Pickles Reef is a small

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. C ...

located within the

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is a U.S. National Marine Sanctuary in the Florida Keys. It includes the Florida Reef, the only barrier coral reef in North America and the third-largest coral barrier reef in the world. It also has ...

. It lies to the southeast of

Key Largo Key Largo ( es, Cayo Largo) is an island in the upper Florida Keys archipelago and is the largest section of the keys, at long. It is one of the northernmost of the Florida Keys in Monroe County, and the northernmost of the keys connected by ...

, to the south the Key Largo Existing Management Area and

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park is a Florida State Park located on Key Largo in Florida. It includes approximately 70 nautical square miles (240 km²) of adjacent Atlantic Ocean waters. The park is approximately 25 miles in length ...

. Unlike many reefs within the Sanctuary, this reef is not within a Sanctuary Preservation Area (SPA). The reef gets its name from the Pickle Barrel wreck. Another small reef called

Snapper Ledge Snapper Ledge is a small coral reef located within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. It lies to the southeast of Key Largo, to the south the Key Largo Existing Management Area and John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Unlike many reefs ...

is nearby.

Shipwreck

Various types of debris are scattered across the reef, including a number of barrel-shaped concrete objects. Local legend was that the concrete objects had been barrels of concrete on a ship or barge that had wrecked on the reef during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, but an analysis performed in 2008 showed that the concrete was a type of

Portland cement Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in the early 19th ...

produced between 1890 and 1923. Archaeologists have found evidence of an iron- or steel-hulled vessel with two masts that wrecked on the reef, but have not identified the ship. It is not clear how much of the debris on the reef is from that wreck.

Gallery

Image:Lactophrys_Pickles_Reef.jpg,

Spotted trunkfish The spotted trunkfish (''Lactophrys bicaudalis'') is a member of the family Ostraciidae. It can be found in reefs throughout the Caribbean, as well as the south western Atlantic Ocean. The species gets its name from the black spots it has covere ...

(''Lactophrys sp.'') at Pickles Reef, March 2008 Image:Stoplight_parrotfish_Pickles_Reef.jpg, A

stoplight parrotfish The stoplight parrotfish (''Sparisoma viride'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a parrotfish from the family Scaridae, inhabiting coral reefs in Florida, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Bermuda and as far south as Brazil. It mainly feeds ...

(''Sparisoma viride'') at Pickles Reef, March 2008 File:Large Bleached Brain Coral on Pickles Reef, Key Largo (15459237241).jpg, Large bleached

brain coral Brain coral is a common name given to various corals in the families Mussidae and Merulinidae, so called due to their generally spheroid shape and grooved surface which resembles a brain. Each head of coral is formed by a colony of genetically ...

File:Spotted Moray Eel on Pickles Reef, Key Largo (15459247661).jpg, Spotted moray eel

References

External links

*
NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Maps, Florida Keys East

at Snapper Ledge and Pickles Reef
NOAA Navigational Chart 11464
{{Corals Coral reefs of the Florida Keys Underwater diving sites in the United States