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Photography by Sarah Webb, doctoral candidate,
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and Harbor Oceanographic Institute

This image depicts the unique eye of the smalltooth sawfish during a health assessment before the fish is outfitted with an acoustic tag to track movements and habitat use in the St. Lucie River and southern Indian River Lagoon. All research was conducted pursuant to National Marine Fisheries Service ESA Permit No. 25864 and in collaboration with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Smalltooth sawfish were once abundant in this area but had been extirpated by the early 1970s. Since 2020, eight juveniles and one neonate have been acoustically tagged to monitor distribution patterns and identifying if a sawfish nursery is re-emerging. This image was captured using a personal iPhone 13 Pro Max in the field near the St. Lucie Inlet and later adjusted in Adobe Photoshop to meet the 300 dpi requirements for entry.
Mentor: Matt Ajemian, Ph.D., associate research professor, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute