Oceanographic Center works with National Park Service to Inventory Reef Fish

Dr. Spieler conducts fish inventory

Richard Spieler, Ph.D., professor at the NSU Oceanographic Center, along with Dave Gilliam, Ph.D., National Coral Reef Institute research scientist/OC adjunct professor, and OC graduate students, recently completed the first leg of a cryptic fish inventory for the National Park Service at the Buck Island Reef National Monument in St. Croix.

The goal of the inventory is to identify the cryptic reef fish and document their abundance and distribution at the National Monument.

Spieler's group made over 100 dives at 32 sites in the marine park during a two week period and documented 164 fish species, which added 24 species previously unrecorded in that area. Another trip is being planned for mid-October to bring the total number of sites to 50, which will hopefully complete the inventory.