Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 18 I’m spending the week walking the coastlines of as many of the islands of Peros Banhos atoll as I can with an accurate global positioning system (GPS). The challenge we face when extracting the
Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 17 Every marine biologist has a bucket list of creatures they want to see during their life underwater. I am no exception and during the BIOT missions I seemed to have amazing luck, with the
Expedition Log – BIOT Day 16 We’ve been seeing a great diversity of butterflyfishes here in BIOT, around 18 different species. Butterflyfish belong to the family Chaetodontidae and are consequently known as chaets by their most avid fans and researchers.
Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 15 The science team is always eager to see rays during any dive, and diving in the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) hasn’t disappointed us when it comes to majestic ray encounters. During our first
Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 14 Scientific breakthroughs are made every day, though the vast majority go unnoticed by the general public. Particularly important are discoveries that can lead to improvements in human well-being, such as those culminating in novel
Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 13 On a recent lagoonal dive in the center of Salomon Atoll I felt like I was at a carnival swimming through a pool of rainbow glazed popcorn. Fluorescent lime green, pink, purple, blue and
Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 12 The distances in Chagos are vast, but we know we are nearing a new island when we begin to see more seabirds – a technique sailors have used for centuries. Today, like most days,
Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 11 It wasn’t long after we started our surveys of the Chagos Archipelago that we noticed that the Day Octopus (Octopus cyanea) was quite common here. Usually an intelligent creature like an octopus is enough
Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 10 The first thing you notice when stepping onto the islands of the Chagos Archipelago are the many crabs. From the rock crabs at the water’s edge to the plodding hermit crabs and scurrying ghost
Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 9 Blacksaddled Groupers (Plectropomus laevis) are aggregating in Chagos. Groupers are usually solitary fish, except when it comes to spawning, when small groups or larger aggregations form to release large quantities of eggs and sperm
