Seventeen dedicated REEF surveyors recently visited the beautiful Caribbean island of Grenada for a week of diving and fish surveying. The results from the trip were recently processed into REEF's database, adding to the survey count for the largest marine life sightings database in the world. Altogether, the group conducted 181 surveys at 15 sites and recorded 208 different species. Several of the reports were new records for the area, including the Greenbanded Goby, Bridled Burrfish, Striped Grunt, Red Banner Blenny, Goldline Blenny, Molly Miller, Bantam Bass, and Bluelip Hamlet!
We are thrilled to be celebrating a quarter-century of citizen science success by recognizing the 25th anniversary of our cornerstone program, the Volunteer Fish Survey Project. In the summer of 1993, a small group of pioneering conservationists took a slate on a dive in the Florida Keys, and initiated what would eventually become the world's largest marine life sightings database.
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REEF Fest is less than two months away! Please join us for a four-day celebration of marine conservation that includes snorkel and dive charters, ocean-themed seminars, and social gatherings with friends. Diving and snorkeling trips are offered on the mornings of Friday, Sept 21 and Saturday, Sept. 22. Space is limited, so please register as soon as possible. There is no need to call a dive shop to participate in REEF Fest diving or snorkel trips. Instead, visit the REEF Fest Diving webpage to register online.
REEF’s 2018 Lionfish Derby Series presented by Whole Foods Market® is in full swing, and we are excited to share that so far, derby participants have already removed more than 1,770 lionfish from Florida's coastal waters this year! Thank you to everyone who has participated in this effort to combat invasive species. With the Palm Beach Derby happening this weekend at Loggerhead Marinelife Center, we will add even more lionfish to the current total.
Smaller and less developed than Grand Cayman, the sister islands of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are the perfect spots to do plenty of diving. The first five days will be spent diving at Cayman Brac Beach Resort, followed by another five days diving Little Cayman's famous walls and reefs. Both resorts are well known for providing a high level of service.
This Fishinar session covers the following invertebrates, as well as an introduction to the new Marine Life of the North Atlantic app.
- Atlantic Rock Crab
- Blue Crab
- Atlantic Horseshoe Crab
- Anemone Sea Spider
- Northern Cerianthid
- Northern Red Anemone
- Finger Sponge
- Eelgrass
- Sea Vase
- Invasive Didemnum Tunicate
- Wrinkled Whelk
- Orange-footed Cucumber
- Northern Sea Star
To commemorate 25 years of REEF’s Volunteer Fish Survey Project, a group of volunteer citizen scientist divers joined REEF staff and interns, along with co-founder Paul Humann, for a special 25th anniversary Field Survey Trip in Key Largo, Florida, last month. Key Largo is home to REEF Headquarters and was also the location for the very first REEF Field Survey Trip, held in July 1993. The attendees on the 2018 trip surveyed the same sites visited by participants on the 1993 Field Survey, to observe how fish populations have changed over past 25 years.