REEF members are the heart of our grassroots marine conservation programs. A diverse community of divers, snorkelers, and ocean enthusiasts support our mission to conserve marine environments worldwide.
We have a two-for-one for you this month! Meet our November 2021 Fishes of the Month, the Fairy Basslet (Gramma loreto) and the Golden Fairy Basslet (Gramma dejongi)!
Looking to plan your next dive trip? Join us on a REEF Field Survey Trip for a week (or longer!) of fish identification, citizen science, diving, and fun with friends. To register, email trips@REEF.org. The following upcoming trips have limited availability remaining:
We're a little over a week away from REEF Fest 2021, and if you haven't yet made plans to attend, there is still time to register to join us in Key Largo! REEF Fest will take place October 14-17 and includes ocean seminars and educational workshops, evening social events with food and drink, and opportunities for diving, snorkeling, and kayaking. Most REEF Fest events are free to attend, but pre-registration is requested. For complete event details and registration, please visit www.REEF.org/REEFfest.
During last month's REEF Florida Keys Lionfish Derby & Festival, twenty teams fished from sunrise to sunset for two days, and ultimately collected 1,215 invasive lionfish. The event concluded on Sunday, Sept. 12 at Postcard Inn Resort & Marina in Islamorada, with an outdoor festival featuring lionfish tastings, cooking and dissection demos, games, interactive booths, and live music.
Since 1993, REEF volunteers have played an important role in collecting marine life data as part of the Volunteer Fish Survey Project. In addition to ongoing worldwide surveys, REEF also mobilizes teams to collect data for special scientific or monitoring projects. Our latest monitoring project, the Species Snapshot Project, is designed to capture information about sites along the coast of Florida. The goal of the project is to explore and gather baseline data on under-surveyed areas and alternative habitats along Florida's coastline.
Our October 2021 Fish of the Month is here to get your in the mood for Halloween. Meet the Dracula Shrimpgoby (Stonogobiops dracula)!
Survey Regions: The Dracula Shrimpgoby is resticted to the Western Indian Ocean including the Maldives, part of REEF's Indian Ocean and Red Sea (IORS) survey region. Click here to see the distribution report for this species in the REEF database.
It's that time again: our biggest REEF Lionfish Derby of the year, the Florida Keys Lionfish Derby & Festival, is taking place next weekend, on Sept. 9-12. This is our 12th annual REEF Lionfish Derby hosted in the Florida Keys. With two full days of lionfish hunting and more than $6,000 in cash prizes up for grabs, plus a family-friendly festival, this is a great way for everyone to take a bite out of lionfish!
There are still a few spaces available on the REEF Field Survey Trip to Gardens of the Queen marine park in Cuba, coming up on December 11-18, 2021. The Gardens of the Queen park is known as one of the best-preserved marine environments in the Caribbean, with frequent sightings of large predators like snapper, grouper, and sharks. It's also one of the few places where the rare Golden Fairy Basslet has been reported. Trip attendees will conduct fish surveys in this unique location and contribute valuable survey information to REEF's online database.
REEF Fest 2021 is coming up on October 14-17. Many REEF members have already registered to join us in Key Largo, Florida, for this annual marine conservation celebration. If you haven't yet made plans to attend, we hope you will consider joining us. REEF Fest includes ocean seminars and educational workshops, evening social events with plenty of food and drinks, and opportunities for diving, snorkeling, and kayaking. Most REEF Fest events are free to attend, but pre-registration is requested.