Today’s focus on Norfolk Island’s reef is a photo essay. This series of photographs taken over the course of a year demonstrates how disease affects a montipora coral bommie by gradually killing the coral and creating an environment that allows algae to gain a foothold and to eventually take over.
Read MorePhase shifts and biodiversity
One species that is doing remarkably well on Norfolk Island’s reef as it inexorably transitions from coral-dominated to algal-dominated is the banded scalyfin, Parma polylepis, which is unsurprising as their main food source is algae. The downside is they harass and bully all the other species that come anywhere near their territory, to the detriment of our biodiversity. Find out more here.
Read MoreYou don’t always know what you’ve got – ’til it’s gone
On Norfolk Island, Australian Marine Parks recently issued a no-take area in our coral reef lagoon habitats. My hope is that with these bans in place, in addition to curbing runaway algal growth, there will be an improvement across the reef ecosystem in a number of different species, with subsequent knock effects for others, including for our molluscs, wrasse and octopus species.
Read MoreThe curious case of the peacock damselfish
Today I am featuring a fish called the peacock damselfish – Pomacentrus pavo. On our tiny reef, you can often count the fish of a particular species on one hand, and the peacock damselfish is a perfect example of this. Our last baby peacock damselfishes appeared in mid-February (2021), but this year juvenile fish for any of the species in our bays have been hard to find. Maybe they are later this year?
Read MoreDraining the swamp
When Lt Philip Gidley King first arrived on Norfolk Island on 6 March 1788, the Kingston area was a swamp entangled in almost impenetrable vegetation. Chimney Hill created a natural stone barrier preventing water from draining into Emily Bay. In 1789, a channel was cut through the swamp, to the north of Chimney Hill and out into the bay. From this moment on the coral reef was compromised.
Read MoreOut on a swim – reflections on wild swimming
Swimming has been with me all my life. It provides me with three wondrous things: time, space and connection. Time to myself. Time to contemplate, reflect, explore, see and watch. An endless, fathomless space where there is no one else but my own thoughts. And a connection with our natural world – something that is so important but so often not understood as being essential to our health and wellbeing. Read more here …
Read MoreNo coral? No butterflyfish!
Butterflyfish are ‘corallivores’, that is, they feed mainly on coral polyps and the energy-rich mucous that these produce. Corals also make a great place for butterflyfish to shelter in and under. Without healthy corals, then fish like these will become more and more scarce.
Read MoreThe awesome, giant, black-mouthed tun snail
When I took my first photographs of the live black-mouthed tun snail (Tonna melanostoma) and posted them on iNaturalist, I had no idea that there were no other – as in none, zip, nada – images of it in the public domain; just one of a broken shell that is housed in the Auckland Museum. This is my featured image for 3 March.
Read MoreWhere have all the bait fish gone?
For 2 March I've chosen to feature a ball of bait fish photographed in September 2020. There is something awe-insipring about being encircled by a huge seething mass of tiny fish all moving in unison. It takes your breath away. The question is, where have these bait balls gone?
Read MoreThe camera doesn’t lie – looking back over three years of observations
After three years of observations, I have a unique library of some 80,000 images recording life in Norfolk Island’s lagoons. So I thought it would be worth spending the month of March looking back to see what has changed in that time and what hasn’t. Each day I will feature a different image. For 1 March I have picked a simple brown coral – a plate coral from the genus montipora. Read on to see what is happening to our montipora now.
Read MoreSea hares – our submarine shreks
Sea hares, little submarine shreks that lumber their way slowly around intertidal zone are fascinating, and quite common, although most people won’t have heard of them. Their appetite for algae makes these a really useful species to have in our bays, along with parrotfish, sea cucumbers and sea urchins. And it is the algae that dictates their colouring.
Read MoreDoris – it takes a village
This morning marked the end of a four-month journey for Doris the green sea turtle. From a sick, emaciated turtle with lesions across her shell, and covered with an unhealthy growth of algae, she has been transformed to glossy beautiful health. Hannah slid Doris over the side of the boat and back into the bosom of the ocean, her home. We’ll miss her, but as she swam away, our hearts sang, too. She’s back where she should be.
Read MoreCitizen science: your observations can be powerful
It only takes your observation of one little fish out of its previously understood ‘comfort zone’ to add to a body of evidence that may prove, or disprove, scientific theories, which may then in turn be used to inform government policy on climate change, preserving the environment, and much more. That is citizen science at work. And it can be powerful and fulfilling.
Read MoreA Year in Review – 2022 on Norfolk Island's Reef
It’s always a good time to take stock of the year that was, so I’ve been thinking about what 2022 held for Norfolk Island’s reef. La Niña superimposed on La Niña has meant copious rainfall and a lagoon under stress: more algae, more coral disease, fewer fish. Here’s a quick run down of what has been happening on our reef during 2022.
Read MoreSunbeams and sunscreens
Did you know that sunscreen is highly toxic?
From 1 January 2021, Hawaii banned all sunscreens containing the reef-harming chemicals oxybenzone and octinoxate, and with good reason. This radical action was taken because unsafe sunscreens can, and have, caused ecological ruination to coral reefs.
Read MoreThe black-mouthed tun snail – diary of an egg mass
The black-mouthed tun shell’s egg mass is photographed almost daily over a period of six weeks, from the morning they are laid until becoming dislodged from their rock after a period of big swells and storm surges.
Read MoreNorfolk Island's forgotten reef needs help
It’s been widely reported since the 1960s, at least, that nutrient-laden water flowing out the channel into Emily Bay is having a detrimental effect on Norfolk Island’s reef – a reef where it is thought that as much as 30 per cent of the corals are as yet undescribed. Are we going to do something about it before the reef has gone? Because, quite seriously, we have no time left to lose.
Read More#OperationDoris – update from Australian Marine Parks
The following update on Norfolk Island’s rescue turtle, Doris, was released by Australian Marine Parks on 7 November 2022. For more information on Doris follow the hashtag #operationdoris.
Read MoreNorfolk Island's Blenny Fest
At this time of year, as the mating season begins, the delightful little Lady Musgrave blennies, Cirripectes chelomatus, change colour from dark inky blue black with a few barely visible red spots to a showy and vibrant mustard yellow.
Read MoreSea squirts – friend or foe?
Emily Bay and Slaughter Bay have recently experienced a significant increase in the numbers of overgrowing tunicates. In this post I take a look at these critters – which, incredibly, are distant cousins to humans – and ask some questions about their presence and impact on our coral reef ecosystem.
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