"Did you ever have a fish experience that both excited and sadden you?"
In the first few weeks of July we have started receiving reports of several Manta ray sightings at French Reef, near Key Largo, Florida. Mantas are found in the temperate, tropical, and sub tropical waters world wide. However, sightings in Florida waters are uncommon. Some observers saw the mantas swimming in large vertical loops, leading them to think that these animals were coming into the shallow reefs to feed on coral spawn.
To those who are in the know, St Vincent is considered the critter capital of the Caribbean. To those who watch fish, it is known that the rare is commonplace and that the fishwatching is unlike any other location in the Caribbean. REEF’s data from the June Field Survey supports those claims. With a team of 13 divers, the REEF group recorded an astounding 243 species, more than 65 of which were unlisted “write-ins” on the survey forms.
WASH Nearshore Symposium
In late June, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (CLO) hosted the first ever Citizen Science Toolkit Conference in Ithaca, New York. Widely known for projects like FeederWatch and the Great Backyard Bird Count, the CLO is a pioneer in bringing people closer to nature through cooperative research, cutting edge technology and innovative science programs across many natural science fields. Leda Cunningham and Dr.
If you’ve read recent REEF releases, you’ve heard the news that Indo-pacific lionfish are now well established along the eastern US coast and throughout the Bahamas. REEF has been and continues to work with researchers to learn as much as we can in order to most effectively address the invasion. Since January of this year, REEF has organized and led 5 week-long projects in the Bahamas to document the extent of the invasion and gather samples and information needed by NOAA and Bahamian researchers.
Here is what we’ve found:
Summer is here! Throughout REEF survey regions – coastal Americas, the tropical eastern Pacific and the Caribbean and Hawaiian Islands - volunteers are diving into the Great Annual Fish Count, discovering the “wild and wooly” side of St. Vincent, helping understand the impacts of exotic invasive lionfish, and experiencing life and loss on Bonaire’s coral reefs.
- REEF Celebrates 100,000 Fish Surveys
- It's Here! 2007 Field Survey Schedule
- REEF Continues Partnership with National Park Service
- REEF Adopts Expanded Mission Statement
- Putting REEF Data to Work Nudibranchs, Urchins, and More!