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Drydock Artificial Reef Dive Report |
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Drydock Artificial Reef Dive Report |
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| Members of the Jacksonville Reef Reef Research Team visited the U.S. Navy
Drydock, which was placed offshore in 1989 to serve as an artificial reef. The
drydock is heavily encrusted with Atlantic winged oysters, barnacles, and a type of soft
coral (telesto riisei). Sea urchins and arrow crabs are abundant, and
occasional scallops and thorny oysters decorate the reef. Some of the invertebrate
animals might look like plants to the lay observer: the cornflake bryozoan looks a bit
like tan lettuce, the hydroids are fernlike, and the tube dwelling anemones look like
flowers. On the top of one of the corner posts, 75 ft. deep, is a thick mat of
colonial anemones. A decorator crab on the corner post is almost hidden by a cluster of telesto riisei coral he has planted on his shell. Another cluster of the telestacean coral was host to a collection of bristle worms. An octopus, master of camouflage, revealed itself to one of the divers. And fish? Did you want fish? Schools of tomtates (grunts) and juvenile vermilion snapper (bee-liners) swarmed the reef. Schools of anchovies followed the contours of the structure. In pursuit, there were amberjack, almaco jacks, crevalle jacks and others. Barracuda hovered nearby and further up in the water column. Red snapper., elusive and closer to the bottom, were feeding on anchovies. Gray (mangrove) snapper; grouper, bonita and cobia were spotted occasionally. An assortment of typical offshore fishes were observed or photographed including black sea bass, bank sea bass, Atlantic spadefish, spottail pinfish, and belted sandfish, along with queen, blue and hybrid angelfish. There were a number of tropical species observed, which were surprising to find. These included a variety of damselfishes: cocoa damsels, beaugregories, yellowtail reef fish and bicolor damsels. Spotfin butterflyfish, which are not uncommon offshore, were observed. An adult gray angel, a juvenile blue tang (which is bright yellow), blue head wrasses, a convention of doctorfish, an orangespot filefish and a squirrelfish were among the surprises. Photographs and video were used to record these. If you looked closely, you could find several varieties of blennies peeking out of nooks and crannies. Blennies are small (2-3 in.) fish with long "eyebrows" (cirri), and are common offshore Jacksonville. Another local, a sharksucker, accompanied us on our ascent. We had to wonder who he rode in on. A beautiful planktonic animal "flew" by us in 20’ of water. This two inch transparent animal, called a pteropod, is a mollusk with an internal shell and two winglike appendages. As we prepared to leave the water we heard high-pitched noises; three spotted dolphins "buzzed" us and went on their way. Click on the images below to view a larger image.
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