[Coral-List] Looe Key Reef, Florida Keys - lots of big parrotfishes!

[Pawlik, Joseph]

Hi all,

For those interested, here is a link to a video of Looe Key Reef in the Florida Keys made last week:
https://youtu.be/yyoiB4EKdH4<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FyyoiB4EKdH4&data=05%7C01%7Cpawlikj%40uncw.edu%7Cfdf6ed72a0034d15bbd208db247258ea%7C2213678197534c75af2868a078871ebf%7C0%7C0%7C638143845770643007%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=oZFrUfT0jOpZh6P%2Bl7i%2BOxDUXW49Ze4JueOt401xcHY%3D&reserved=0>

This reef is considered by some to be the best in the Florida Keys.
It is protected as a Sanctuary Preservation Area by NOAA's National Marine Sanctuaries.
Video made 7 March 2023 while diving with Captain Hook's Scuba Center of Big Pine Key. Looe Key Reef is very shallow (30 ft max depth, mostly 25 ft) with no drop off, formerly having very large live coral heads. Hard coral cover is now a small fraction of what it was in the past, but what's left looks good.
Some observations:
(1) Huge parrotfishes! Shows that marine park protection works! Also, schools of large blue tangs. Lots of herbivory by fishes. As a consequence, seaweed abundance is low, and pink coralline algal crusts are easily seen. Listen to the sound of large parrotfishes grazing (4:07).
(2) Sea fans are thriving, no evidence of sea fan disease (aspergillosis) that was a much-discussed emerging threat in the 1990s.
(3) Lots of black grouper. Small snappers and grunts hide in sea fans showing fear of reef sharks, which are present (5:30).
(4) Tragic loss of many large coral heads (4:20). But, higher coral survivorship than expected with recent SCTLD outbreaks. Out-planted staghorn corals seem to be doing well.
(5) Surprisingly large giant barrel sponges for a very shallow site.
(6) Despite hiding behavior of fishes, parrots and other fishes were remarkably unafraid of divers.

Regards,
Joe

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Joseph R. Pawlik
Frank Hawkins Kenan Distinguished Professor of Marine Biology
Dept. of Biology and Marine Biology
UNCW Center for Marine Science
5600 Marvin K Moss Lane
Wilmington, NC  28409
Office:(910)962-2377; Cell:(910)232-3579
Website: http://people.uncw.edu/pawlikj/index.html
PDFs: http://people.uncw.edu/pawlikj/pubs2.html
Video Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/skndiver011
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