Jhildebrand
Well-Known Member
As some of you know, I just came back from a week in the Keys. I thought I'd take some time to share my experience there observing and collecting local wildlife for study. This is by far my favorite place to be in this country.
Unfortunately, the Keys (and all of Florida) had a horrible cold snap in January. The water temp in some areas dropped 30 degrees. As you know from reefing, that kind of swing does a lot of damage. Thousands of fish, manatees, and sea turtles perished. A lot of the sensitive critters near shore moved if they could, but many simply died. Most of the tropical birds left. There was a lot less life than I was used to seeing. Sad as it was, if we looked hard enough, we were rewarded. This occurrence was natural and should recover with time. The water temp was in the 60’s the whole week – way below normal. I wore a wetsuit while snorkeling to find animals. It was amazing to see these things surviving in water that cold.
On past trips I made note of fun locations and found some new ones to visit as well. All the places we explored were public and most were near bridges. For those interested in the rules, here's a link to the Fish and Wildlife website: http://myfwc.com/RULESANDREGS/Saltwater_Regulations_recharvestmls.htm
Pretty simple and straightforward. No rock or corals. No protected species. Pretty much ornamental fish and clean up crews are okay. It’s taken me three trips worth of exploring to find decent areas accessible from shore and without needing any kind of watercraft.
Here’s where we stayed in Layton (Long Key):
LOL, to give you an idea, the pic was taken from the other side of the bed, which is the near the door. This whole place was smaller than our bedroom. However, the view out the window was great:
That’s part of a marine sanctuary that lies within Long Key State Park. The place we rented was a private rental home with four units. There was a state park kayak trail through those mangroves.
While unloading our rental car, I thought a large insect flew in the trunk. Upon inspection around my bags, I saw movement in the gap to the spare tire compartment:
This guy is who I startled. It’s a Cuban Anole. One of two species commonly seen in Florida running around during the day.
He chilled out a bit when I finally caught him in the trunk. I was worried he was going to get in an inaccessible area.
Here’s a land hermit that Leah found. This little guy was very curious and did not mind being handled.
Nearby to where we were staying this is what the water looked like:
At first glance it seems pretty devoid of anything of interest. Closer inspection though shows otherwise.
Little macro cluster on a shell. I should have taken more pics of the different kinds.
Disclaimer: I’m going to be the first to admit that I lack common sense when something excites me. I saw this guy peer out of a group of partially submerged boulders on the shoreline. So I did what any intelligence-challenged person would do and knelt in the water and stuck my hand under the rock to catch him. He wasn’t so much waving at me as he was trying to take a finger off…
This was so cool. You cannot tell a decorator crab from its surroundings if you had to. If they don’t move, you don’t see them. Like a marine sniper in a ghillie suit.
I saw tons of little crabs like this. Some were drab, and some were pretty neat looking. These I could be a little more carefree with handling.
Snot? Nope, just what it felt like. It’s a sea walnut – a member of the comb jelly family.
Unfortunately, the Keys (and all of Florida) had a horrible cold snap in January. The water temp in some areas dropped 30 degrees. As you know from reefing, that kind of swing does a lot of damage. Thousands of fish, manatees, and sea turtles perished. A lot of the sensitive critters near shore moved if they could, but many simply died. Most of the tropical birds left. There was a lot less life than I was used to seeing. Sad as it was, if we looked hard enough, we were rewarded. This occurrence was natural and should recover with time. The water temp was in the 60’s the whole week – way below normal. I wore a wetsuit while snorkeling to find animals. It was amazing to see these things surviving in water that cold.
On past trips I made note of fun locations and found some new ones to visit as well. All the places we explored were public and most were near bridges. For those interested in the rules, here's a link to the Fish and Wildlife website: http://myfwc.com/RULESANDREGS/Saltwater_Regulations_recharvestmls.htm
Pretty simple and straightforward. No rock or corals. No protected species. Pretty much ornamental fish and clean up crews are okay. It’s taken me three trips worth of exploring to find decent areas accessible from shore and without needing any kind of watercraft.
Here’s where we stayed in Layton (Long Key):
LOL, to give you an idea, the pic was taken from the other side of the bed, which is the near the door. This whole place was smaller than our bedroom. However, the view out the window was great:
That’s part of a marine sanctuary that lies within Long Key State Park. The place we rented was a private rental home with four units. There was a state park kayak trail through those mangroves.
While unloading our rental car, I thought a large insect flew in the trunk. Upon inspection around my bags, I saw movement in the gap to the spare tire compartment:
This guy is who I startled. It’s a Cuban Anole. One of two species commonly seen in Florida running around during the day.
He chilled out a bit when I finally caught him in the trunk. I was worried he was going to get in an inaccessible area.
Here’s a land hermit that Leah found. This little guy was very curious and did not mind being handled.
Nearby to where we were staying this is what the water looked like:
At first glance it seems pretty devoid of anything of interest. Closer inspection though shows otherwise.
Little macro cluster on a shell. I should have taken more pics of the different kinds.
Disclaimer: I’m going to be the first to admit that I lack common sense when something excites me. I saw this guy peer out of a group of partially submerged boulders on the shoreline. So I did what any intelligence-challenged person would do and knelt in the water and stuck my hand under the rock to catch him. He wasn’t so much waving at me as he was trying to take a finger off…
This was so cool. You cannot tell a decorator crab from its surroundings if you had to. If they don’t move, you don’t see them. Like a marine sniper in a ghillie suit.
I saw tons of little crabs like this. Some were drab, and some were pretty neat looking. These I could be a little more carefree with handling.
Snot? Nope, just what it felt like. It’s a sea walnut – a member of the comb jelly family.
) That skeleton looks like an alien! Thanks for sharing, looks like it was a lot of fun 
