A moray eel opens its mouth as it swims. There are three types of eels divers will find in the Florida Keys: Moray, snake and garden. Morays vary considerably in size, skin diversity and color. Their skin can be brown, green, yellow, black or blue
Summer diving in the Upper Keys is unlike any other. Aside from the recent weather that’s brought rain and grey skies, conditions have been perfect for a dive. From shipwrecks and sharks to corals and eels, avid diver David Gross documented recent dives off the shoes of Islamorada.
A nurse shark swims near a reef off the Islamorada shores. Nurse sharks are common residents of the Florida Keys reefs.
Beneath the surface on the floor sits an anchor. The tiny sweeper fish is a tropical marine species mostly found on or around wrecks.
Hogfish are a species of wrasse that are found around reefs. Their elongated pig-like snouts are used to blast jets of air to “hunt” and rummage in sand for their preferred prey, crustaceans.A school of yellowtail snapper swarm around the bow of a shipwreck. The fish can often be found in the shallows all the way to the depths.
The Atlantic spadefish is a schooling fish in marine and brackish waters. It can often be found in mangroves, harbors and shipwrecks.
