We absolutely love teaching Tropical Marine Biology and Ecology, because it gives us a chance to explore so many different South Florida species and ecosystems. From baited underwater remote video (BRUVs) to bumblebee shrimp, it doesn't get much better than this!

Despite windy weather, we had an amazing three weeks working on the Florida Keys Shark Ecosystem Project with the University of Miami's Shark Research and Conservation Program! The student participants and the interns and staff from UMSRC were fantastic, and made the most of our data collection opportunities in Dry Tortugas National Park and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, sampling 78 sharks across more than 10 species. We saw some amazing sharks this week, including this blacktip which was fitted with a satellite tag before release. We can't wait for future work on this project!

Our team is super excited to be spending three weeks in Dry Tortugas National Park partnering with the University of Miami's Shark Research and Conservation Program on their Summer Research Expeditions! UMSRC team members and a group of amazing students are living and working aboard the RV Garvin right now studying the ecology and ecosystem effects of the ocean's top predators in this remote national park. We are at the halfway mark now and the teams have collected data on more than 40 sharks of 9 different species! Here the team works up a tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) before releasing it in excellent condition!

During our recent fieldwork in Dry Tortugas National Park, our staff encountered some Goliath Grouper (Epinephelus itajara) hanging out near Garvin.

Goliath Grouper are the largest grouper species in the Atlantic, growing up to eight feet long and weighing as much as 800 lbs. They occupy relatively small home ranges, and can be territorial, particularly of preferred refuges like wrecks or caves--an irritated Goliath Grouper can contract its swim bladder to create a distinctive rumbling sound.

Like many grouper species, Goliath Grouper are what are called "aggregation spawners"--sexually mature individuals gather in large groups (100+ individuals) to reproduce each year. This makes them particularly vulnerable to overfishing during these aggregations, when a large percentage of adult individuals may gather in just a few locations. They used to be so overfished in South Florida that they were considered for listing under the US Endangered Species Act, and harvest of these incredible fish has been prohibited in US Federal waters since 1990.