Hey y’all!

This morning, we got to snorkel in both the Marine Protected Areas and nonprotected areas around Glover’s Reef Station to see just how much of a difference protecting a reef makes in the health of a reef. The unprotected reefs had a lot more algae because the fish that ate the algae were overfished. This lets the algae grow out of control and overtake, even kill the coral it grows on.

(Above: Patch of protected reef)

(Above: Patch of unprotected reef)

I did see a lot of Damselfish (Threespot, Longfin, Tricolor, and Beaugregory) on both reefs because they are big eaters of algae, so they do thrive in algae-heavy areas. Unfortunately this algal overgrowth hurts a lot of fish who need healthy corals to eat and live in.

(Beaugregory)

Just as we were leaving one of the protected reefs, we saw a lone dolphin just ten feet away from our boat! It was so awesome! We think he was rooting through the sediment looking for food, but we’re not sure why he was alone. I guess even dolphins need some me time?