Site 1: Curry Hammock State Park

The first location we visited was Curry Hammock State Park. It was on the ocean side of Little Crawl Key. The onshore habitat was a small beach front consisting of some rocks and sand. Snorkeling took place nearshore in less than 2m of water. The water was pretty clear, however sediment was easily stirred up in the shallow waters. Sargassum spp. covered the intertidal zone and the beginning of the water. There were some larger rocks that supported different species than what was found in the seagrass bed and in the Sargassum spp. The dominating seagrasses were Thalassia spp. and Halodule spp. On the rocky habitat we found chitons, small stone crabs, and nerites. Cerith snails were the most abundant species living in the seagrass bed, but we also saw tunicates, upside down jellies, and some sergeant majors. The Sargassum spp. held grass shrimp, sargassum swimming crabs, and a sargassum fish. The site was pretty diverse for being such a small area. Some of the really cool things we saw were a juvenile nurse shark, a large lightning whelk and a little loggerhead sponge. Overall the location seemed healthy and was a great place to star our studies in the keys.

 

Jessica Valek and Taylor Beck