Zoe
Carretera Costera Sur Km. 3.2, Cozumel 77622, Mexico San Miguel de Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico

As many of us humans start traveling more and getting closer than 6' apart on a daily basis, let's look at Social Cluster Dusters - feather duster worms that grow as a mass of individual small tubeworms, sometimes more than 100 in a single clump! They thrive in areas with moving currents that bring in new living food particles, plankton. They aren't passive and will wave their plumes to help generate current to bring food to their mouths. These waving worms at Villablanca R...eef in Cozumel reflect the plants "colonizing" the concrete building in the 2nd photo (Brooklyn, NY). The sea tubeworms anchor themselves to bits of rock, usually in a shaded area of the reef. They aren't plants, but they have a frond-like flowery repetition that seems like a plant (and a bird!) And for a BIGGER stretch of imagination, can you tie together tendrils of how living in a tiny tube relates to riding on the subway "tube" train? Whooshing through a tunnel, riding through the airstream current so thousands of individual humans closely packed together can get to and from their sustenance ~ food, water, connection, livelihoods. The subway is a tubular social hub dependent on movement and cooperative community in close quarters to thrive and grow. The graceful worms quickly retract into their tubes when threatened, and the doors on the subway close when...Ok enough! You can continue with the comparisons Some Monday metaphorical musings about macro and micro cities above and below the sea! @colleenflanigan #featherworms #coralreef #tubeworm #subway #metaphor #noal4tomuellecozumel #plumes #verticalgarden #notothe4thpier #mondaymusings #seaworm

ADOPT A ZOE CORAL! We currently have 11 species on Zoe that are up for adoption! Go take a look and see which coral is your match! Adopting a Zoe coral helps to support the research project by paying for tanks, materials, equipment, coral planting, and monitoring! Link in bio ... https://innovations.livingseasculpture.com/coral-adoption/ Agaricia agaricites shown here is one of the 11 unique coral species our biologist, @solenejriv is following on Zoe! Agaricia agaricites, commonly known as lettuce coral or tan lettuce-leaf coral, is a species of colonial stony corals in the family Agariciidae. This coral is found in shallow waters in the tropical western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Agaricia agaricites is one of the three species of lettuce corals growing on Zoe, yet we only have a few colonies for now. It can take several forms, as a mixture of encrusting sheets, thick leaves, other irregular projections, and flat plates. Lettuce corals are among the dominant species in the Caribbean now. #lettucecoral #adoptacoral #coralrestoration #plantingcorals #coral #electrifiedreef #biorock #biodiversity #climatechange #scientific diving #biology #underwaterphotography and biologist: @solenejriv Website design: @showupstrong Director: @colleenflanigan

Science update : t_0 of measurement for coral growth rate on Zoe with ImageJ! We are currently measuring colony area and height of all Agaricia tenuifolia on Zoe, to compare their growth and mortality between Zoe (electric treatment of 6V) and selected platforms of @coz_coral_reef_restoration (no electrical treatment). This software allows to set our scale and measure the contour of each colony to calculate its area, a manipulation that we will be repeating for our second ...measurement period to calculate mortality and growth rate! We are also mapping all the colonies on Zoe per Zone (A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H), substrate (Mesh, Bar, Foot), orientation and depth to test the influence of these factors on the variables that are growth and mortality! Having a full map of all the colonies on the whole structure will also allow longterm monitoring of all colonies! And we are working towards a VR (3D immersive) coralized Zoe as an #artsci collaboration with @theimclab. Zoning, mapping, measuring and @solenejriv Stitched image of Zoe w all zones (photogrammetry) by Lefke Kerr #coral #growthrate #measurements #measuring #imageJ #coralrestoration #sculpture #underwaterphotography #scientificdiving #science #marinebiology #cozumel #mexico

A Peacock flounder (Bothus mancus) hiding under Zoe! #camouflage #coralrestoration #coral #fish #flounder #CozumelEsCorales #CozumelsCorals #cozumel #mexico #villablancareef #NOal4ToMuelleCozumel #NOto4thPierInCozumel @solenejriv

Carribean two-spot octopus (octopus hummelincki) spotted in front of Sand Dollars, at Villablanca reef during the day! It changed colour three times during the pictures while moving from the sand to darker corals ! The Villablanca reef is also where Zoe and @coz_coral_reef_restoration projects take place and yet has been chosen as the location for the 4th cruiseship pier with the false claim of it being a low biodiversity area! Help us share and protect Villablanca ree...f biodiversity from this destructive construction by signing this petition against Cozumel 4th pier! http://chng.it/494B9LtW l #PorMásCoralesVivos #TowardsMoreLivingCorals #CozumelEsCorales #CozumelsCorals #CienciaCiudadana #CitizenScience #DiNOalPlástico #NOal4ToMuelleCozumel #NOto4thPierInCozume #SistemaArrecifalMesoamericano #MesoamericanReefSystem #MareEram #coralrestoration #cozumel #mexico #octopus #macro #underwaterphotography #scubadiving #camouflage @solenejriv

Adorable! Slender filefish are the smallest of the Caribbean filefish. Only 2 to 3.5 inches, they hide out camouflaged in gorgonians, like sea rods in the 2nd photo. The sponges on Zoe in the 1st pic offer some protection too. We've even seen juveniles of these fish and tiny baby sharpnose puffers swimming through, hanging out in the small mesh openings of Zoe, a surprisingly perfect nook where no predator can reach these tiny young. @maddensdormouse 2019... @colleenflanigan 2021 #slenderfilefish #smallfish #tinyfish #caribbeanfish #artsci #camouflage #underwaterphotography #closeup #diving #reefrestoration #filefish

It was another day cleaning algae and caring for corals on Zoe, when @solenejriv (documenting corals for growth measurements) clinked her tank, waving at me to come closer to see something. There was a male bicolor damselfish being even more territorial than usual. That could only mean one thing, he was protecting his young! That's when I saw all the s! Something incredible that I saw for the 1st time on Zoe! A nest of this species can have more than 9,000 eggs ! - @miri..._adventures Note: damselfish usually are territorial protecting their algal turfs, but they amp up during mating season. They are little farmers of specific algae and important to maintaining a biodiverse ecosystem. #coralrestoration #damselfish #crias #artificialreef #scientificdiver #scuba #diving #sdg14 #lifeunderwater #territorialfish #sciart #biodiversity #protecttheocean