Written by Carly Reeves Expedition Log: Cook Islands – Day 7 We’ve been chasing down the crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) here on Aitutaki for twelve days now, and I’ve got the scars to prove it. A spine to the leg /
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
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
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
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
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
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
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,
Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 22 The grim reaper comes quickly if you are a coral. Superbly adapted to their life in the shallow ocean and so successful that they can build some of the biggest structures created by living
Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 13 On a recent lagoonal dive in the center of Salomon Atoll I felt like I was at a carnival swimming through a pool of rainbow glazed popcorn. Fluorescent lime green, pink, purple, blue and
