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Molasses Reef
Florida Keysreef coral reef located within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
Coordinates 25.01389, -80.37083 (from Wikidata Q15254742, 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. 28,549 qualifying records in total. See the records on GBIF.
- Pterois volitans (3)
- ringed anemone (Bartholomea annulata) (1)
- Slender Filefish (Monacanthus tuckeri) (1)
- Atlantic Yellow Cowrie (Naria acicularis) (1)
- great star coral (Montastraea cavernosa) (8)
- sinuous cactus coral (Isophyllia sinuosa) (6)
- Pterois volitans (6)
- spiny flower coral (Mussa angulosa) (4)
- mustard hill coral (Porites astreoides) (3)
- boulder star coral (Orbicella annularis) (3)
- Pterois volitans (8)
- Bemlos minimus (2)
- common sea fan (Gorgonia ventalina) (2)
- Queen conch (Aliger gigas) (1)
- West Indian simnia (Cymbovula acicularis) (1)
- chestnut latirus (Leucozonia nassa) (1)
- Pterois volitans (4)
- crown cone (Conus regius) (1)
- decussate wormsnail (Thylacodes decussatus) (1)
- Colomastix janiceae (2)
- fairy basslet (Gramma loreto) (1)
- common sea fan (Gorgonia ventalina) (1)
- lettuce slug (Elysia crispata) (1)
- Bipinnate Sea Feather (Antillogorgia bipinnata) (1)
- Antillogorgia elisabethae (1)
Most-recorded species here (all months)
- bluehead (Thalassoma bifasciatum) (1,672)
- bicolor damselfish (Stegastes partitus) (1,522)
- redband parrotfish (Sparisoma aurofrenatum) (1,341)
- yellowhead wrasse (Halichoeres garnoti) (1,097)
- clown wrasse (Halichoeres maculipinna) (1,020)
- Barber (Acanthurus bahianus) (1,017)
- striped parrotfish (Scarus iseri) (961)
- Blue Tang (Acanthurus coeruleus) (835)
- stoplight parrotfish (Sparisoma viride) (797)
- Ocyurus chrysurus (780)
- slippery dick (Halichoeres bivittatus) (719)
- Sergeant Major (Abudefduf saxatilis) (640)
- Haemulon sciurus (634)
- blue chromis (Chromis cyanea) (612)
- French grunt (Haemulon flavolineatum) (574)
- Haemulon plumierii (533)
- Gray Snapper (Lutjanus griseus) (517)
- brown chromis (Chromis multilineata) (424)
- yellowtail damselfish (Microspathodon chrysurus) (386)
- Doctorfish (Acanthurus chirurgus) (377)
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 58 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=25.00389,25.02389&decimalLongitude=-80.38083,-80.36082999999999&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: 28,295, CC_BY_4_0: 254. Contributing datasets (top 15):
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2011 — doi:10.15468/06aqle (2,121 records) — GBIF dataset page
- National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Assessment of fish communities in the Florida Keys during 2014 — doi:10.15468/jbl2rv (2,088 records) — GBIF dataset page
- National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Assessment of fish communities in the Florida Keys during 2016 — doi:10.15468/nzvpq2 (1,975 records) — GBIF dataset page
- National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Assessment of fish communities in the Florida Keys during 2018 — doi:10.15468/ejufy4 (1,904 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2001 — doi:10.15468/t0r3vt (1,703 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 1994 — doi:10.15468/rdkfyf (1,684 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2009 — doi:10.15468/tnn5ra (1,607 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2010 — doi:10.15468/6chrsz (1,384 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2003 — doi:10.15468/es1iso (1,366 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2006 — doi:10.15468/dple14 (1,255 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2007 — doi:10.15468/dfyb57 (1,209 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2008 — doi:10.15468/7zofww (1,142 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2005 — doi:10.15468/zq1ep2 (1,117 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2012 — doi:10.15468/vnvtmr (1,100 records) — GBIF dataset page
- Florida Keys Reef Visual Census 2002 — doi:10.15468/pcikkj (891 records) — GBIF dataset page