Hamlets are a group of colourful coral reef fish found throughout the Caribbean. Ten species of hamlet have been discovered and each can be easily recognized by its own distinct colour pattern. In some areas, as many as seven varieties can be found on a single reef. However, most hamlet species are only found at specific locations. The blue hamlet, for example, is found only in the Florida region. How these very different looking, yet very closely related species came to be has been a a subject of debate among scientists.
In 1997, REEF surveyors discovered a colony of garden eels during survey dives in the Gulf of Mexico that didn't' look quite right to be the usual brown garden eel. After sending images and ultimately a specimen to Dr. John Randall, the mystery species was identified as a new species of conger eel, the yellow garden eel (Heteroconger luteolus). The description of the new species was published in 1999.
This publication describes a new (to science) species of coral reef wrasse found by REEF surveyors at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS). This species was nicknamed the "Mardi Gras wrasse" by sanctuary staff due to the bright purple, yellow and green coloration of the terminal male phase. The fish was originally discovered at the East Flower Garden Bank by members of a REEF survey team in 1997, and has been periodically observed (primarily at Stetson Bank) since that time.
This was a predecision document prepared by NOAA’s Fisheries Service to evaluate the population status of five species of rockfish in the Puget Sound. REEF data were one of several datasets that were used by the fisheries scientists to make the evaluation. Based on the analyses, NOAA Fisheries proposed to list three populations of rockfish in Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia for protection under the Endangered Species Act. The Georgia Basin populations of two of the rockfish species – canary and yelloweye – are proposed for “threatened” status.
Understanding the current status of predatory fish communities, and the effects fishing has on them, is vitally important information for management. However, data are often insufficient at region-wide scales to assess the effects of extraction in coral reef ecosystems of developing nations. The author overcomes this difficulty by using REEF's large database from the Volunteer Survey Project, which is a publicly accessible, fisheries-independent database.
This paper examined the genetic source of the invasive Indo-Pacific lionfish in the Bahamas. Many of the samples used in this study were collected during REEF's lionfish research trips during 2007 and 2008. Two species, Pterois volitans and P. miles, were well established along the United States east coast before the first lionfish were reported from the Bahamas in 2004, where they quickly dispersed throughout the archipelago by 2007.
Fishery independent indices of abundance for mutton snapper, Lutjanus analis, from REEF fish surveys
REEF data were used to provide a fisheries independant index for use in the mutton snapper stock assessment conducted by the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Councils as part of the SEDAR process. Three indices were calculated with different subsets of the REEF dive surveys: an index based on all dives on Florida’s Atlantic coast; an index based on sites that were visited by divers on at least seven of the 13 years, i.e.
This report is the first publication of the RDT, and was initially given at the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute meeting in Spring 1994.
Roving diver data gathered by expert volunteers in the Florida Keys are presented and discussed. These data are found to be comparable to other Florida Keys published studies. Differences in the fish assemblages between the three regions of the Keys, the upper, lower, and the Dry Tortugas, are reported and evaluated. This paper was the first published account of the Roving Diver Technique (RDT).
This report is a summary of the first 3 years of the Fish Survey Project in the Florida Keys, with comparisons among FKNMS sites and with other distant regions. It demonstrates some ways in which data from the Project can be used.