Under The Dock
Bottlenose Dolphin
Most common dolphin in the Florida Gulf is the bottle-nosed dolphin. Bottlenose dolphins have robust, powerful bodies that are blue-gray on top with lighter sides and bellies. As adults they are typically 6 to 12 feet long, and can eat more than 20 pounds of fish a day. Dolphins have been known to live into their 50’s and reach weights of up to 400–600 lbs.
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Stone Crab
Florida Stone Crabs are absolutely delicious! Stone Crabs are brownish red with a tan underside, legs can be large with black tips and can weigh between 10–100 lbs. They feed on oysters and other small mollusks and are usually found in 6-inch to 3-foot deep holes near dock pilings. Fishermen take only the claws of stone crabs and return the live crab back to regenerate their claws the next time they molt. Harvest season is typically October 15th – May 1st. Did we mention how delicious they are?!
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Florida has one of the largest concentration of sharks in the world. There are sharks present year-round which makes Florida one of the ideal places to dive with sharks in the world. Typical sharks are Tiger, Great Hammerhead, Bull, Sandbar, Black Tip, Mako and Bonnethead.
Uninvited Guest
The scourge of the Gulf of Mexico, the lionfish are such a menace, destroying the delicate balance of the underwater ecosystem.
What makes lionfish so dangerous is that they reproduce like crazy, and they have no predators. If the lion is the king of the jungle, the lionfish is the aquatic version.
When you see a lot of lionfish, you don’t see anything else. Lionfish are not poisonous but are venomous; they’re a flaky white fish that people enjoy eating – but beware of their spines. One sting and your hand will swell up to three times its size.
Lionfish can reproduce by age one. That’s a remarkably young age of sexual maturity. Other reef fish don’t reproduce until five to eight years. They spawn every four days, and an average female can spawn more than 3 million eggs a year.
Uninvited Guest
The scourge of the Gulf of Mexico, the lionfish are such a menace, destroying the delicate balance of the underwater ecosystem.
What makes lionfish so dangerous is that they reproduce like crazy, and they have no predators. If the lion is the king of the jungle, the lionfish is the aquatic version.
When you see a lot of lionfish, you don’t see anything else. Lionfish are not poisonous but are venomous; they’re a flaky white fish that people enjoy eating – but beware of their spines. One sting and your hand will swell up to three times its size.
Lionfish can reproduce by age one. That’s a remarkably young age of sexual maturity. Other reef fish don’t reproduce until five to eight years. They spawn every four days, and an average female can spawn more than 3 million eggs a year.
Check out this video about hunting & eating the lionfish