Alligator Reef

June 4,  2014

Wednesday was an awesome snorkel day! The second site we visited was Alligator Reef! This was a gorgeous offshore reef located near the Alligator Lighthouse. This reef consisted of a series of ledges, this made it unique to us thus far because the previous sites seemed to not have as many of the "timid" species such as Moray eels, Squirrelfish and Spiny Lobsters. The average depth was approximately 8 or 9 meters which made for some great free dives. We observed strong ecotones because of the ledge system. Beyond the ledge tended to be sand flats which houses a totally different variety of species such a Southern Stingrays, Yellow Stingrays, Spotted Eagle Rays and Spotted Goatfish. We unanimously decided that this site consisted of the highest diversity and abundance of species for the day. We observed large groups of schooling fish such as snapper, grunts and Bermuda Chubfish. We enjoyed viewing the Acropora cervicornis and Acropora palmata. This area is part of an Acropora cervicornis restoration project and we were fortunate enough to observe many clusters of Acropora cervicornis placed on the shelf. There has been success with the coral restoration projects which is much needed because of the devastating decline over the the past decades.

 We've really enjoyed snorkeling completely different sites with having background knowledge in each habitat and being able to compare and contrast not only species but the habitat as a whole. That is personally my favorite way to learn; to receive background knowledge and to then actually go out in the field and observe it first hand.

Overall, we've truly had the best experience. We have learned so much in a short amount of time and are ecstatic for whats to come!