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Norfolk Island's Reef

Discover a fragile paradise – Norfolk Island's beaches, lagoons and coral reef
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    • Algae
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    • Eels
    • Everything Else
    • Kingston, Norfolk Island
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    • Sharks
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  • Out on a swim - blog
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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 page shows the most recent blog posts. For the complete catalogue, visit the ‘Out on a swim index’ page.

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

Just some of our beautiful corals on Norfolk Island

A boring, brown reef?

March 11, 2023

People say that Norfolk Island’s reef is rather boring and brown when compared to the Great Barrier Reef. While it may not be as colourful, I think you have to agree that it is anything but boring brown!

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In Corals Tags corals, coral reef, Coral, Great Barrier Reef, Norfolk Island, biodiversity
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Healthy montipora coral, Norfolk Island

Portrait of a slow death

March 10, 2023

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.

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In Environmental degradation Tags White syndrome, algae, coral reef, coral disease, Coral, phase shift, shifting baseline syndrome
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A common view of an aatuti as you swim into its territory!

Phase shifts and biodiversity

March 9, 2023

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.

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In Biodiversity Tags banded scalyfin, biodiversity, phase shift, coral reef, algae, water quality
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Tiny shells collected from the beach, Norfolk Island 1990s

You don’t always know what you’ve got – ’til it’s gone

March 8, 2023

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.

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In Ecosystem Tags Environmental protection, no-take zones, algae, water quality
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A peacock damselfish – Pomacentrus pavo

The curious case of the peacock damselfish

March 7, 2023

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?

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In Fish species Tags Peacock damselfish, Fish behaviour, Fish, fish species
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The creek by the Salt House into Emily Bay

Draining the swamp

March 6, 2023

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.

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In Environmental degradation Tags Colonial settlement, Philip Gidley King, Drainage channel
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A wayward scissortail sergeant (Abudefduf sexfasciatus)

Out on a swim – reflections on wild swimming

March 5, 2023

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 …

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In Recreation Tags Wellbeing, health, swimming, wild swimming, coral reef
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From front to back: raccoon butterflyfish; blackback butterflyfish; three-striped butterflyfish Back right: Threadfin butterflyfish

No coral? No butterflyfish!

March 4, 2023

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.

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In Biodiversity Tags Butterflyfish, corals, coral reef, fish, fish species, biodiversity
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The black-mouthed tun snail as it clambered over the reef

The awesome, giant, black-mouthed tun snail

March 3, 2023

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.

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In Environmental degradation Tags Tonna melanostoma, tun shell, water quality, molluscs
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Bait fish, Emily Bay, Norfolk Island, September 2020

Where have all the bait fish gone?

March 2, 2023

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?

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In Environmental degradation Tags Environment, Fish, water quality
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Healthy montipora coral on Norfolk Island’s reef

The camera doesn’t lie – looking back over three years of observations

March 2, 2023

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.

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In Environmental degradation Tags environment, corals, coral disease, water quality, coral reef
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White-speckled sea hare, Aplysia argus, in Emily Bay, Norfolk Island

Sea hares – our submarine shreks

February 19, 2023

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.

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In Sea hares Tags sea hares, Norfolk Island
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Hannah and Trish with Doris

Doris – it takes a village

January 20, 2023

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.

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In Environmental degradation Tags Green sea turtle, Doris, Turtle rescue, water quality
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Hornpike long tom - Strongylura leiurus

Citizen science: your observations can be powerful

January 7, 2023

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.

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Lone Pine photographed from Emily Bay, showing the freshwater layer caused by innundation from the creek.

A Year in Review – 2022 on Norfolk Island's Reef

December 31, 2022

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.

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Be like Senator David Pocock - wear a rashie

Sunbeams and sunscreens

December 19, 2022

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.

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In Ecosystem Tags corals, coral reef, coral reproduction, fish, Fish reproduction, Sunscreens, reef-safe sunscreen, Norfolk Island
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Black-mouthed tun snail, Tonna melanostoma

The black-mouthed tun snail – diary of an egg mass

December 12, 2022

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.

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Norfolk Island's forgotten reef needs help

December 4, 2022

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.

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Doris in her rehab tank

#OperationDoris – update from Australian Marine Parks

November 13, 2022

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.

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Norfolk Island's Blenny Fest

October 31, 2022

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.

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Tags Norfolk Island, Emily Bay, Fish behaviour, Blenny, Lady Musgrave blenny, coral reef
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Featured
Herbicides, heritage, and an inshore reef: what happens when land management meets lagoon health
Dec 15, 2025
Herbicides, heritage, and an inshore reef: what happens when land management meets lagoon health
Dec 15, 2025

Herbicide use near Emily, Slaughter and Cemetery Bays raises questions about inshore reef health, heritage land management, and environmental protection on Norfolk Island.

Dec 15, 2025
Signs of bleaching – 8 December 2025
Dec 8, 2025
Signs of bleaching – 8 December 2025
Dec 8, 2025

I took these photographs this morning, Monday, 8 December 2025. A few warm days of settled weather, little cloud cover and low tides in the hottest part of the day have led to some early bleaching on our reef. Bleaching doesn’t always mean death for our corals, but it is concerning to have this so early in the summer season. Fingers crossed the conditions don’t last and the reef can recover.

Dec 8, 2025
Nature is my teacher
Dec 3, 2025
Nature is my teacher
Dec 3, 2025

This is a thank-you note. Five years after my first Out on a swim post – written with zero marine science quals and a head full of questions – I’m still in the water, now as a PhD candidate, because an extraordinary mix of locals, volunteers, researchers and public servants decided to share what they knew. This is the story of how nature – and a very patient community – became my teachers.

Dec 3, 2025
Reef grief: what dredging has done to other reefs
Nov 30, 2025
Reef grief: what dredging has done to other reefs
Nov 30, 2025

From Miami to Fiji, from Dubai to tiny village harbours on atolls, dredging near coral reefs has left a long trail of scars – even on ‘small’ projects. This follow-up to last week’s Kingston post walks through real examples of what happened elsewhere, and what that should make us think about before we dig up our own reef.

Nov 30, 2025
To dredge or not to dredge? The Kingston Pier channel project
Nov 20, 2025
To dredge or not to dredge? The Kingston Pier channel project
Nov 20, 2025

How much risk are we really taking with the planned dredging at Kingston Pier – and how much protection do our corals actually have on paper? This piece walks through what the federal approval does and doesn’t guarantee, explains why sediment and light matter so much to the reef, and asks the hard questions we need answered before we trade a deeper channel for a shallower future.

Nov 20, 2025
A coral reef out of balance
Nov 8, 2025
A coral reef out of balance
Nov 8, 2025

After the long dry spell, the lagoon was crystal clear and full of life. But with the return of the rains, something else has returned too – the brown, filamentous mats of Lyngbya. It’s not seaweed, it’s a cyanobacterium, and when it takes hold it smothers coral and rubble alike. The reef’s way of showing us that every drop of water, from tank to tide, is connected.

Nov 8, 2025
Aglow among the spines
Oct 25, 2025
Aglow among the spines
Oct 25, 2025

Ever seen a sea urchin that seems to glow blue from the shadows? That’s Diadema savignyi showing off its reef shimmer. Beautiful, a little spiky, and definitely not to be messed with.

Oct 25, 2025
The funky seventies sea slug – Halgerda willeyi
Oct 15, 2025
The funky seventies sea slug – Halgerda willeyi
Oct 15, 2025

If ever a sea slug was channeling the 1970s, it’s Halgerda willeyi. With its groovy orange lines and chocolate-brown bumps, it looks straight out of a vintage lounge suite – the kind with shag pile carpet and bold floral cushions. Proof that nature was nailing retro design long before humans caught on.

Oct 15, 2025
Haddon's barometer
Oct 5, 2025
Haddon's barometer
Oct 5, 2025

This Haddon’s anemone has been quietly living in the middle of Norfolk Island’s Emily Bay for years, bleaching and recovering with the seasons. Like corals, sea anemones host microscopic algae that provide most of their food. When stressed by heat or rainfall changes, they lose colour – and tell a story about seasonal changes to the weather.

Oct 5, 2025
Honoured to be featured
Sep 30, 2025
Honoured to be featured
Sep 30, 2025

I left school in the UK nearly 50 years ago, so it was a pleasant surprise to be invited to share some images and take part in an interview for an article about my work, to be published in the annual glossy magazine the school now produces. Here is the end product.

Sep 30, 2025

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