snorkeling in the caribbean
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Snorkeling in the Caribbean observing the fish and coral reefTRANSCRIPT
SNORKELING IN THE CARIBBEAN
Belize Forest and Marine Ecology
On our way out of Belize City for a full day of snorkeling.
Went past Frigret Island Home of the frigret birds
Getting wet! We were able to observe a huge variety of
species while away from the touristy spots.
Blue tang at a cleaning station
Black Grouper
Blue Stripe Grunt
Blue Tang Fish
Butterfly Fish
What is coral, a plant or an animal? A coral is made of tiny little
carnivorous (meat eating) animals called polyps.
These polyps live in colonies. Each polyp forms a little limestone
case around it. Coral reefs are made up of
thousands of limestone cases around it.
Coral Reef- The coral is made up of tiny stinging cells. When an animal swims past this and brushes up against it, it kills the animal.
Coral can be soft or hard.
Brain coral
Stag horn and brain coral
Brain coralSome coral reefs can take hundreds of years to
form.
Fan coral, brain coral
Elkhorn coral and yellow tail damsel fishReefs provide housing and protection for thousands of
animals.
Elkhorn coral
Feather duster worm
Gorgonia Coral
Fan coral is a soft coral.
Coral reefs have different shapes, this is determined by their environment and wave action.
As many as 200 kinds of fish can live in a coral reef. They range in size from 10mm to 20 meters long. Food for little fish is supplied there which attracts larger fish.
Coral reef provides nooks and crannies for fish to hide in.
Nudibranch Clinic
So much life in the tropics depend on coral reefs.
It is related to the jelly fish. A coral polyp is the size of a pearl. It is like a mouth with tentacles stuck to it. These coral live in colonies.
The coral skeleton is made up of calcium carbonate. It
Coral BleachingWhat is coral bleaching?
What causes coral bleaching?
Coral Bleaching
Is caused from the water being too warm, too low of tide, pH changes are a few reasons.
Global Warming causes the reefs to bleach and die out.
It results in the coral turning white and is a sign of the coral being stressed.
This can result in the coral dying.
Variety of Fish
Why is coral dying important? Nearly all life in shallow tropical beaches
depend on coral. If the reefs die out , the fish die out.
Fish diversity dies out as well as the number of fish.
Here are some different kinds of fish encountered while we were snorkeling.
Parrot fish are one of the few fish that eat coral. What they excrete is partly sand.
Stop light parrot fish
Parrot Fish
French grunt fish
Grey angel fish
Grey Angel Fish
Grouper
Hog fish
Jake the Barracuda
Lion Fish
Although lion fish have a unique appearance they are a very invasive species.
Nassau fish
Queen Trigger Fish
Blue Tang Fish
Queen Trigger Fish
Queen Trigger Fish
School of jack fish
4 Eyed Butterfly Fish
A close look at a ray
Sea biscuit
Seahorse
Spotted eagle ray
Spotted eagle ray
In Shark and Ray AlleyNot a lot of different varieties of species found here! There are a lot of tourist !
Autumn gets a closer look.
Nurse sharks surround our boat. Our tour guide was attracting them by feeding them.
Octopus
Sea Turtle
Starfish
Storms rolling in
A first hand look at the waters of the beautiful Caribbean. (The waters are lacking plankton and accounting for their blue color.)
Full day of snorkeling
Special Thanks
A special thanks to my classmates in the Miami Dragonfly Belize 2013 Class for sharing their photographs.