Collier County Reef Scenes

Collier County, like most other Florida coastal counties have a variety of near and offshore artificial reefs in its waters. I've had the privilege of diving many of them, and am always amazed at the diversity of marine life, both big and small found on, in, and around them. While the following pictures are by no means an exhaustive list of things to see, I thought I'd share with you examples of what you can encounter when you dive them. Enjoy. If you would like to learn more about the locations of artificial reefs in Collier County visit: http://www.colliergov.net/Index.aspx?page=323

sponge anemones

profile of a polk-a-dot batfish

4-spot butterfly fish

Gulf arrow crab

blue angelfish

Gulf floor at the Paddlewheel wreck

brittle start and arrow crab on  bottom

Reef clean up on the Santa Lucia

Small ledge covered in a boring sponge

Goliath and gag grouper over a reef

A blue striped grunt

spadefish feeding on a jellyfish

A discarded shrimp net on a wreck

A seawhip growing inside a culvert

Gulf flounder 

Hermit crab walking on a reef

horse conch laying an egg case

hydroids on a reef

growth in a culvert

juvenile angelfish next to coral, sponges, and tunicates

hard and soft corals long a reef

Seawhip

loggerhead sea turtle

school of mangrove snapper

Sea pork tunicate

Regal Sea goddess nudibranch

eyes of calico scallop

baitfish over a wreck

A small red grouper

Two sheepshead and a lookdown

Schooling spadefish

A well camouflaged toadfish

A small coral head on a reef

Yellowheaded jawfish