Observations of Florida Keys Habitats

This past week was incredible. I had never been to the Keys before or on a coral reef. Finally seeing all of the fish and corals I'd been reading about and seeing pictures of was an unforgettable experience. Waking up to go snorkeling every morning was awesome. Dr. Voss and Dr. Hanisak got us out to as many different marine habitats as possible and it was interesting to see the differences in each location. No two locations were the same.

Keys Marine Lab 

Florida Spiny Lobsters were packed into almost every rock crevice in the waters behind Keys Marine Lab:

The most common corals I saw in this area were small colonies of:

Siderastrea siderea (left) and Siderastrea radians (right)

and

Manicina areolata

 



Mangrove Island

The mangrove island we visited was different than any of the other mangrove habitats I'd seen. Since it is surrounded by water, the current erodes the sediment under the mangrove roots creating a cave-like habitat of cooler water that's home to many mangrove snapper.

(http://fl.biology.usgs.gov/posters/Coastal_Ecology/Mangrove_prop_root/graysnapper2.jpg)

Seagrass Beds

We've encountered many seagrass beds during this trip but one of my favorites was a very shallow bed littered with small colonies of Porites porites along with Thalassia and various macroalgae.

Patch Reefs

Each patch reef we visited was a little different in terms of size and species composition. Most were dominated by gorgonians but differed in size of hard corals. Some patch reefs had small hard coral colonies while others had hard coral colonies measuring several feet wide. Fish composition was limited to relatively smaller species compared to Looe Key.

Diploria labyrinthiformes

Looe Key Reef

The reef at Looe Key was the most diverse and rich of any other habitat in the Keys. All of the fishes we had seen in previous habitats were there as well as the larger fishes that were absent in the other habitats. Among them were sharks, tarpon, and goliath grouper. Coral composition was different as well. Much of the substrate on the reef was covered with large colonies of Palythoa in a reef that was once dominated by Acropora palmata and A.cervicornis - which we saw very rarely compared to everything else.

Acropora palmata

Acropora cervicornis