Part 2: Life, Death and Rebirth of a Coral Reef

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Life on a coral reef in French Polynesia can be extremely unforgiving. Natural coral threats, especially cyclones, crown of thorns starfish (COTS) outbreaks and coral bleaching events, have caused severe damage.  Fortunately, because of the isolation and low human population …

Life, Death and Rebirth of a Coral Reef

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What comes to mind when thinking about a coral reef is a colorful undersea garden teaming with life: corals, fish, urchins, starfish,  molluscs, crustaceans, sponges and other animals and plants, many still unknown to science.  French Polynesia coral reefs should …

Rare Fossil Formations

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The most critical part of creating benthic habitat maps is the ground-truthing process for several reasons. First, exploring the research site improves the producer’s understanding of the landscape being mapped, thus allowing them to assess the maps qualitatively as they …

Searching for Reef Sponges

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One of our local partners, Dr. Sylvain Petek, from the Institute for Research and Development (IRD) in Tahiti studies sponges.  He is looking at the taxonomy of sponges throughout French Polynesia and chemical compounds found within these animals.  On every …

One’s Love for the Ocean Could Not Be Greater

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This is my second mission on the M/Y Golden Shadow and I have enjoyed the company of the many scientists of different expertise and cultural backgrounds who have joined us. One participant in particular has really caught my attention. All …

Dance of the Clownfish

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Clownfishes and anemonefishes are among the most iconic creatures residing in coral reefs. In Scilly and Bellinghausen, the science team sighted several colorful orange-finned anemonefishes (Amphirion chrysopterus) residing in anemones scattered throughout the shallows of the reef sites.

Badi Samaniego: The Human Fish Encyclopedia

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It is no coincidence that this charismatic Filipino joined the Global Reef Expedition as a Foundation Fellow in its course across the Pacific Ocean. For the last 12 years of his life, Badi has been identifying and counting reef fish …