Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation
Providing science-based solutions to protect and restore ocean health
One of the most colorful and diverse groups of invertebrates found on coral reefs are soft corals (known scientifically as Alcyonaceans). These cnidarians are related to stony (scleractinian) corals, but they lack a massive, calcified skeleton and have eight hollow …
If you follow our blogs, then you might recall the blogs about harvesting sea cucumbers in Fiji. In Tonga, they are also collecting sea cucumbers and processing them. When the sea cucumbers are processed and dried, they are called beche-de-mer. …
The coral reef education team is underway while on the Global Reef Expedition in Tonga. On the first day, five different environmental education programs were conducted in Ha’apai throughout the Lifuka district, including one secondary school and four primary schools. …
This black-banded sea krait (probably Laticauda colubrine) was spotted foraging during the Global Reef Expedition in Tonga. Very widespread through Asian and Pacific seas, with six similar species of Laticauda. Although their venom is among the most toxic of all …
On our second day of diving we had our first encounter with a sea snake. While most of the 62 described species are true aquatic snakes, we observed one of the more primitive snakes, banded sea kraits, Laticauda colubrina. This …
The Kingdom of Tonga contains some of the most unique and extensive coral reef environments found in the central south Pacific, with over 1500 square kilometers of reef area. These Tonga coral reefs are located due east of the 35,000 …
Over the past couple of decades, the future outlook of coral reefs has been dismal. With an increasing pressure from anthropogenic and natural stressors, coral reefs are declining around the world. The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation recognizes the …
Chief Scientist Dr Andy Bruckner answers students from the Middle East and the US how he became so passionate about coral reefs.
A cultural view of Totoya sharks written by the high chief. As a young boy growing up Totoya, I recall that there were incidents of shark attacks on some of our villagers. In our culture, this type of incident is …
