Jockeying for space on the reef — 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 won’t lie, it has been a wipe-out in the bays this week. I sound repetitive, I know, but this year it has been like that! We’ve had massive swells once more, so even though I always carry my camera there was nothing to see let alone photograph!

Green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas, snoozing — Green sea turtle, *Chelonia mydas,* snoozing

Bluespotted cornetfish, Fistularia commersonii, with a school of yellowstripe goatfish — Bluespotted cornetfish, *Fistularia commersonii*, with a school of yellowstripe goatfish

Having said that, early this morning we had a reprieve with the most fabulous sparkling calm seas, a low tide and sunshine. The trifecta as far as I am concerned! It is possibly only short-lived, though, because storms are forecast for tomorrow.

Anyway, I more than made up for it this morning, with everyone out and about enjoying the spring sunshine. Apart from the turtle. She was asleep! I particularly enjoyed the bluespotted cornetfish, Fistularia commersonii, nonchalantly hanging with a school of yellowstripe goatfish, Mulloidichthys flavolineatus, like I couldn’t see it! Move on! Nothing to see here!

Normally skittish and shy, the three-striped butterflyfish, Chaetodon tricinctus, were having fun, too, with one getting a spring clean from a juvenile moon wrasse, Thalassoma lunare. I’ve seen this behaviour – when these juvenile moon wrasses perform the function of a cleaner wrasse – quite often. I have no idea if this is ‘normal’, but I do know a researcher who came here said he’d never seen this happening anywhere else before that he’d seen. I couldn’t get a decent photograph, so you’ll have to take my word for it (right-hand image below).

Three-striped butterflyfish - Chaetodon tricinctus

With a juv. moon wrasse (behind)

This blusepine unicornfish, Naso unicornis, was showing me his best side today as well!

Bluespine unicornfish - Naso unicornis

Finally, this week I wanted to show you some images of corals jockeying for space on the reef. The main reason they compete is for the rights to light. It is a war out there! I just love the juxtaposition of the different colours, even in the same species of coral.

Astrea curta

Paragoniastrea australensis

Lord Coral - Micromussa lordhowensis

Paragoniastrea australensis

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.

Jan 4, 2025

From little things – watching them grow

Small numbers of different fish species is not an unusual phenomenon on Norfolk Island’s reef, but it does demonstrate what a tiny, precious, coral reef ecosystem we have, when we can count individuals on one hand and watch each of them grow, like these little blackeye thicklips, a member of the wrasse family.