It’s not just Sand

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Collecting and analyzing sediments is a key procedure in the field of Marine Geology. It may seem trivial to give so much attention to “sand”; however, the trained sedimentologist can learn a lot from a sample of ‘sand’, or sediment. …

Something’s Fishy Around Here

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A fish sandwich? Think again. You may want to leave the fish on the reef, if you live in Mangareva.  There’s a good chance it may be ciguateric and you may get ciguatera poisoning.  Ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) is seafood …

Acropora Gardens

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Mangareva contains more diverse coral habitats than anything we have seen to date. Parts of the outside rim of the atoll are emergent. The cross sectional profile starts with a classic reef flat, 10 m wide in places and often …

Cauliflower Coral

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Cauliflower coral, in the genus Pocillopora, are among the most widely distributed and most abundant corals found on the fore reef. These branching corals are covered with small bumps (called verrucae), which contain corallites and help in the identification of …

Nightdive to Assess Coral Fluorescence

Joao Monteiro collects coral samples on a nightdive to assess coral fluorescence by measuring the photosynthetic efficiency of corals during the Global Reef Expedition.

Fish Communities at the Acteon Group

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During our surveys in the Acteon group we saw very few fish.  There were few sharks or other large predators and even large herbivorous fish such as surgeonfishes and parrotfishes were noticeably low in number. The Acteon fish communities were …

Many Corals, Few Fish

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We have arrived in Mangareva, having just completed surveys in the remote Acteon Group. Each of the four atolls we surveyed was small, about 5 to 10 km2 including the lagoon. This meant we were able to do all our …