It’s been two weeks since the Gambier portion of the Global Reef Expedition to French Polynesia ended. In less than two weeks, our science team will be heading back to French Polynesia to conduct research in Rangiroa. In the meantime,
Spotting new fish species that you’ve never seen before and can’t put a name to is one of the many exciting and fulfilling aspects of being a fish surveyor with The Living Oceans Foundation’s Global Reef Expedition. Â This latest expedition
After 10 days of torrential downpours, low visibility, murky water, and heavy surge, the sun has finally returned.  Our Mangareva work has been highly productive, and we’ve been fortunate to find some protection within the lagoon, but it’s been cold,
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
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, 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
“Ocean acidification” is a term you may have heard in relation to coral reefs. As carbon dioxide increases in the air, the amount in the ocean goes up as well. The increased carbon dioxide makes the ocean water more acidic,
Like other animals, corals need to reproduce to survive. Unlike most other animals, corals are attached to the seafloor and cannot move around to find a mate for coral reproduction. To address this challenge, corals have developed several alternative reproductive
Mention coral reefs and most people think of sweeping landscapes of corals, sponges, and fish. While those do exist in Hao Atoll, researchers are also seeing the reef through different lenses. Satellite Imagery for Reef Habitats and Geomorphology of Coral
Research dives can be distilled down to lists of what is seen and what is not seen. Surveying the reef means figuring out what is there and what is missing. For the last few days, the science team has been
