Florida zoa carpet

[heckfire]

i took these today, water was a little cloudy but check out the size of this zoa colony

 

[scuba-al]

That's awesome! I saw those when I went diving in Florida in November but most were about baseball sized clumps. The largest patch I saw was probably 3 feet square. They were pretty abundant.

On a different note, it was kind of sad. About 1/2 of every brain coral I saw was bleached to at least some extent; in most cases it was pretty bad. I only saw one branching SPS coral which was only about 5 inches tall. Granted, the dive was in somewhat cloudy water and it lasted 25 minutes but still, not good.

 

[heckfire]

i hear you, some places are better than others , but its getting harder to find pristine spots , im still shocked how bad the protected areas in the Keys looked last time i went,, oh well, also , here is the correct tank size for a tang

 

[GrampaDon]

Where in the Keys did you go.?
Thinking of going this April.

 

[heckfire]

last time i went it was Pennekamp , but as usual it was a let down

 

[GrampaDon]

We were looking at Marathon. Hopefully it will be great snorkeling. [crossing fingers]

 

[Krypt1979]

I'd love it if my Zoas would grow out to that extent.

 

[endlessblue]

Wow thanks for sharing, I wish there was section on RC just for wild coral pics!!

 

[ingtar_shinowa]

Not a whole lot of branching SPS in the carribean. Ive been to a ton of places diving and once i think in Dominica i did see a gorgeous bright red sps. Other than that mostly encrusting stuff. I agree about the bleaching, alot of corals in bad shape but with the rough waters on the Atlantic side I can see that cycle of growth, recession and regrowth happening alot with hurricanes and the like.
I went to one spot out of Key largo and it was great, cold last year but a fun dive, alot of swim through and caves to explore.

 

[heckfire]

im going out tomorrow 1/8 and gonna bring my camera, the water was perfect today and should be the same tomorrow , i will take a ton of pics

 

[ingtar_shinowa]

Sweet! looking forward to it! I can't remember last time i saw zoas diving. Maybe im not looking for them haha.

 

[heckfire]

ok,, i had the camera on the wrong setting, all underwater pics were BLURRy, however, i took 2 on the beach of exposed zoas, there much hardier than people think

 

[StephLionfish]

Wow. I'm definitely diving this year. Thanks for the pictures!

 

[Exxotic]

Whats the best place to see some zoas/ricordias in florida diving?"

 

[heckfire]

Whats the best place to see some zoas/ricordias in florida diving?"

that dear sir,, is the magic question......

 

[seapug]

Very cool. Get a saltwater fishing license and bring a knife and bag and you can collect some zoa frags if you're not diving in a no take zone.

 

[Rawby]

I go to big pine key every year to lobster and always see some zoos in the shallower water. I have a place I go around here locally that I collected SMS Miami vice zoas and then another day got some others. Dont even need to get wet. Really cool to see what they are gonna look like when you put the, under the light. And before anyone asks yes I have my license and I know the rules. 5 polyps and flexible knife. I'll take pictures next time I go.

 

[FLKeysGirl]

Whats the best place to see some zoas/ricordias in florida diving?"

The last time I went diving, we went to 5 different places over the course of a week, the reefs are definitely recovering from the storm bad storm season a couple of years ago but I did not see rics except for in one small area about 35 feet deep that my dad has been fishing for years and is UNPROTECTED, the 2 protected areas we dove were surprisingly scarce. Sad.

 

[sps_reefer]

fl zoas are all over. you just need to find a few and you will figure out what they like. unfortunately most are ugly brown and green.

 

[kobelka]

nice!