The most familiar members of the phylum Echinodermata are the sea stars (aka starfish). Also contained within this phylum are diverse members such as sea cucumbers, crinoids, brittle stars, and sea urchins. Echinoderms possess an interesting body shape known as
As fish surveyors, our job is to identify, count, and size all the fish we see within 30m x 4 m transect lines. To do this, we drop one end of our transect tapes at 10m depth, and swim slowly
Several of us have encountered a free-floating colonial tunicate during our dives on leeward reefs. Known as Pyrosomes (from the Greek, pyro = fire and soma = body), these unusual tunicates consist of cylindrical- or conical-shaped colonies made up of
Tunicates, commonly called sea squirts include a diverse assemblage of invertebrates that are usually attached to the bottom, but also include 10 species that live in the water column. These invertebrates share some similarities with vertebrates by having a tail,
Humans have long been in the habit of naming exceptional trees. The General Sherman sequoia, the Methuselah bristlecone pine, and a certain specimen of Ficus religiosa better known as the Bodhi Tree are three such notable individuals. Humans don’t live
In August this year the Foundation teamed up with endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh to complete seven long-distance swims in under a month. He is the United Nation’s Patron of the Ocean, and the goal of the challenge was to highlight the
The genus Acropora includes the most diverse and abundant corals found on Indo-Pacific reefs, with different species displaying a baffling number of growth forms and color varieties. With over 150 species known to science, these corals often out compete all
The Broadclub Cuttlefish (Sepia latimanus)—the second largest species of cuttlefish (to 50 cm)—is the most commonly seen species of cuttlefish on tropical reefs. Though it ranges from the Andaman Sea in the west to as far east as Fiji, this
Worldwide, coral reefs are declining at an alarming rate. This is most apparent in the Caribbean, where reefs have been transformed from coral gardens – 60-70% of the bottom was carpeted in thickets of elkhorn coral and staghorn coral, mountainous
Parrotfishes represent one of the most conspicuous members of the Indo-Pacific coral reef fauna. They are ideal study subjects for addressing questions regarding population and community ecology for several reasons, including their high diversity and abundance, complex reproductive life histories
