Questions and research lead to more questions and research: Dispatch from Kimberly’s Reef

In the Gulf of Mexico, seven and a half miles due west of Bonita Beach and 30 feet below the surface grows an artificial reef complex created by The Water School at Florida Gulf Coast University. This is the latest dispatch from Kimberly’s Reef.

One of the main functions of an artificial reef is to attract fish for recreational purposes like fishing and diving. After six months, the artificial reef made of 18 cement culverts is proving popular with animals with fins, claws, and bivalves.

"There's been a couple of sharks that have been sighted at the reef. There's been a couple of live grouper. So we're bringing in some of these like ecologically and commercially important fish species, which is why the reef was kind of designed in the first place," Dr. Melissa May, marine biologist and assistant professor at FGCU, said.

She said it's still in the early stages for the wildlife that she enjoys as a bivalve expert.