St. Petersburg College faculty members Heyward Mathews and Monica Lara, and SPC alumna Brittany Barbara, were featured among local science experts and event participants during a Lionfish Safari in the Gulf of Mexico.

Students from St. Petersburg College and the University of South Florida volunteered with Reef Monitoring Inc., a group of deep-sea divers that work to track and count fish that inhabit the Gulf, to examine the caught fish once they were brought back to St. Pete Beach.

The Lionfish Safari aims to research and remove the invasive species. The fish were analyzed, studied and cooked by talented local chefs as part of the event. Read more about the event in a St. Petersburg Tribune article.