Marine Field Studies 2018: Zane Grey Creek- Jessica Miller, Sarah Sullivan

Zane Grey Creek- Jessica Miller, Sarah Sullivan

The day started with a trip out to Long Key point, but rough seas and zero visibility diverted us to our next spot early. Zane grey creek, named for western writer from the early 1900’s that inhabited the nearby island, is a small mangrove creek on the Atlantic side of Koch Key. The site had a high tidal influence and higher biodiversity compared to the earlier sites that we had gone to. Because of the tidal changes temperature changes were greater here. A soft bottom site with few depth variations, visibility was almost zero when the bottom was disturbed. The mangrove trees provided a lush habitat for a variety of species and created its own island of life. The nutrients from the mangrove roots were food to some, while also becoming a substrate for other species.

This site, although more inland than the other sites that were visited, was busy with life. When the silt cleared, you were able to look around and watch a highly diverse ecosystem hard at work. Spiny lobsters hid away in the crevices, and flame box crabs buried deep in sand disappearing altogether. Horseshoe crabs molts were found, along with a wide variety of fish feeding on the mangrove vegetation. One of the distinguishing features of this site was the strong tidal current. Upon getting out of the boat you could hop on a raft and float effortlessly out with it, however we had to swim against it to do a loop of the mangroves. As one would expect mangrove snapper were observed, along with puffers, sergeant majors, striped grunt, and a lucky few got to see a nurse shark swim by. Although not many, some species of soft coral were found at this site including Siderastrea siderea, but were sparse.

The algae, seagrasses, and other vegetation that we saw:

Common Name	Scientific Name
Red Mangrove	Rhizophora mangle
Black mangrove	Avicennia germinans
Mermaids cup	Acetabularia sp.
Caulerpa	Caulerpa spp.
Shave brush alga	Penicillus spp.
Brown alga	Sargassum
Green alga	Udotea sp.
Green alga	Halimeda spp.

Invertebrates:

Horseshoe crab	Limulus polyphemus
Spiny lobster	Panulicrus argus
Stone crab	Menippe mercenaria
Flame box crab	Calappa Flammea
Mangrove bubble tunicates	Ecteinascidia turbinata
Flat frond muscles

Vertebrates:

Band tail puffer	Sphoeroides spengleri
Mangrove snapper	Lutjanus griseus
Striped grunt	Haemulon sciurus
Sargent major	Abudefduf saxatilis
Pin fish	Lagodon rhomboides
Barracuda	Sphyraena barracuda
Nurse shark	Ginglymostoma cirratum