Uploaded September 2018 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Snorkeling at Sombrero Reef, Marathon, Florida. Sombrero Reef lies beneath the Sombrero Key Lighthouse. The lighthouse was put in service in 1858 and automated in 1960. The foundation is iron pilings with disks, and the tower is a skeletal octagonal pyramid of cast iron. It is a 142-ft (43 m) tall brown painted tower, making it the tallest lighthouse in the Florida Keys. In 2105, Sombrero Key Lighthouse was deactivated, and a 30-ft tall tower, erected nearby and topped by an automated light, took over the function of warning mariners of the reef.

Wildlife seen at this reef:
- Bermuda chub
- Midnight parrotfish
- Four eyed butterfly
- Sergeant major
- Spotlight parrotfish
- Green moray eel
- Great barracuda
- Southern stingray
- Trumpetfish
- Rainbow parrotfish
- Nurse shark
- Gray angelfish
- Blue tang
- Yellowtail snapper
- Smooth trunkfish
- Green turtle