Space Coast Reef Wallpapers

Most people picture sand bottoms when they think of Florida's prime surf breaks. But in one area, things are a little different…

The Space Coast Reef runs along 8-10 miles of beach in the middle portion of Brevard County. This area is home to some of the best surf breaks on the east coast; places like RC's, Lum's, and Pet Den. The reef is also a critical marine habitat, judged by the US EPA to be "the premier marine community in the area". On extreme low tides much of it can be exposed, presenting opportunities to explore and take photos.

The limestone basis of the reef is part of the Anastasia formation, which is the backbone structure of east Florida's barrier islands from just south of Jacksonville down to just north of Miami. The Space Coast Reef is a prominent area of this structure which proves beneficial to both the surf breaks and marine life. This geologic feature is just the start though, the ecosystem features hundreds of species of organisms which attach to the limestone, in turn providing shelter and food for creatures we know and love such as stone crabs, snook, and sea turtles. The p. lapidosa worm is a "habitat engineer" who builds living reef much like corals; the worms build tubes by selectively gathering fragments of colorful shells suspended by wave action in the surf, and then making their own glue to cement these fragments into aggregations of individual tubes that are often mistaken for brain coral heads. The National Marine Fisheries Service has designated the Space Coast Reef as an Essential Fish Habitat, and Habitat Area of Particular Concern, because of this unique concentration of near-shore marine life. Density of biomass is in the range of 30-40X that of surrounding sand-only beaches. For instance, there are 377 species of macroalgae (seaweeds), over 400 species of invertebrates (worms, crabs, shrimps, etc.), and 300+ species of fish associated with these reefs.

Unfortunately, dredge-and-fill "beach nourishment" projects threaten to bury our reef. It's a sad day when the government would spend taxpayer dollars to damage our surf breaks and marine habitat.

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Original photos by Mike Daniel, Chair, Surfrider Sebastian Inlet.
Special thanks to Surfrider Foundation for their support with this project.

Join Surfrider: http://www.surfrider.org/membership?source=CH61
Surfrider Sebastian Inlet: http://sebastianinlet.surfrider.org
Ocean Reef Beach Festival: https://www.facebook.com/ORBFest
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