Here's looking at you! — Norfolk Island's Reef

Out on A Swim

‘Out on a swim’ is a coral reef blog that tells the stories of the characters who live under the waves and what has caught my eye when ‘out on a swim’ in the lagoons of Norfolk Island. It is also a record of the difficulties Norfolk Island’s reef faces, like many others around the world, as a result of the poor water quality that has been allowed to flow onto it.

This blog is rated in the Top 20 Coral Reef Blogs in the world.

I thought I’d have a bit of fun and post some of my favourite images of fish as they look at me head on. It’s such a beautiful perspective, and one that often makes you wonder what they are thinking. Enjoy!

Multispine damselfish - Neoglyphidodon polyacanthus

Bluespine unicornfish - Naso unicornis

Pacific rockcod - Trachypoma macracanthus

Blacktip morwong - Cheilodactylus francisi

Three-striped butterflyfish - Chaetodon tricinctus

Masked bannerfish - Heniochus monoceros

Multispine damselfish - Neoglyphidodon polyacanthus

Spotted porcupinefish - Diodon hystrix

Three-striped butterflyfish - Chaetodon tricinctus

Bluespine unicornfish - Naso unicornis

Halfmoon grouper - Epinephelus rivulatus

Banded scalyfin - Parma polylepis

Dick's damsel - Plectroglyphidodon dickii

Snubnose dart - Trachinotus blochii

Vagabond butterflyfish - Chaetodon vagabundus

Banded scalyfin - Parma polylepis

Sixbar wrasse - Thalassoma hardwicke

Multispine damselfish - Neoglyphidodon polyacanthus

Three-striped butterflyfish - Chaetodon tricinctus

Brassy drummer - Kyphosus vaigiensis

Banded scalyfin - Parma polylepis

Blue drummer - Girella cyanea

Pacific rockcod - Trachypoma macracanthus

Multispine damselfish - Neoglyphidodon polyacanthus

Three-striped butterflyfish - Chaetodon tricinctus

Black butterflyfish - Chaetodon flavirostris

Painted morwong - Cheilodactylus ephippium

Norfolk cardinalfish - Ostorhinchus norfolcensis

Redcap triplefin - Enneapterygius rufopileus

Pinstriped butterflyfish - Chaetodon lunulatus

Clouded saury - Saurida nebulosa

Notch-head marblefish - Aplodactylus etheridgii

Surge wrasse - Thalassoma purpureum

Multispine damselfish - Neoglyphidodon polyacanthus

Bluespot butterflyfish - Chaetodon plebeius

Bluebarred parrotfish - Scarus ghobban

Blackback butterflyfish - Chaetodon melannotus

Trevally - Pseudocaranx sp "dentex"

Convict surgeonfish - Acanthurus triostegus

Bluespot butterflyfish - Chaetodon plebeius

Bluebarred parrotfish - Scarus ghobban

Inscribed wrasse - Notolabrus inscriptus

Green moon wrasse - Thalassoma lutescens

Threadfin butterflyfish - Chaetodon auriga

Blackback butterflyfish - Chaetodon melannotus

Brassy drummer - Kyphosus vaigiensis

Snubnose dart - Trachinotus blochii

Bluespine unicornfish - Naso unicornis

Three-striped butterflyfish - Chaetodon tricinctus

Dick's damsel - Plectroglyphidodon dickii

Wartylip mullet - Crenimugil crenilabis

Spotted sawtail - Prionurus maculatus

Jun 17, 2025

Poop power

Not all poop on a reef is bad poop. In fact some kinds of poop can be a reef’s most important invisible engine. Fish poop, bird poop – even poop that gets eaten again by other fish – all of it keeps the ecosystem ticking over in a way that’s nothing short of extraordinary.

Jun 13, 2025

Glimpses of recovery: what the reef could be if we let it

Day 6 of this photo series from Norfolk Island coincides with the final day of the UN Ocean Conference in Nice. After a week of documenting decline, today’s post offers a different view – what reef recovery can look like when conditions improve. Drought in 2024 gave the reef a break, and the results were unmistakable: healthier corals, lower disease, and more fish. This is what’s possible if we act.

Jun 12, 2025

Warning signs: quiet and unnoticed collapse of two coral colonies

Day 5 of my blog series for the UN Ocean Conference: two long-lived coral colonies in Norfolk’s lagoon died quietly from disease. No drama – just slow collapse and overgrowth by algae. A reminder that not all reef losses are loud, but they are happening.

Jun 11, 2025

Warning signs: what Norfolk Island’s reef is telling us

Day 4 of a week-long photo series from Norfolk Island, shared during the UN Ocean Conference in Nice. Today’s post spotlights a Hydnophora pilosa colony where white syndrome appeared suddenly and spread quickly, taking out around a quarter of the coral. In the months that followed, algae quietly filled the gap – a subtle but telling shift from coral to algae that’s happening across the reef.

Jun 10, 2025

Warning signs: coral disease takes hold

In Day 3 of this blog post series, published while leaders gather at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, we see Norfolk Island’s coral reef lagoon quietly delivering a stark warning: recurrent land-based pollution, coral disease, and delayed decisions are dismantling this ecosystem in real time.

Jun 9, 2025

Warning signs: coral growth anomalies – the slow cancers of the reef

Day 2’s post coinciding with the UN Ocean Conference looks at coral growth anomalies – sometimes called coral ‘cancers’. These slow-moving diseases quietly weaken coral colonies, making them far more vulnerable to storm damage and algal takeover. On Norfolk Island’s reef, I’ve watched this exact process play out over several years. This is how chronic stress silently dismantles coral ecosystems.

Jun 8, 2025

Warning signs: shifting baselines on Norfolk Island’s reef

Today is World Ocean Day — a timely moment to launch my week-long blog series on Norfolk Island’s reef. Each day this week, I’ll be sharing photo essays that document the slow but steady pressures reshaping this fragile reef. Today: how shifting baselines make us blind to what we’ve already lost.

Apr 29, 2025

The Governance–Government Vacuum: Norfolk Island’s Forgotten Ecology

A personal reflection on Norfolk Island’s coral reef environment, political denial, and what John Wyndham’s The Kraken Wakes can still teach us about slow-moving disasters — and why this election matters more than ever.

Feb 20, 2025

Cute as buttons – Astrea curta

Astrea curta corals are ‘small, moderately plocoid [flattened], distinct, and almost circular’ . Normally grey-green in colour, you can see from the images here, ours are often beautiful rich gold, although they do vary. They have a neat growth habit and button-like corallites, which can grow in columns, spherically or flattened. Large colonies of these can form gorgeous undulating bumps.

Jan 26, 2025

From 'Watch' to 'Warning'

Last week, the chance of coral bleaching in Norfolk Island’s inshore lagoons was raised from ‘Watch’ to ‘Warning’ and will more than likely rise to Alert levels one and two in coming weeks. So why do I worry about water quality all the time when bleaching seems inevitable these days and so the reef is probably doomed anyway? Read on to find out.