Feathery Fossils

Written by

Expedition Log: Maldives – Day 15 Often misidentified as a brittle star, yet plant-like in appearance, with long, flexible and highly contorted feathery arms, crinoids are the most ancient class of spiny skinned animals in the Phylum Echinodermata. Dating back …

Poisoning COTS or removal by hand?

Written by

Expedition Log: Maldives – Day 14 Crown of thorns starfish (COTS) have undergone population explosions since at least the 1960s and scientists and managers have tried to control these outbreaks for just as long. The standard practice to control COTS …

Cotton Candy Corals

Written by

A mass bleaching event in the Indian Ocean turns corals cotton-candy shades of pink and blue Written by Elizabeth Rauer The phrase ‘coral-bleaching’ brings to mind ghostly-white skeletons of coral but what we found when we dived on reefs in the …

Courageous Crabs

Written by

Expedition Log: Maldives – Day 13 Corals have very few defenses against crown of thorns starfish (COTS). Their shape may partially protect them, especially species with long, closely spaced branches that are inaccessible to the stomach of the starfish. There …

COTS Classroom

Written by

Expedition Log: Maldives – Day 12 “In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.” Baba Dioum This beautiful statement was spoken in …

Nemo and the Zombie Anemone

Written by

Written by Alison Barrat Comparing a bleached anemone to the undead may be a bit of a stretch, but it is fair to say a bleached anemone is hovering somewhere between life and death and depending on what happens next, …

A Friendly Fish

Written by

Expedition Log: Maldives – Day 11 Every diver will have a selection of fish that make them smile each time they come across them. For me, one of the new additions to my list this year was the two-spot banded …

Super Stars

Written by

Expedition Log: Maldives – Day 10 Crown of thorns starfish (COTS) are novel among the animal kingdom for many reasons. They can shed an appendage, or even lose more than half their body and survive by quickly re-growing the injured …

The World’s Top Culture, Wildlife, and Nature Photographers

The International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP) includes in its fellowship an international cadre of some of the world’s top culture, wildlife, and nature photographers. Together, they work with conservation organizations all around the globe to visually document their efforts in protecting …