endemism, genetic structure, and cryptic speciation within the region, for example among the Elacatinus cleaning gobies (e.g. Sharknose, Cleaning, Neon, Yellowline, etc.). Those reef fish taxa that contain cryptic species can provide valuable insights into the processes of speciation and the biogeographic history of the region, but also seriously challenge the traditional species concept. The results of Benjamin Victor's study highlight these challenges.
REEF is proud to be able to contribute to scientific studies such as this one. We are also thrilled that fishwatching by amateur non-scientists like our Fish Survey Project volunteers has been elevated beyond just a hobby, and is increasing the state of knowledge about reef fish diversity. The full citation of the publication is: Victor, B.C. 2010. The Redcheek Paradox: the mismatch between genetic and phenotypic divergence among deeply divided mtDNA lineages in a coral-reef goby, with the description of two new cryptic species from the Caribbean Sea. The Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation, Vol 3. It is freely available online here. To find out more about this and other scientific publications that have featured REEF data, visit our Publications page here.
Author: Janna Nichols, REEF Outreach Coordinator
There's still space in some of the fish and invertebrate identification and REEF survey training classes being held next month in Southern California. Classes will be held June 24, 25 and 26 in Dana Point and Long Beach. To find out more, see this article in last month's REEF-in-Brief. Classes are informative, fun and free, but registration is required. To register go to: http://www.pnwscuba.com/critterwatchers/calclasses.htm.
Author: REEF Staff
REEF Field Surveys - Take a dive vacation that counts! There's still some space left on a few of the Field Surveys in 2010. Destinations include Cozumel with Sheryl Shea, Key Largo with Ned and Anna DeLoach, Bonaire with Jessie Armacost, and Grand Cayman with Lad Akins. These trips all offer unique treasures and are sure to please every level of diver as well as beauty above water for your non-diving companions. Join us on one of these exciting weeks full of fish ID, friendship, new discoveries and great memories! Our full field survey schedule, trip details, and sign up information can be found here.
New Field Stations - Welcome to our newest Field Stations who have joined us in the last month. Field Stations are shops, charters, instructors and organizations that support REEF in many ways - offering classes, REEF survey opportunities, stocking survey supplies, etc. For more information and to check out the other 170+ REEF Field Stations, go to the Field Station page on the REEF website.
Pacific Adventure Charters - Hood Canal, WARendezvous Dive Adventures - Barkley Sound, BC CanadaDiveSafe International - Campbell River, BC CanadaThunder Reef Divers - Vancouver, WA
