Pacific Ocean

Rugged Reefs

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Sitting at 25 m (82 ft) wrapped in a completely tangled metallic chain that would make Mr. T envious, I often ask, “What have I gotten myself into?” Indeed, one may wonder why anyone would want to take a long, …

Stars of the Reef

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The most familiar members of the phylum Echinodermata are the sea stars (aka starfish). Also contained within this phylum are diverse members such as sea cucumbers, crinoids, brittle stars, and sea urchins. Echinoderms possess an interesting body shape known as …

Finding Fabulous Fish!

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As fish surveyors, our job is to identify, count, and size all the fish we see within 30m x 4 m transect lines. To do this, we drop one end of our transect tapes at 10m depth, and swim slowly …

The Fire Salps

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Several of us have encountered a free-floating colonial tunicate during our dives on leeward reefs.  Known as Pyrosomes (from the Greek, pyro = fire and soma = body), these unusual tunicates consist of cylindrical- or conical-shaped colonies made up of …

Sessile Sea Squirts

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Tunicates, commonly called sea squirts include a diverse assemblage of invertebrates that are usually attached to the bottom, but also include 10 species that live in the water column.  These invertebrates share some similarities with vertebrates by having a tail, …

Encounter with the Amazing

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Humans have long been in the habit of naming exceptional trees. The General Sherman sequoia, the Methuselah bristlecone pine, and a certain specimen of Ficus religiosa better known as the Bodhi Tree are three such notable individuals. Humans don’t live …

Rebirth of the Reef

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The genus Acropora includes the most diverse and abundant corals found on Indo-Pacific reefs, with different species displaying a baffling number of growth forms and color varieties. With over 150 species known to science, these corals often out compete all …

Hiding in Plain Sight

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The Broadclub Cuttlefish (Sepia latimanus)—the second largest species of cuttlefish (to 50 cm)—is the most commonly seen species of cuttlefish on tropical reefs. Though it ranges from the Andaman Sea in the west to as far east as Fiji, this …

Death by 1000 Cuts

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Worldwide, coral reefs are declining at an alarming rate.  This is most apparent in the Caribbean, where reefs have been transformed from coral gardens – 60-70% of the bottom was carpeted in thickets of elkhorn coral and staghorn coral, mountainous …