Keys Marine Lab

I had a blast this past week in the Keys and was very happy to be back in the clear water of south Florida. In the first picture is me and the rest of the crew headed out to the reefs to observe them while snorkling and to get a list of all the species of fish and coral seen at each reef. In the second picture down Laura and I are trying to identify a species of macro algae with the help of a nice field guide. In the third picture is one of my favorite fish to see while in the water which is the porcupine fish. I saw him under a ledge, which is where I normally find them hanging out, and went down and snapped a picture. The last picture is a picture of a neon goby I toke right out back of KML while snorkling. They are another very cool fish and have a symbiotic relationship with other fish and will set up cleaning stations under ledges or on coral heads where other fish such as a grouper or angel fish will come by to get picked clean of parasites by the neon goby. Overall I got to see various different reef structures like shallow hard bottom reefs, patch reefs, looe Key, and also the seagrass beds and mangrove islands, all very important in there own way and vital habitat to keep all the diversity seen in the Florida Keys flourishing.