Shark's Teeth, Sand Dollars, Crabs and Lionfish!

The kids and I had the best time at the beach on Sunday. We went to Venice with a few friends to look for shark's teeth at Casperan Beach. There was not a building in site and the sand was spotted with teeth and littered with boulders. Our friends work for NOAA so they came equipped with an aquarium with an aerator and tools for the sand and sea (and all sorts of knowledge). The kids had caught tons of bait fish and a few needle fish in no time. They added crabs and sand fleas and basically had an entire ecosystem going. They set the animals free and collected again. When bored of the biotic they moved to the abiotic - sifting sand and collecting shark teeth and sand dollars. The boulders extended into the water which made a great place to snorkel. The place was teeming with fish. Schools of bait fish were everywhere. At one point Madeline was with me but kept getting water in her eyes so she hung out on the rocks and hopped from one to another checking out the fish from above. I found a cool hermit crab and Madeline took it back to the tank. I continued to peruse the algae and sponge cover rocks. At this time I saw a pretty big fish (almost a foot) laying on it's side on a rock with all sorts of flowery extensions - immediately I think - lionfish. That is bad because they are poisonous and not suppose to be there. So I look again - yep - gills are moving -its alive - blending in with the tan and orange rocks. At this time I am a bit freaked out so I check with our friend, the field biologist for NOAA. He gets gear and tries to find it but could not. Once home I look to Google - definitely a red lionfish - in our Gulf - on the rocks Madeline was climbing all over - YIKES. So we had a great day, both kids came back with many shark teeth, sting ray stingers and sand dollars and I came home feeling lucky no little toes came in contact with poisonous spines and a little sad that this invasive species has now made it to our waters.