Site 3: Old Dan Bank @ 1:30pm

On our 3rd site we went to here at the Keys Marine Lab, we boated out to a place called Old Dan Bank. When we arrived, we dropped anchor and prepared to splash overboard to begin another snorkeling adventure. At Old Dan Bank, we were not close to the channel as we were in Old Sweat Bank so we saw a slight decrease in diversity possibly due to water and nutrient flow in the area. The flow that was in the area originated in Gulf of Mexico and flowed to the Atlantic Ocean. Old Dan Bank was fairly shallow and consisted of mainly of Thalassia testudinum beds with some coral species present such as Manicinia areolata. Some calcareous algae was present such as Halimeda spp. Overall, it was a good habitat for juvenile fish to feed and seek shelter from predation. This was a low relief site with prop scars present from boats grounding in the high coverage sea grass beds. A lot of primary production was present at this site which contributed to the abundance of organisms. Other organisms that were present at this site include sponges, aglae, corals, fish, tunicates, anemones, crabs, clams, conchs, spaghetti worms, and other sea grasses.

Manicinia areolata

A mix of anemones, sponges and sea grass