Submissions for the 2025 REEF Discover the Sea Underwater Photography Contest are now open! All ocean photographers are invited to submit their favorite photos. It’s free to enter, and you may submit up to three photos per person in each of the following categories:
Our online programs are free and open to all! Check out what's coming up, and view the entire schedule of Fishinars and other online programs, as well as 200+ recorded Fishinars here.
Introducing our September Fish of the Month, the Ornate Wrasse, Thalassoma pavo!
Survey Regions: Ornate Wrasses are found throughout the Mediterranean Sea and northeast Atlantic Ocean, including islands like the Azores and Canary Islands. Click here to see a distribution report for this species in the REEF database.
Did you know that fish sing? Just like birds, they use sounds for courtship and other communication. These sounds can provide a useful tool to monitor large aggregations of fish that supplements other more field intensive monitoring approaches such as visual surveys. Exciting new research exploring this behavior was recently published from our team of scientists with the Grouper Moon Project.
On behalf of the REEF Staff and Board of Trustees, we extend a heartfelt thanks and big fishy appreciation to Janet Camp for serving as a REEF Trustee for over a decade. After becoming a REEF member in 2011, Janet joined the REEF Board in 2014. Having worked with nonprofits for over 40 years, Janet brought extensive finance, budgeting, and governance experience to the REEF Board. We are grateful for the heart and soul she gave to REEF as a Board member these past 11 years. Thankfully, this isn't goodbye!
REEF needs your input by August 9! We invite all members - whether you’ve used SMILE cameras or not - to take a brief (10–15 minute), voluntary online survey. Your responses will directly help shape and strengthen the collaborative SMILE (Size Matters: Innovative Length Estimates) project, which uses handheld cameras to estimate fish lengths in the wild.
This summer, we had the privilege of partnering with several incredible adaptive dive organizations, including Barrier Free Divers, Camp Open Seas, Adapt‑Able Dive Foundation, and Diveheart, to make ocean education more inclusive and accessible. Thanks to support from our Oceans for All initiative, students from these organizations took part in immersive marine science programs that brought learning to life, both in and out of the water.
The 2025 REEF Discover the Sea Underwater Photography Contest is coming soon! Starting September 1, all photographers, regardless of skill level or experience, are invited to submit their best ocean-themed photos for this year's contest. Be on the lookout for our new comedy category which is sure to give you a laugh!
Join us March 14-21, 2026, on our first-ever REEF Trip to Jamaica! Negril, Jamaica is home to a famous 7-mile beach with white sand and turquoise water. Our trip takes place at the family-owned Travellers Beach Resort, which is known for warm Jamaican hospitality and a stunning beachfront setting. We'll also be conducting fish surveys during the trip, making this an exciting opportunity to contribute valuable data from a new area.
Last month, longtime REEF scientific advisor and Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Dr. Brice Semmens, participated in an important fisheries science meeting in Florida to help shape how Hogfish populations are assessed and managed in the Southeast U.S. This meeting was part of the SEDAR (Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review) process, a formal scientific review used by government agencies to assess the health of fish populations and determine sustainable catch limits.