Observations from the July Sampling

     Today we completed our third observation of the Biogenic reef and we had some really great finds!  The new sections of the reef that have been in the water for just under two months are totally covered with a thick carpet of red algae.  We saw a few crabs hiding in this tiny forest and it looks like they are using the structure!  The older sections of the reef are developing a more mature mixed algal cover with various green and red algae and barnacles mixed in throughout.  Juvenile blue crabs are scurrying around the reef surface and there were abundant silversides in all sections of the reef.  The really cool part was the seine catch- we caught the usual big haul of silversides, but this time we also caught 2 juvenile striped bass, 3 northern kingfish (also called sea mullet or roundheads) and 3 pipefish.  We can see these fish in our underwater photos clearly hanging out under the reef structure and using it for refuge.  In the seine haul away from the reef structure, we caught no fish, which is becoming a trend- we catch fish near the reef and none away from the structure.  We are also observing fairly distinct zones in the reef where there are visible differences in the reef surface in the offshore, middle and nearshore areas, probably related to light availability and water flow.
      Three months into our sampling we have observed the reef go from fairly bare rock surface with little associated life to a living three dimensional, photosynthetic surface with a host of organisms using it for food and refuge.  Today we observed three valuable species on the reef- blue crabs, striped bass and northern kingfish, all prized for food and two important recreational fish species.  As this is called a "biogenic" reef it is living up to its name!