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Alligator Reef
Florida Keysreef coral reef located within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
Coordinates 24.84722, -80.61972 (from Wikidata Q4732657, CC0). Wikidata coordinates may mark a reef, park or wreck in general, not a mooring buoy or entry point. · Wikipedia
What you might see, by month
Counts of species records within about 1 km of this point, from GBIF.org, filtered to CC0 and CC BY 4.0 licenses only (land animals and birds excluded). These come from survey effort, so more records do not mean more animals. They are not a sighting forecast. 18,698 qualifying records in total. See the records on GBIF.
- Meiosquilla randalli (1)
- dusky damselfish (Stegastes adustus) (1)
- shameface heart crab (Cryptosoma bairdii) (1)
- Sphyraena barracuda (4)
- Kyphosus vaigiensis (2)
- Schoolmaster (Lutjanus apodus) (2)
- Ocyurus chrysurus (2)
- midnight parrotfish (Scarus coelestinus) (2)
- Blue Tang (Acanthurus coeruleus) (2)
- Pterois volitans (2)
- high-hat (Pareques acuminatus) (2)
- Achelous spinicarpus (2)
- Pseudosquillisma oculata (1)
- Chace slipper lobster (Scyllarus chacei) (1)
- northern pink shrimp (Penaeus duorarum) (1)
Most-recorded species here (all months)
- bluehead (Thalassoma bifasciatum) (1,308)
- bicolor damselfish (Stegastes partitus) (1,067)
- slippery dick (Halichoeres bivittatus) (982)
- redband parrotfish (Sparisoma aurofrenatum) (911)
- yellowhead wrasse (Halichoeres garnoti) (880)
- Barber (Acanthurus bahianus) (822)
- clown wrasse (Halichoeres maculipinna) (813)
- Blue Tang (Acanthurus coeruleus) (627)
- Ocyurus chrysurus (571)
- striped parrotfish (Scarus iseri) (534)
- Doctorfish (Acanthurus chirurgus) (455)
- Haemulon plumierii (443)
- French grunt (Haemulon flavolineatum) (344)
- bridled goby (Coryphopterus glaucofraenum) (298)
- Sergeant Major (Abudefduf saxatilis) (273)
- greenblotch parrotfish (Sparisoma atomarium) (260)
- stoplight parrotfish (Sparisoma viride) (251)
- Haemulon sciurus (224)
- Bar Jack (Caranx ruber) (221)
- hogfish (Lachnolaimus maximus) (213)
Reef heat stress: Florida Keys region
NOAA Coral Reef Watch 5 km regional virtual station Florida Keys. This covers the whole region, not this exact site. Latest value at build time (2026-10-12):
| Bleaching alert level (7-day max) | Bleaching Watch |
|---|---|
| Degree Heating Weeks | 16.7671 °C-weeks |
| SST range | 29.73–30.58 °C |
Values refresh from NOAA when the page loads. Source: NOAA CRW virtual station: Florida Keys (data, method). Credit: NOAA Coral Reef Watch.
Conditions links
- NWS forecast for this point (National Weather Service; marine forecast for offshore points)
- Nearest NDBC station: LONF1, Long Key, FL, about 27 km away. Buoy readings are measured, not forecast.
- NWS Key West / NWS Miami marine forecasts
Depths, entry details and mooring info aren't listed yet because we haven't verified them from a citable source.
Data citation
GBIF.org (2026-10-14) GBIF Occurrence Data, queried via the GBIF API: https://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search?decimalLatitude=24.83722,24.85722&decimalLongitude=-80.62972,-80.60972&license=CC0_1_0&license=CC_BY_4_0&taxonKey=44&taxonKey=206&taxonKey=229&taxonKey=136&taxonKey=225&occurrenceStatus=PRESENT&limit=0. Records by license: CC0_1_0: 18,153, CC_BY_4_0: 545. Contributing datasets (top 15):
- National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Assessment of fish communities in the Florida Keys during 2018 — doi:10.15468/ejufy4 (2,035 records) — GBIF dataset page
- National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Assessment of fish communities in the Florida Keys during 2016 — doi:10.15468/nzvpq2 (1,850 records) — GBIF dataset page
- National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Assessment of fish communities in the Florida Keys during 2014 — doi:10.15468/jbl2rv (1,763 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2011 — doi:10.15468/06aqle (1,260 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2008 — doi:10.15468/7zofww (937 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 1999 — doi:10.15468/dwxlan (901 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2002 — doi:10.15468/pcikkj (875 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2006 — doi:10.15468/dple14 (860 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2007 — doi:10.15468/dfyb57 (823 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2010 — doi:10.15468/6chrsz (751 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2009 — doi:10.15468/tnn5ra (738 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2005 — doi:10.15468/zq1ep2 (732 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2001 — doi:10.15468/t0r3vt (732 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 1995 — doi:10.15468/uzpt9m (709 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 1998 — doi:10.15468/kfnaep (647 records) — GBIF dataset page