Hey! I’m Sam, and I’m a certified scuba diver who loves the ocean
because it’s filled with all kinds of amazing creatures,
both big and small.
It’s such a magical place.
When I get to explore
this underwater world,
it’s always an adventure.
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Today, I’m at Elbow Reef
in the Florida Keys, meeting up with two experts from NOAA,
the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.
I’ll be going on a dive with John Katchenago, a unit diving supervisor,
and Laura “Jay” Grove, a research fishery biologist.
Elbow Reef is a popular dive spot here in the Keys.
It has some beautiful reef systems that have formed on some very old shipwrecks.
These reefs are home to all kinds of marine life.
Here we go!
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Elbow Reef is commonly called “Wreck Reef.”
I see why.
I’m holding on to a mooring buoy line
that starts at the surface
and anchors the boat without creating damage
to the reef habitat.
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It’s pretty quiet down here considering coral reefs create homes
for about 9 million species.
Look. A little drumfish swimming in and out of the coral,
and a school of tiny mangrove fish playing follow-the-leader.
There’s a different species at every turn.
This starfish is about the size of my hand.
And this is a basket starfish. It’s a bit smaller
and has twisting tentacles with tiny hooks to catch prey. Really amazing.
Hiding behind those rocks is a yellow stingray.
Let’s get a closer look.
Too late. Off it goes.
Let’s get up close to the coral.
These buds are one of the tiniest architects of the reef:
coral polyps.
Coral polyps are super small organisms
that attach themselves to rocks on the seafloor and divide into
thousands of clones to create colonies that become reefs.
This shipwreck’s rusted remains are buried
under vegetation and coral formations.
It’s the perfect reef habitat.
You can see some parts are still intact,
like the bow and decks.
These shipwrecks have been grounded
since the late 19th and 20th centuries.
There’s so many awesome species
and maritime history
living in this reef.
Time to dry off and learn more.
Jay and John,
can you tell me a little bit
about what you guys do as your jobs?
I am a NOAA Corps officer.
I work with a maritime heritage group,
map shipwrecks, and I’m also the unit diving supervisor,
so I monitor all diving activities
within the Florida Keys
and ensure everything is safe
and everyone is following NOAA policy standards.
So, how often do you dive on a weekly basis?
Any day that it’s nice. Basically,
it’s not blowing 15 or more,
-I’m out on the water. -Okay.
-This is my office most days. -Wow.
That’s a pretty cool office. And how about you, Jay?
I am a research fishery biologist, so I am a scientist,
and I do a lot of work with the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program,
so I am down there doing assessments of reef fish.
So, I’m down there often with a fish stick, measuring fish,
and recording information on fish and coral
all throughout the Florida Keys,
Dry Tortugas,
-and the U.S. Caribbean. -SAM: That’s super neat.
Jay has the awesome job
of naming any new, unknown species she discovers.
Now, that’s pretty cool.
So we’re here at Elbow Reef, and…is this reef actually shaped like an elbow?
JOHN: Actually, yeah, it kind of… if you looked at the chart,
here’s Florida, right?
-Yeah. -Here’s the reef line.
Elbow Reef kind of juts out like an elbow here.
-Okay. -JOHN: So, for whatever reason,
has attracted several shipwrecks
of steamships over the years.
I would say that a shipwreck
is a ship that has gone aground and sank.
Or at least, maybe didn’t go aground,
but something caused it to take on water and sink.
It was not deliberately sunk, whereas an artificial reef…
people decided, “We are going to clean this up and try to remove
“all harmful chemicals and substance
-and deliberately sink it.” -SAM: Okay.
Old subway cars, naval ships, and even tires have been sunk to create artificial reefs.
Why do they do that?
A lot of it has to do with tourism. Tourism, diving…
Artificial reefs make great fish habitat.
They’re just a great spot for everybody to visit.
SAM: One of the most popular artificial reef sites in Florida is the “Duane,”
an old military ship that was intentionally sunk in 1987.
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These habitats are beautiful, but can be very damaging
to these sensitive environmental areas.
Biologists generally prefer
that these artificial reefs remain as natural as possible.
-When did those shipwrecks sink? -JOHN: So,
the “Acorn” went down in 1885.
-SAM: Wow. -JOHN: It was 167 feet.
And the “Hannah M. Bell” went down in 1911,
and she was 315 feet.
-That’s a long time ago. -Yeah.
Based off of the wrecks that we saw in the reef,
how can you tell that it’s fully established?
That’s a great question. And it’s because,
if you noticed, when we were kind of bopping between
the natural reef onto the shipwreck,
you didn’t see a lot of change, right?
You didn’t see a lot of change in the structure.
You saw some of the same organisms.
You saw the same corals,
the same gorgonians. You saw the same fish.
And a newer shipwreck wouldn’t necessarily have that.
-SAM: Okay. -JAY: But it was a seamless transition,
and sometimes, you’d almost had to look down
to say, “Am I over the shipwreck
-or in a natural reef?” -Yeah.
Yeah, it was hard to tell.
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So what were some of the creatures
that we saw down there, Jay?
JAY: We saw tons of creatures on this dive.
We saw two different stingrays, right?
JAY: Absolutely. You saw a southern stingray
and a yellow stingray.
The yellow stingrays are ridiculously cute.
-And he swims pretty fast. -Yeah, if you spook them,
they definitely will swim pretty quickly.
SAM: I wasn’t trying to spook him.
JAY: (laughs) It just happens.
SAM: And then we saw a really cool fish that had
a long snout and blue polka dots.
-JAY: Yes. -SAM: What was that?
JAY: That was a scrawled filefish.
-That is a awesome fish. -SAM: That’s super neat.
Thanks, guys, for taking me out on this dive.
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Coral reef systems provide food
and shelter to all kinds of species.
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Reefs also play a very important role in keeping us safe,
acting as a barrier to protect our shorelines
from damaging waves, storms, and floods.
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See you next time on “What Sam Sees.”
