Aquatic Belize

First and foremost, marine life around Belize would not be what it is without the principle defining feature of the marine world: the Barrier Reef ecosystem. There are diverse marine habitats such as mangroves, lagoons and deltas, but the barrier reef is what draws the visitor to the waters of Belize. Reaching 155 miles from tip to tip, the reef off the coast of Belize supports an entire underwater ecosystem as well as the closer to land mangrove systems, as they are all interlocked in nature. Parallel to the coast, the reef gradually moves offshore from a few hundred yards offshore to 25 miles out by the time you get southward near the southernmost cayes. Between the reef and the coast of Belize the water is flat and shallow and the bottom is sandy with grassy beds. Everything that lives on the coral reef structure requires solid housing that can resist water movement that occurs naturally with current and waves. The exceptions are the roving, larger ocean fish, or pelagic predators who spend lots of time on the reef as well. The reef-building corals provide housing for everyone else. The most common coral on Belize's reef is lettuce coral Agaricia tenuifolia. Just ten years ago, staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis was the dominant coral on the reef. Lots of these died after 1986 of White Band Disease, which is a bacterial infection. After the massive deaths of staghorn coral, lettuce coral moved in and took over.

Marine Life on the Barrier Reef

The largest creatures you'll see on the coral reef are barracuda and spotted eagle rays. Belize, like so many other tropical vacation destinations, suffers from overfishing its waters, so many of the largest reef fish just aren't there any more. However, the spotted eagle rays and hearty barracudas won't disappoint you. Also, look for Nurse Sharks and Hammerhead sharks. If you see a nurse shark there's no reason to fear but hammerheads are a little more unpredictable so keep your senses about you. Occassionally visitors are lucky enough to spot a manatee travelling through from the river deltas of the mainland.

If you go snorkeling or diving, you'll see mostly smaller fish such as Angelfish and Parrotfish, who eat coral. Much of the sand around a reef is created when fish eat the coral, breaking it up into small bits. There are lots of different types of coral on the reef here, including two species of star coral, Montastrea annularis and Montastrea cavernosa. They have polyps that can be retracted into their corallites during daytime but at night extended to catch food. They can be large and agressive towards other coral.

Also out on the reef off of Belize are colonies of elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, which have a much better time at surviving than their fragile cousins, the staghorn coral. Staghorn coral support fire worms Hermodice, which grow on the coral. All the coral mentioned so far are hard coral, but there is a different type of coral, soft coral. Soft coral are called gorgonians and hard coral are called stony coral. The ever-present purple sea fans are a type of gorgonian, or soft coral. In fact, the purple sea fan latin name is Gorgonia. There are also sponges out there on the reef, mostly in barrel shapes and on deeper parts of the reef. Other types of coral life you'll find are:

• sclerites
• Plexaura
• Plexaurella
• Erythropodium
• Briareum
• Cyphoma
• Xestospongia
• Spheciospongia