★ Featured
Staghorn Coral
Acropora cervicornis
IUCN · Critically Endangered
A fast-growing branching coral with cylindrical, antler-like branches and pale growing tips.
★ Featured
Atlantic Guitarfish
Rhinobatos lentiginosus
IUCN · Near Threatened
A ray with a long, flattened, guitar-shaped body and a shark-like tail. It is brown to gray on top with scattered small white spots.
★ Featured
French Angelfish
Pomacanthus paru
IUCN · Least Concern
A large angelfish, black with bright yellow-edged scales that give it a speckled look, and a yellow ring around the eye.
★ Featured
Lined Seahorse
Hippocampus erectus
IUCN · Vulnerable
A seahorse with a curled, grasping tail and colors ranging from brown to yellow or orange. As in all seahorses, the male carries the young in a pouch.
★ Featured
Townsend Angelfish (Hybrid)
Holacanthus ciliaris x Holacanthus bermudensis
IUCN · Not Evaluated
A natural hybrid of the Queen and Blue Angelfish, combining blue and yellow coloring with a variable crown spot and tail pattern.
★ Featured
Porkfish (juvenile)
Anisotremus virginicus
IUCN · Least Concern
A grunt whose juveniles are bright yellow with a black bar through the eye and a dark stripe along the body. Adults develop two black bars on the head.
★ Featured
Green Sea Turtle
Chelonia mydas
IUCN · Least Concern
A large sea turtle with a smooth, olive-brown shell and a small, rounded head. It is named for the greenish color of its body fat, not its shell.
★ Featured
Spotted Eagle Ray
Aetobatus narinari
IUCN · Endangered
A large ray with a dark back covered in white spots and rings, a flat duck-like snout, and a very long, whip-like tail.
★ Featured
Lesser Electric Ray
Narcine bancroftii
IUCN · Vulnerable
A small ray with a rounded, disc-shaped body and a thick tail with two dorsal fins. It can produce a mild electric shock for defense.
Blue crab
Callinectes sapidus
IUCN · Not Evaluated
A swimming crab with an olive to bluish-green shell and bright blue claws.
Rosey Blenny
Malacoctenus macropus
IUCN · Least Concern
A small, slender blenny with reddish to rosy coloring and pale blotches along its sides.
Purple Mouth Moray Eel
Gymnothorax vicinus
IUCN · Least Concern
A brown, mottled moray eel named for the purple lining of its mouth.
Scrawled Cowfish
Acanthostracion quadricornis
IUCN · Least Concern
A boxfish encased in rigid bony plates, with blue scrawled markings on a yellowish-green body and two horn-like spines above the eyes.
Symmetrical Brain Coral
Pseudodiploria strigosa
IUCN · Near Threatened
A boulder-shaped coral with meandering, maze-like ridges and grooves that resemble a brain.
West Indian Sea Egg
Tripneustes ventricosus
IUCN · Not Evaluated
A large, dark sea urchin covered in short white spines. It often covers itself with bits of seagrass and debris for camouflage.
Slippery Dick - Juvenile
Halichoeres bivittatus
IUCN · Least Concern
A young slippery dick wrasse with a yellowish body and two dark stripes along its sides.
Bermuda chub
Kyphosus sectatrix
IUCN · Least Concern
A silvery, deep-bodied fish with fine horizontal stripes, often seen in large schools.
Bandtail Puffer
Sphoeroides spengleri
IUCN · Least Concern
A small pufferfish with a row of dark spots along its lower side and dark bands on its tail. It inflates when threatened.
Spotted Goatfish
Pseudupeneus maculatus
IUCN · Least Concern
A reef fish with three dark blotches along its sides and a pair of chin barbels it uses to probe the sand. It can change color quickly.
Slippery Dick - Initial Stage
Halichoeres bivittatus
IUCN · Least Concern
A slender wrasse. In its initial phase it is pale with two dark stripes along its sides.
West Indian Manatee
Trichechus manatus
IUCN · Vulnerable
A large, slow-moving marine mammal with paddle-like flippers and a broad, rounded tail. It must surface regularly to breathe.
Tomtate Grunt - Juvinile
Haemulon aurolineatum
IUCN · Least Concern
A young tomtate, silvery with a dark stripe running from the eye to a dark spot at the base of the tail.
Gray Angelfish (juvenile/subadult)
Pomacanthus arcuatus
IUCN · Not Evaluated
A large, deep-bodied angelfish, dark gray with subtle scale patterning. Younger fish show pale vertical bars that fade with age.
Grey Snapper
Lutjanus griseus
IUCN · Least Concern
A gray to gray-green snapper, sometimes with a reddish tint. Younger fish have a dark stripe through the eye.
White Grunt
Haemulon plumierii
IUCN · Least Concern
A silvery-gray grunt with blue and yellow stripes on the head and a bright red-orange mouth lining.
Neon Goby
Elacatinus oceanops
IUCN · Least Concern
A tiny black goby with a bright electric-blue stripe along each side. It cleans parasites off larger fish.
Spotfin Butterflyfish
Chaetodon ocellatus
IUCN · Least Concern
A pale butterflyfish with yellow fins, a black bar through the eye, and a small black spot on the rear dorsal fin.
Butter hamlet
Hypoplectrus unicolor
IUCN · Least Concern
A small, pale yellow hamlet with a black blotch near the base of the tail and blue markings on the head.
Sea Bream
Archosargus rhomboidalis
IUCN · Least Concern
A small, silvery porgy with faint yellow stripes and a dark spot behind the gill cover.
Sanddiver
Synodus intermedius
IUCN · Least Concern
A lizardfish with a long, cylindrical body and pointed head. It buries itself in sand to ambush prey.
Bluestripe Grunt
Haemulon sciurus
IUCN · Least Concern
A yellow grunt marked with bright blue horizontal stripes and dark tail fins.
Arrow crab
Stenorhynchus seticornis
IUCN · Not Evaluated
A small crab with a pointed, triangular body and extremely long, thin, spider-like legs.
Tomtate
Haemulon aurolineatum
IUCN · Least Concern
A small, silvery grunt with a yellow-bronze stripe running from snout to tail.
sheepshead porgy
Archosargus probatocephalus
IUCN · Least Concern
A deep-bodied, silvery-gray fish with bold black vertical bars and human-like teeth for crushing shells.
Caribbean Squid
Sepioteuthis sepioidea
IUCN · Not Evaluated
A reef squid with a fin running the full length of its body. It changes color rapidly to camouflage and communicate.
Nurse Shark (juvenile)
Ginglymostoma cirratum
IUCN · Vulnerable
A young nurse shark with faint dark spots that fade with age and fleshy barbels near the mouth.
Queen Angelfish (juvenile)
Holacanthus ciliaris
IUCN · Least Concern
A young queen angelfish, dark blue with yellow accents and curved light-blue bars that fade as it matures.
green morary eel
Gymnothorax funebris
IUCN · Least Concern
A large moray eel whose blue-gray skin is coated in yellowish mucus, making it look green. It can grow over 2 meters long.
horse conch
Triplofusus giganteus
IUCN · Not Evaluated
A very large sea snail with a spindle-shaped shell and a bright orange body. It is North America's largest snail and Florida's state shell.
Queen Angelfish
Holacanthus ciliaris
IUCN · Least Concern
A vivid blue-and-yellow angelfish named for the dark, blue-ringed 'crown' spot on its forehead.
Juvinile High Hat
Pareques acuminatus
IUCN · Not Evaluated
A small drum. Juveniles have bold black-and-white stripes and a tall, pointed front dorsal fin.
spotfin burr fish
Chilomycterus reticulatus
IUCN · Least Concern
A rounded relative of the pufferfish covered in short, fixed spines. It can inflate itself with water to deter predators.
strawberry grouper
Epinephelus guttatus
IUCN · Least Concern
A grouper, also called the red hind, with a pale body densely covered in red spots and dark-edged rear fins.
Tiger Goby
Elacatinus macrodon
IUCN · Not Evaluated
A small, slender goby with a pale body marked by dark stripes.
Short nose batfish
Ogcocephalus nasutus
IUCN · Least Concern
A flattened, bumpy-skinned relative of the anglerfish that 'walks' along the bottom on leg-like fins.
Banded Butterflyfish
Chaetodon striatus
IUCN · Least Concern
A small, disc-shaped butterflyfish with a white body crossed by broad black vertical bands, including one through the eye.
Rosie Blenny
Malacoctenus macropus
IUCN · Least Concern
A small, slender blenny. Males turn reddish-pink, especially during breeding displays.
Juvenile Hamlet
Unknown
IUCN · Unknown
A young hamlet, one of a group of small, colorful Caribbean sea basses. Juveniles of different hamlet species look alike, so the exact species is unconfirmed.
Nurse Shark
Ginglymostoma cirratum
IUCN · Vulnerable
A slow-moving, bottom-dwelling shark with a broad, rounded head, small eyes, and fleshy barbels near the nostrils.