Introducing our August 2021 Fish of the Month, the Crescent Gunnel (Pholis laeta)!
Survey Regions: Crescent Gunnels are found from the Aleutian Islands of Alaska to northern California. This area is part of REEF's California, Pacific Northwest, and Alaska (PAC) region. Click here to view a database report for the species.
Join REEF Volunteer Instructor Rhoda Green as she teaches fish and invertebrate ID classes for the Pacific Northwest. Survey dives to practice what you've learned will be afterward.
Saturday and Sunday, July 17 and 18.
Meet by the beach entrance.
Sign up and get more info by emailing Rhoda at: friends.saltwater.statepark@gmail.com
Rhoda will also be administering Experience Level quizzes 2-5, so if you'd like to take a quiz, be sure to let her know in advance.
This summer, we’re celebrating the oceans by highlighting what makes REEF extraordinary - the people, the places, the discoveries, and the innovations. Keep an eye on your inbox all month for more details. In the meantime, here is another reason to celebrate: our annual summer match is here! Now through August 8, all donations are doubled, up to $70,000. We are so thankful to the Meyer Foundation, the Henry Foundation, and the Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation for their generosity in providing these matching funds.
Anyone who has dreamed of visiting Cuba's famous Gardens of the Queen Marine Park, mark your calendar for December 11-18, 2021! We have just rescheduled a REEF Field Survey Trip aboard the Jardines Avalon II, and we have several spaces available on our new dates in December 2021. This location is known as one of the best-preseved areas 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 sighted.
For nearly three decades, REEF has welcomed more than 150 young adults to the REEF Campus to spend a semester immersed in marine conservation projects. This month, we highlight former Marine Conservation Intern Colin Howe. Read on to learn about how his time at REEF shaped his career path.
When were you a REEF intern?
I was a REEF Intern in the fall of 2013.
Many hands and minds make easy work when building lionfish traps! Over the past six months, REEF staff and interns have dived into the NOAA Saltonstall-Kennedy funded Deepwater Lionfish Trap Project, with partners including Tom Matthews, Emily Hutchinson and Sam Hagedorn (FWC), Steve Gittings (NOAA Marine Sanctuaries), Alex Fogg (Coast Watch Alliance), Holden Harris (University of Florida), Rachel Bowman, Peter Angelotti, ReefSave and Lionfish University.
Our cornerstone citizen science program is called the Volunteer Fish Survey Project, but did you know that REEF surveyors also record sea turtle sightings in all oceans? As part of this global citizen science marine life monitoring program, REEF volunteers have reported sea turtle sightings since 2001. This dataset was recently used as one of several sources of information to study sea turtles in an unexpected location, southern California.
We are excited to share a new scientific paper that was published in the journal Global Change Biology last month. Researchers used REEF’s Volunteer Fish Survey Project database to answer crucial questions about the impacts of invasive lionfish as their range expands into new areas, such as Brazil. It is well known that predation by lionfish affects native fish populations, and this impact is likely exacerbated in certain vulnerable species.
REEF's online programs are free and open to everyone! Here's what is coming up over the next several weeks:
Fishinar: Eels of Hawaii
Monday, July 19 at 8pm EDT
Join us for tips and tricks to identify the Eels of Hawaii with expert surveyors Ron Wolfe and Dennis Bensen. Whether you're an avid Hawaii surveyor, or just looking to expand your knowledge on Hawaii's marine life, this Fishinar will be lots of fun!
Register here.
