Resources

Templates

• Field sheet template

Activities

• Sea cucumber identification challenge

Contact information

• Florida Museum of Natural History – Division of Invertebrate Zoology

  • Mailing address

    Florida Museum of Natural History
    Dickinson Hall
    1659 Museum Road
    Gainesville, FL 32611-7800

  • Dr. Gustav Paulay: Curator
    • paulay@flmnh.ufl.edu
  • John Slapcinsky: Collections Manager
    • slapcin@flmnh.ufl.edu
  • Dr. François Michonneau: Postdoctoral researcher
    • fmichon@flmnh.ufl.edu
  • Patrick Norby: Graduate Student
    • pnorby@ufl.edu
  • Mandy Bemis: Collections Assistant
    • abemis@flmnh.ufl.edu

• Whitney Laboratory for Marine Biosciences

  • Brenda Cannaliato: Education Coordinator; brenda@whitney.ufl.edu

• Seahorse Key Marine Laboratory

  • Dr. Maria Sgambati: Education and Outreach Coordinator; msgambati@ufl.edu

• Florida Marine Science Educators Association

  • Jennifer Fagan: Regional Director; Jennifer.Fagan@stjohns.k12.fl.us

• Marine Science Station

  • Mark Cassidy: Marine Science Station Teacher; cassidym@citrus.k12.fl.us

• Northwest Florida NaGISA Program

  • Rick Hernandez: Teacher of the Gifted; HERNANDEZR@mail.okaloosa.k12.fl.us

Useful identification guides for Florida Marine Life

• Abbott, R. T. 1974. American Seashells; The Marine Molluska of the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts of North America. Van Nostrand Reinhold.

• Abele, L. G., and W. Kim. 1986. An illustrated guide to the marine decapod crustaceans of Florida. State of Florida, Dept. of Environmental Regulation, Tallahassee, Florida. – available as pdf

• Hendler, G., J. E. Miller, D. L. Pawson, and P. M. Kier. 1995. Sea stars, sea urchins, and allies. Echinoderms of Florida and the Caribbean. Smithsonian Press, Washington DC.

• Humann, P., and N. DeLoach. Reef coral identification: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas. Enlarged 2nd edition.

• Humann, P., and N. DeLoach. Reef creature identification: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas. Enlarged 2nd edition.

• Humann, P., and N. DeLoach. Reef fish identification: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas. Enlarged 3rd edition.

• Johnson, W. S., and D. M. Allen. 2012. Zooplankton of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts: a guide to their identification and ecology. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

• Kruczynski, W. L., and P. J. Fletcher. 2012. Tropical Connections: South Florida’s marine environment. IAN Press, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Cambridge, Maryland. Available online

• Lee, H. G. 2009. Marine shells of northeast Florida. Jacksonville Shell Club Jacksonville, FL.

• Littler, D., and M. Littler. 2000. Caribbean reef plants. p 542 pp. OffShore Graphics, Washington DC.

• Redfern, C. 2001. Bahamian seashells: a thousand species from Abaco, Bahamas. BahamianSeashells.com, Inc., Boca Raton, Florida.

• Robins, C. R., and G. C. Ray. 1999. A field guide to Atlantic Coast fishes: North America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

• Rupperts, E. E., and R. S. Fox. 1988. Seashore animals of the southeast. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia SC.

• Valdés, A., J. Hamann, D. Behrens, and A. DuPont. 2006. Caribbean sea slugs. A field guide to the opisthobranchs mollusks from the tropical northwestern Atlantic. Sea Challengers Natural History, Gig Harbour, Washington

Online Resources for Species Occurrence, Distribution and Identification

• Discover Life
• GBIF: Global Biodiversity Information Facility:
• iDigBio
• iNaturalist
• Map of Life
• MatBio: an iNat project on the Matanzas coastal ecosystem in NE Florida: Also check out various species guides for this area on iNaturalist, by searching for Matanzas. These guides are presently divided into several smaller taxonomic units because iNat cannot handle too many species in one guide:
• OBIS: Ocean Biogeographic Information System
• WoRMS: World Register of Marine Species: