Our current collection is a series of underwater photos by Keys resident W.L. Meyer. Each photo is a signed and numbered limited edition print done on top quality photographic paper and matted with acid-free white matboard. Photo sizes are 8" x 10" and each peice includes a narrative on the type of sea life photographed.

Angelfish make wonderful photographic subjects because of their curiosity. I have thrown out several photos of French Angels because they like to get right up to the lens of the camera to see what’s it’s all about.

Anemones could be considered flowers of the sea if they weren’t so deadly!

Half plant and half animal, anemones are meat eaters. Small fish that wander to close to the anemones tentacles find themselves paralyzed and drawn to the mouth of this curious but beautiful carnivore.

This fish is named after it’s eyes which are said to resemble those of a squirrel. In fact the squirrelfishes eyes are large because it is a nocturnal fish which hides in shadows during daylight and hunts for invertebrates after dark.
Squirrelfish are common but shy and are hard to photograph because the prefer darkness and like reefs deeper than 100 feet. Their rich colors and fan like dorsal fin make them worth the effort.

Look at all of these fish peeking out to see what I’m doing. If you swim through a school of grunts they stay just out of reach and congregate again after you have passed through. When they are removed from the water they produce a grunting sound by grinding their teeth and using their air bladder. This behavior is meant to alarm the predator enough to cause it to drop the fish back into it’s watery home.

The Trumpetfish is one of natures oddities. This individual fearlessly hovered in several different poses while I clicked away. Occasionally I’ll see Trumpetfish drifting along vertically trying to blend in with stalks of sea rods, but with a face like that, it’s hard to be inconspicuous!

This little grunt saw me and my camera and couldn’t help posing in front of the brilliantly colored corals.

Although grunts are considered a common fish, they’re one of my favorites because of their neon colored candy cane striping.

It’s amazing the colors that nature conjures up, like this vase sponge that’s a lovely cotton candy pink.

Sponges are the most simple of the muticellular animals. They filter sea water through tiny pores and take from the water oxygen and nutrients. The depleted water is then funneled out through the top of the sponge.

Nature has a way of reclaiming what man leaves behind.

The inside of this airplane hull has become the beginning of an entire ecosystem. Brilliant red encrusting sponges and soft pastel colored sponges have made their homes here. The specks you see are not backscatter but hundreds of tiny fish.

Snappers are nocturnal feeders who eat nearly everything, including (unfortunately for them), the hooks of people fishing. In fact, snappers earned their name by snapping their jaws when hooked.

These are sometimes called barrel sponges and it’s easy to see why. This is a perfectly shaped sponge which grows only in nutrient rich currents. Winding their way from underneath are lavender colored rope sponges which also benefit from the excellent conditions. These sponges provide shelter for the tiny juvenile fish which swim near it.