Hopper Barge

The Hopper Barge sits off the coast of Florida in the Biscayne Bay/Miami area, based on its coordinates, and consists of a sunken hopper barge placed as an artificial reef on otherwise flat sandy bottom. Artificial reef barges like this are common along southeast Florida, deployed to create habitat and diving opportunities where the seabed would otherwise be featureless. The site reaches a maximum depth of around 50 metres, putting the deeper sections of the wreck well beyond recreational limits. Divers have reported a range of reef fish around the structure, including Atlantic blue tang, bicolor damselfish, Brazilian ocean surgeonfish, Caribbean bluehead wrasse, clown wrasse, doctorfish, redband parrotfish, slippery dick, striped parrotfish, and yellowhead wrasse.

Confirmed by our research team, reported by independent divers, or observed nearby via iNaturalist — each entry is labelled with its source.

• Caribbean Bluehead WrasseThalassoma bifasciatumReported here · unconfirmed
• Redband ParrotfishSparisoma aurofrenatumReported here · unconfirmed
• Bicolor DamselfishStegastes partitusReported here · unconfirmed
• Yellowhead WrasseHalichoeres garnotiReported here · unconfirmed
• Brazilian Ocean SurgeonfishAcanthurus bahianusReported here · unconfirmed
• Striped ParrotfishScarus iseriReported here · unconfirmed
• Atlantic Blue TangAcanthurus coeruleusReported here · unconfirmed
• Slippery DickHalichoeres bivittatusReported here · unconfirmed
• Clown WrasseHalichoeres maculipinnaReported here · unconfirmed
• DoctorfishAcanthurus chirurgusReported here · unconfirmed