Western Washington University’s Shannon Point Marine Center hosts three free classes on identifying local fish and invertebrates through the Reef Environmental Education Foundation on Sept. 26 and 27.

The first class, fish identification, is 5 to 9 p.m. Friday. The other two classes, invertebrate identification and advanced fish identification are 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. respectively on Saturday.

Tuition is free because of REEF and funding from the Seattle Biotech Legacy Foundation. Pre-registration for each course is required at http://www.pnwscuba.com/critterwatchers/classes.htm. Seating is limited to the first 40 participants registered.

“This is a great opportunity for divers to learn about and identify over 120 of our local fish and invertebrate species,” said Nathan Schwarck, Shannon Point scientific diving safety officer. “The classes utilize great underwater photos, excellent instructional insights and fun games to help the learning process.”

Divers also learn how to conduct REEF marine life surveys on their regular recreational dives. The data gathered from REEF surveys goes into a publicly accessible online database to help students, researchers and scientists.

REEF encourages divers to work their way through five increasingly difficult experience levels to become expert-level surveyors. Each level has a required number of surveys needed plus an accompanying test. The new advanced class helps divers work toward levels 3, 4 and 5.

Visit http://www.reef.org.