Scientific Surveys

Worm snails

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Expedition Log: Cook Islands – Day 6 We’ve seen a lot of unusual and colorful creatures that attach to the surface of a coral, bore a hole into its skeleton, or become encased by the coral as it grows. Most …

The Hunchback of Aitutaki

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Expedition Log: Cook Islands – Day 5 If you asked me if I thought we’d see a lot of turtles during our mission to Aitutaki, I’d have said no. There are very few sponges, which is an important food source …

Aitutaki’s Grazers

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Expedition Log: Cook Islands – Day 4 It is always exciting to visit a new place and to dive on new reefs. What I find remarkable is that you can tell so much about the state of a reef, the …

Whale Season

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Expedition Log: Cook Islands – Day 3 As we landed in Aitutaki, the science team was excited to discover that it was humpback whale season. Each year between July and October these majestic animals pass by the Cook Islands on …

Charismatic Coral Cover Indicators

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Expedition Log: Cook Islands – Day 2 One of the most charismatic families of reef fish are the butterflyfish (Chaetodontidae). We’ve written about these species in previous blogs, but the importance of these species as an indicator of reef health …

Addressing Acanthaster in Aitutaki

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Expedition Log: Cook Islands – Day 1 Over the last four years, the Global Reef Expedition (GRE) has focused on the Pacific and Indian Ocean. These reefs are vastly different from Caribbean reefs, especially with regards to the numbers of …

BIOT’s Bounty – Part Two

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Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 27 In many ways, BIOT is a biogeographic crossroad in the central Indian Ocean. The archipelago is located in an area affected by extreme climate variability. In adjacent parts of the Indian Ocean, many of …

BIOT’s Bounty – Part One

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Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 26 My initial thoughts after a diving on BIOT’s reefs can be summed up in a few words: remote, largely inaccessible, seemingly untouched, and flourishing with life. BIOT’s Reefs teeming with life like these Golden …

Changing Coral Communities

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Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 25 Before starting a research mission in a new area, I compile lists of all the species of corals and fishes that are known to occur in an area. For some areas, such as BIOT, …

The Aquatic Dance of Turtles

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Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 24 While traveling from one survey site to another, the ground-truthing team came across two sea turtles mating. They appeared to be green turtles (Chelonia mydas), currently most abundant of the sea turtle species. Green …