Zane Grey Site Summary
This week, as a part of our 5 week marine field studies course, we visited the Keys Marine Lab in Marathon, Florida. It was an adventure filled week spent mostly on the boat and snorkeling. One of the sites we visited was a small inlet called Zane Grey. There was a super strong ebb current as the tide went from high to low. The water was a tea color, caused by the tannins of leaves that have fallen into the water breaking down. Visibility was pretty decent at the mouth of the inlet, and slowly worsened as we moved further in and the current grew stronger. The dominant plants throughout Zane Grey are mangroves and sargassum. We were even lucky enough to see some coral, a result of the hard substrate. The sediment on the bottom was a matrix of decaying leaves, rocks, and shell fragments. There was an array of organisms living in the inlet. A few that stood out to me were spiny lobster, sergeant major, purple tunicate, and upside down mangrove jelly. The current was so strong I almost couldn't swim in with the other students, but I'm glad I pushed through.
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