Florida Waypoints: The Resilience at Seahorse Key

Seahorse Key, a 165-acre island three miles south of Cedar Key, is home to an important marine research lab for the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Since the 1950s, the Nature Coast Biological Station Seahorse Key Marine Lab has been critical to research and educational programs, partnering with universities like Purdue, Tennessee and Santa Fe College. This unique facility was severely damaged by Hurricane Helene last September.

As the eye of the storm passed just offshore, Seahorse Key and Cedar Key were swamped with 12 feet of storm surge. At Cedar Key, rapidly rising water wiped century-old buildings off foundations, washed out bridges and roads, mowed down piers and docks and flooded businesses and homes.

UF/IFAS plans to replace the storm-torn Seahorse Key field lab with a robust pavilion powered by a solar electrical system, backed-up by a generator and including an updated drinking water system to accommodate overnight stays by researchers.

The institution is trying to raise $350,000 to create a resilient lab workspace. Storm surges will come again, and the university plans to be able to continue research with fewer setbacks from storms.

“The Seahorse Key Marine Lab provides students from kindergarten through college with real world experience collecting fish and wildlife samples from local mangrove, seagrass, and salt marsh habitats. There is simply not another place like it in Florida,” said UF professor Mike Allen, director of the NCBS on Seahorse Key. “Partnering with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, UF uses the facility for classes, public open house events, and research investigating these habitats in one of the least developed coastlines in the USA.”

Connecting to special marine environments is vital for people to one day protect habitats and organisms. Students learned from clams, oysters, fish, birds, mammals, seagrass, mangroves and yes, even seahorses. Less than a year after the 2024 storm season, some Cedar Key businesses were able to re-open after flood waters receded. Many rebuilt. Others closed or moved away.

To help small seaside towns like Cedar Key recover, consider infusing visitors’ dollars. Fish with a guide, dine at a restaurant or stay overnight. Or harvest bay scallops during the region’s upcoming recreational season, July 1 through Sept. 24. Learn more at myfwc.com and search “scallops.”

IF YOU GO

• DONATE: To aid in reconstructing the Nature Coast Biological Station Seahorse Key Marine Lab, contact Haley Muse with for the UF office of advancement: haleyfelton@ufl.edu, or call 352-575-5260 or visit ncbs.ifas.ufl.edu/donate.
• DINING: The best dinner on Cedar Key can be found at The Island Hotel & Restaurant, 373 2nd Street while a good spot for fresh seafood is Steamers, 434 2nd Street.
• ACCOMMODATIONS: The Island Hotel & Restaurant is on the National Historical Register of Buildings. Check for rooms at islandhotel-cedarkey.com or check with airbnb.com or vrbo.com for other local options.
• FISHING: This area is best known for producing catches of redfish, black drum, snook, spotted seatrout, jack crevalle and nearshore species such as gag grouper and red snapper (during season), kingfish, cobia and tarpon. Scallop season in this region is July 1 through Sept. 24; search “scallops” at myfwc.com.
• CHARTER FISHING: Reach out to Capt. Joe Richard, Big Bend Regional Editor for Florida Sportsman magazine, at Sea Favorites, or Capt. Dillan Allen at Southern Salt Charters with cedarkeyoutfitters.com.

---

This article was featured in the June 2025 issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Click to subscribe

---