Photo courtesy of Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary >http://graysreef.noaa.gov
Today, Gray's Reef
has become one of the most popular sport diving and recreational
fishing areas off the coast of Georgia.
The reef's topography, made up
of a submerged hard limestone bottom area with a series of rock ledges
and sand expanses, has produced a complex habitat of caves, burrows,
troughs and overhangs which support a diversity of both temperate and
tropical marine life. Some of the invertebrates that inhabit the
reef include sponges, barnacles, sea fans, hard coral, sea stars, a
variety of crabs, lobsters, snails and shrimp. Black sea bass, snapper,
grouper, and mackerel are among the vast array of fish, which also
inhabit the reef. The close proximity of Gray's Reef to Georgia's
barrier islands makes it an ideal refuge for the threatened loggerhead
sea turtles who can find safe resting spots and forage for food at the
reef while still maintaining a close distance to their nesting sites on
the barrier islands.
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