7-6-12

Lying in a depth of 100 feet, roughly 25 miles East of the coast of St. Augustine's, lies a concrete structure artificial reef known as Capo Reef. TISIRI divers recently visited the reef to observe the current condition and collect imagery for Reefs Revealed. The reef appeared to be thriving with a great diversity and quantity of marine life. See pictures of the reef and some of its inhabitants below...

As you will see from some of the photos above TISIRI scuba divers encountered a variety of marine life. Unfortunately one the first identifiable fish species encountered on the dive, according to TISIRI's Joe Kistel, were lionfish. In fact after the first few were encountered Kistel stated lionfish were observed just about everywhere. Another animal observed within the first few minutes of the dive included a Goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara) taking shelter in a box culvert structure. Several Blue angelfish (Holocanthus bermudensis) were encountered as well as several damselfish and blennys.

The encrusting invertibrate growth of the concrete reef structures themselves was lush and diverse. The variety of life noted included algea, sponge, and soft coral. With a great diveresity of fish life and encrusting organisms present at Capo Reef, TISIRI divers conclude the reef appears to be in great condition benefitting the environment and the community as it was intended to do.

For more information on this specific reef including GPS coordinates visit here.