Utila Reef, Sandy Channel Live Cam

This underwater camera watches a sandy channel beside a low coral ridge on the reef along the south shore of Utila, Honduras. A large brown sea fan fills the right foreground, while sea rods and soft corals cover the ridge to the left.

The reef belongs to the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, which stretches more than 1,100 km from the tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to the Bay Islands. Off Utila's south side the shallow reef is cut by sand channels that lead out to a wall dropping about 120 feet (37 m). This camera stands about 320 feet (roughly 100 m) from shore in 20 feet (6 m) of water.

Open blue water takes up more than half of the picture, so fish passing through the channel are seen against a plain background rather than coral. Snappers and groupers are among the fish reported here, along with eagle rays, moray eels and turtles.