Very light, closely spaced horizontal wavy lines. Greenish black in color.
REEF is teaming up with Florida Keys Brewing Company to host a fun trivia night at the FKBC taproom. The event is free and open to the public, and prizes will be given to top-ranked teams. For every pint sold during the event, $2 will be donated to REEF in support of our marine conservation programs. We hope to see you there!
Designing effective local management for invasive species poses a major challenge for conservation, yet factors affecting intervention success and efficiency are rarely evaluated and incorporated into practice. As part of a multi-year study with funding from NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program and others, REEF and partners coordinated regional efforts by divers to cull invasive lionfish (Pterois spp.) on 33 U.S. Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean protected coral reefs from 2013 to 2019.
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.
September was an exciting month for members of the Pacific Northwest REEF Advanced Assessment Team (AAT). Expert Level surveyors (Levels 4 and 5) assisted with the annual Salish Sea monitoring project. This year’s effort was focused in the southern Salish Sea - South Puget Sound in Washington. The project, now in its 8th year, is conducted in partnership with UC Davis’ SeaDoc Society, and also includes sites in the San Juan Islands and islands off Vancouver, British Columbia.