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Ken Marks
Science Diver / Underwater Photographs
Bio
Fifteen years ago Ken Marks became involved with AGRRA due to his work with REEF (Reef Environmental Education Foundation) as a fish watcher. Though formally trained in computer science, Ken Marks has been able to work closely with marine biologists using his computer skills in combination with his extensive knowledge of the fascinating creatures inhabiting the underwater world.
Missions
Photos
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Solar powered Golden Jellyfish with its energy source.
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Dense beds of seagrass were seen on several dives around Egmont Islands.
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Two-banded Anemonefish (Amphiprion bicinctus) found only in the Red Sea and Chagos Archipelago.
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Crescent-tail Bigeye (Priacanthus hamrur).
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Entwined pair of leathery sponges.
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Spotted ctenphore floating near the surface.
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Curious Tawny Nurse Shark (Nebrius ferrugineus) swims by several scientists and gives Anderson Mayfield a close pass.
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View of sand waves far below while on a safety stop at the end of a dive.
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Polarized school of Black-nosed Cardinalfish (Rhabdamia cypselurus) and Golden Sweeper (Parapriacanthus ransonneti).
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Scattered school of Black-nosed Cardinalfish (Rhabdamia cypselurus) and Golden Sweeper (Parapriacanthus ransonneti).
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Dense cloud of Black-nosed Cardinalfish (Rhabdamia cypselurus) swarm out from under ledge.
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Dragonet (Synchiropus sp.)
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Day Octopus (Octopus cyanea) have been very common in Chagos with several spotted on nearly every dive.
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Cushion Stars (Culcita sp.) are very common on the reef flat.
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Tawny Nurse Shark (Nebrius ferrugineus).
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Sunlight streans down through the trees at the edge of the lake.
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White Sea Anemone (Entacmaea medusivora) is the only predator of the jellyfish.
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White Sea Anemone (Entacmaea medusivora) on a downed tree trunk are able to reach their prey which avoid the dark edges of the lake.
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Pair of large Bluefin Trevally (Caranx melampygus) come by for a close inspection.
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Mixed school of Bluefin Trevally (Caranx melampygus) and Yellow-spotted Trevally (Carangoides orthogrammus).
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Emperor Angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator).
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Pair of Beautiful Risbecia (Risbecia pulchella) displaying trailing behavior.
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Cloud of Bluestreak Fusiler (Pterocaesio tile) swarms over the reef.
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Roundhead Parrotfish (Chlorurus strongycephalus).
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Tawny Nurse Shark (Nebrius ferrugineus) resting in a sand channel.
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Juvenile Emperor Angelfisn (Pomacanthus imperator).
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Painted Spiny Lobster (Panulirus versicolor) comes out from its hiding spot under a ledge.
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Granular Sea Star (Choriaster granulatus).
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Guineafowl Puffer (Arothron meleagris) solid yellow form.
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School of Longfin Spadefish (Platax teira) buzz by along a drop-off.
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Two-banded Anemonefish (Amphiprion bicinctus).
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Blacktail Reef Shark (Carcharhinus wheeleri).
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Blacktail Reef Shark (Carcharhinus wheeleri).
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Cushion Stars (Culcita sp.) with an interesting tesselated and spotted pattern.
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Giant Moray (Gymnothorax javanicus) is not shy about having its photo taken.
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Anderson Mayfield interrupted by a Giant Moray (Gymnothorax javanicus) while sampling a Seriatopora coral.
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Sea star (Linckia laevigata).
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Small Tawny Nurse Shark (Nebrius ferrugineus) resting under an overhang.
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Yellow-spotted Scorpionfish (Sebastapistes cyanostigma) hiding among the branches of a Pocillopora coral.
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Pair of Spotted Unicornfish (Naso brevirostris).
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A new species of sea cucumber we've been seeing in Chagos--possibly related to the Pineapple Sea Cucumber.
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Anderson Mayfield photographs the curious Painted Spiny Lobster (Panulirus versicolor).
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Sailor's Eyeball (Valonia ventricosa) algae is a common site but not usually seen in the asexual budding stage.
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Pair of Tawny Nurse Sharks (Nebrius ferrugineus) getting cozy under an overhang.
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School of Yellowmask Surgeonfish (Acanthurus mata) schools above a sloping drop-off.
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Mixed school of Blue and Yellow Fusiliers (Caesio teres) and Double-lined Fusiliers (Pterocaesio digramma).
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Blue-lined Triggerfish (Xanthichthys caeruleolineatus).
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Day Octopus (Octopus cyanea) hiding in its burrow lined by rocks and shells.
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Fluted Giant Clam (Tridacna squammosa) with spotted mantle.
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Guineafowl Puffer (Arothron meleagris) black spotted form.
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Juvenile Red Snapper (Lutjanus bohar).
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Male Scalefin Anthias (Pseudanthias squamipinnis).
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Striped Large-eye Bream (Gnathodentex aureolineatus).
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Male Mandarinfish (Synchiropus splendidus) displaying in an effort to attract mates to spawn at dusk.
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Pair of Razorfish (Aeoliscus strigatus) hover head down over a digitate Porites coral.
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School of small Sangi Cardinalfish (Apogon thermalis) was a novel sight on a shallow dive.
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Segented Blenny (Salarias segmentatus) peers inquisitively before darting away.
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Swarm of brilliantly colored Chromis damselfish seek protection withing this Pocillopora coral.
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The ghastly appearance of the Spiny Devilfish (Inimicus didactylus).
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Artistic fun with Golden Jellyfish and sunburst.
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At its thickest the lake is more jellyfish than water.
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Golden Jellyfish owe their color to the symbiotic algae that live within their tissues and provide them with their sustinance.
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Golden Jellyfish differ from their oceanic kin the Spotted Jellyfish by the lack of spots on the dome and the greatly reduced stinging clubs (small tabs) on the ends of the frilled oral arms.
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High density of Golden Jellyfish Mastigias cf. Papua etpisoni.
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Incredibly well camouflaged, this Pitted Ceratosoma nudibranch (Ceratosoma miamiranum) would not have been seen had it not moved.
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Coral with its tentacles exposed and polyp mouths visible.
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Wow. Life is amazing. © Ken Marks/LOF
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A school of barracuda near the Solomon Islands © Ken Marks/LOF
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Close up! © Ken Marks/LOF
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I see you! Clownfish in the Solomon Islands © Ken Marks/LOF
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Coolest. Octopus. Ever. © Ken Marks/LOF
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Green sea turtle in the Solomon Islands © Ken Marks/LOF
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Having a little fun beneath the waves © Ken Marks/LOF
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Large pink anemone and clownfish in the Solomon Islands © Ken Marks/LOF
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Looking up © Ken Marks/LOF
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Scientist surveying the reef © Ken Marks/LOF
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One of two fish species in the lake, the Orbicular Cardinalfish (Sphaeramia orbicularis) are curious and unafraid.
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Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) sleeping soundly.
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Waves breaking among the coral rubble tossed up on the beach along Middle Brother.
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Young Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) stares back inquisitively at the camera.
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Cushion Sea Star (Culcita sp.)
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Powderblue Surgeonfish (Acanthurus leucosternon).
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Small colony of Blastomussa merletti coral (with finger for scale) looking like a cluster of zoanthids. This was a new genus of corals not seen before on the Global Reef Expedition.
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Yellowback Fusilier (Caesio xanthonota).
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Yellowback Fusilier (Caesio xanthonota).
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Shortly after spotting a pair of Common Egg Cowries (Ovula ovum) feeding on leather coral we continued to search other leather corals for more cowries. Soon we happened upon a pair of Black-spotted Egg Cowries (Calpurnus verrucosus) which took the opportunity of encountering each other to reproduce.
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Juvenile Emperor Angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator).
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Moorish Idol (Zanclus cornutus).
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Pair of Common Egg Cowries (Ovula ovum) showing black patterned mantle while feeding upon a leather coral.
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View of a rocky section of the beach with many tide pools on Middle Brother.
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View along the beach on Danger Island.
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Very decorated snail slowly traversing the rocky shore at the water's edge.
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Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) soaring by on a thermal updraft.
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Shell of a giant clam (likely Tridacna squammosa) spotted among the coral rubble.
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Silhouette of a Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) as the storm clouds roll in.
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Small hermit--possibly a young Strawberry Hermit (Coenobita perlatus)--inhabiting one of the snail shells.
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Small round tidepool in a rocky section of the beach likely caused by the rootball of a coconut palm tree.
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Small Strawberry Hermit Crab (Coenobita perlatus) climbs among the fushy foliage.
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Squadron of female Greater Frigatebirds (Fregata minor).
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Strawberry Hermit Crab (Coenobita perlatus) scrambles over coral rubble.
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Sunset over Middle Brother.
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Trio of Brown Boobies (Sula leucogaster).
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Understory of the coconut palm canopy showing dense thicket of sprouted coconuts.
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Small school of Rainbow Runners (Elagatis bipinnulatus) that buzzed us on our safety stop at the end of the dive.
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Tiny (finger size) Redmarbled Lizardfish (Synodus rubromarmoratus) snapped up an even tinier blue damselfish.
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I found this Magnificent Sea Anemone (Heteractis magnifica) in its contracted state, balled-up with most of its tentacles tucked inside. The larger Two-banded Anemonefish (Amphiprion bicinctus) moved away from the anemone every time I came close for a photo rather than tucking itself inside and hiding within the tentacles as usual. It took me 10 minutes and more than two dozen photos to get this but I did get a bonus of a pair of juveniles to add to the family photo.
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Lauren Valentino operates a pneumatic hand drill powered by a scuba tank to use a diamond tipped hole saw to extract sample corals from Porites lobata colonies. The cores are later sliced thinly and imaged with a CAT scanner to count the growth bands determining the growth rate of the colony.
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Camera in hand, Anderson Mayfield swims over a reef with high coral cover including branching corals and table acroporids.
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Large parrotfishes like this terminal phase Redlip Parrotfish (Scarus rubroviolaceus) can often be heard scraping dead sections of the reef to feed upon the turf algae and cyanobacteria growing there.
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A reef slope covered with cascading foliose colonies of Echinopora coral.
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Blades of the Blue Coral (Heliopora coerulea) were packed so tightly that they covered virtually 100% of the reef.
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Large school of Yellowback Fusilier (Caesio xanthonota) that were visible from the surface.
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Samantha Clements looks on as a Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) swims nearby over a pavement of large acroporid table corals.
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A Spotted Eagle Ray (Aetobatus narinari) is pursued by a small remora.
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A relatively unspotted form of the Spotted Eagle Ray (likely Aetobatus narinari).
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The backside of a reef flanked by a high current pass was home to an extended collection of large table acroporids each several meters in diameter.
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Large table acroporids and branching pocilloporids covered this site.
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Large school of Humpback Snapper (Lutjanus gibbus) swim over large table acroporids along the edge of a drop-off.
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Foliose plates of Echinopora coral form a spiraled pattern when viewed from above.
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Yellow Dot Guard Crab (Trapezia lutea) in branching Pocillopora coral exposing a clutch of eggs under her abdominal flap.
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Branching Acropora sp. coral showing evidence of a lot of damage from fish bites.
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Anderson Mayfield photographing a pale branch of the Cauliflower coral, Pocillopora verrucosa, that he is about to take a small sample from for later analysis which may lead to an answer as to why this portion of the colony had lost their algal symbionts and bleached.
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Detail of organgish pink gorginian sea fan showing tiny orange polyps scattered along the network of branches.
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Large organgish pink gorgonian sea fans show this are is subject to high currents.
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Moorish Idol (Zanclus cornutus).
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Pair of Splendid Soldierfish (Myripristis botche) displaying large eyes and bold colors and markings.
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Pair of Two-banded Anemonefish (Amphiprion bicinctus) in a Bubble-tip Anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor).
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Water level view of Middle Brother Islands taken at the surface while waiting to be picked up by the dive boat.
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Bladelike plates of the Blue Coral (Heliopora coerulea) form a mazelike structure.
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Detail of the school of Humpback Snapper (Lutjanus gibbus).
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The largest expanse of Blue Coral (Heliopora coerulea) that any of the scientists had ever seen.
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Fluted Giant Clam (Tridacna squammosa) with electric blue striped mantle.
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Blacktail Reef Shark (Carcharhinus wheeleri) considered by some scientists to be the same as the Grey Reef Shark (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) but has a white-tipped dorsal fin (among other differences).
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Cluster of 13 Magnificent Anemones (Heteractis magnifica) with only a single pair of anemonefish claiming the lot.
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Granular Sea Star (Choriaster granulatus).
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Looking up at the clouds through the glassy calm surface of the water during a 15 ft. safety stop at the end of a survey dive.
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Noduled Sea Star (Fromia nodosa).
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Polarized school of Golden Sweeper (Parapriacanthus ransonneti).
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Powderblue Surgeonfish (Acanthurus leucosternon).
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Two-band Anemonefish (Amphiprion bicinctus) swims among the various anemones in this cluster.
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Checkerboard wrasse (Halichoeres hortulanus) eating a small crab it just pulled from the rubble.
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Devil Scorpionfish (Scorpaenopsis diabolus) blends in amazingly well with the pink Crustose Coraline Algae.
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Giant Spider Conch (Lambis truncata) stares out from within its shell.
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View above and below the water line at the end of a morning survey dive off South Brother Island along the western edge of the Great Chagos Bank.
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A distinctive feature of the Slender Lizardfish (Saurida gracilis) is the lined pattern along the jaws which displays the teeth even when the mouth is closed.
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Foliose plates of Echinopora plate coral cascade down the reef slope.
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Panoramic sunset over the Three Brothers Islands on the western edge of the Great Chagos Bank.
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Black-spotted Egg Cowrie (Calpurnus verrucosus) on Lobophytum leather coral.
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Black-spotted Egg Cowrie (Calpurnus verrucosus).
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Cake Urchin (Tripneustes gratilla).
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Ceiling of an overhanging ledge is a dazzling coloful display of sponges, tunicates, bryozoans and cup corals.
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Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) sleeping under a ledge during a morning dive.
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School of Whitetip Soldierfish (Myripristis vittata) orient themselves to the roof of an overhanging ledge.
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With a lead-core transect line and a PVC meter stick, Kristin Stolberg surveys corals on a colorful section of a shallow reef under glassy calm seas.
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Anderson Mayfield wakes up with a cup of coffee during a long transit out to our first dive of the day.
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Tiny juvenile Crown-ot-thorns Sea Star (Acanthaster planci).
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Variable Thorny Oyster (Spondylus varians) which like to attach to ledge overhangs, have a colorful mantle lined with hundreds of eye spots and a shell often overgrown with other organisms.
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Moorish Idol (Zanclus cornutus).
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School of Yellowmask Surgeonfish (Acanthurus mata) with one pale individual which turned dark a moment after this photo.
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Great Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii) hunting along the breaking waves.
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Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) tracks to the nest at the treeline.
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Group of Red-footed Boobies (Sula sula) in a small bare tree.
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Not Robinson Crusoe but a footprint on a pristine section of the beach.
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Orb weaver spider (Argiope sp.) in the vegetation along the beach.
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Pair of Lesser Noddies (Anous tenuirostris) and a Horn-eyed Ghost Crab (Ocypode ceratopthalma) have a face-off.
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Pavement of coral rubble along the beach on Middle Brother.
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Profile of Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) as it flies by the dive boat.
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Raceway of overlapping tracks from Strawberry Hermit Crabs (Coenobita perlatus).
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Red-footed Boobies (Sula sula) heads off to sea.
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Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) caught mid-flap while flying by.
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Good time not to be on shore as a rain storm rolls through.
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Gathering of snails seems like it was an opportunity for many of them to find a mate.
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Dense cluster of boobies and frigatebirds soaring in an azure blue sky made quite the racket.
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Anderson Mayfield during a safety stop at the end of a dive under the ceiling of a glassy calm sea.
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The tiny Willey's Halgerda nudibranch (Halgerda willeyi) are regularly seen in the Chagos Archipelago.
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Two-band Anemonefish (Amphiprion bicinctus) caught for a split second staring at its reflection in the camera's dome port.
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Two-band Anemonefish (Amphiprion bicinctus) in an Adhesive Anemone (Cryptodendrum adhaesivum).
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A group of several Lesser Noddies (Anous tenuirostris) are joined by another.
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A Lesser Noddy (Anous tenuirostris) caught mid-flap while returning to its nesting area.
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A shadow selfie islands style.
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Area of the beach covered by shell hash and tumbled pieces of coral skeleton.
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Boobies soaring overhead.
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Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) silhouette as it flies overhead and into the sun.
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Coconut Crab (Birgus latro) near its burrow among coconut palm roots.
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Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) chick near fledging size.
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Branching Fire Coral
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A beautiful coral reef in New Caledonia.
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Bluefin Trevally
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Fire Clownfish
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Atlantic Mushroom Coral
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Southern Stingray
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Rose Coral
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Plastic fishing net float buoy buried in the beach sand.
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Rock Hind
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Christmas Tree Worms
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Spotted Moray
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Peacock Flounder
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Peacock Flounder
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Redlip Blenny
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Finger Coral
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Symmetrical Brain Coral
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Mustard Hill Coral and Lettuce Coral with encrusting sponge.
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Symmetrical Brain Coral
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Rough Star Coral on the left and Symmetrical Brain Coral on the right.
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Caribbean Spiny Lobster
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Common Lionfish
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Redband Parrotfish
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Yellow Pencil Coral
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Princess Parrotfish
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Maze Coral
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Finger Coral
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Orange Icing Sponge
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Maze Coral
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Lettuce Sea Slug
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Turtle Headed Sea Snake
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Smooth Trunkfish
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Christmas Tree Worm on Star Coral.
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Graham Kolodziej mugs for a photo behind a cluster of feather stars.
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Mermaid-like Grace Frank collects a Crown-of-thorns Seastar.
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Porcupinefish
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Cleaning Goby on Star Coral.
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Coral reef at 2-4 meters depth.
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Finger Coral
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A beautiful way to start the day - a rainbow greets the groundtruthing team.
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Shy Hamlet
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Mounding Porites mix with digitate Porites and branching Acropora colonies.
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Jackknife Fish
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While the reef at 20m was relatively baren with extremely poor visibility a riot of color awaited us in the shallows.
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School of pennant bannerfish (Heniochus chrysostomus).
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Batwing Coral Crab
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Young men enjoying a canoe ride in the windy conditions.
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Ctenophore
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Despite the murky conditions a multi-hued coral garden of Acropora corals brings color to the dive.
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Yellow pencil coral with Blue Chromis and juvenile Bluehead.
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Reaching up to near the surface a grove of Porites lobata mounds mix with the branching Acroporas.
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Have you ever taken a scuba selfie? Here is a good one from Ken Marks.
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Unidentifiable Flatworm
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Great Star Coral
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Sargassum Triggerfish
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White Mouthed Moray
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Juvenile Rock Beauty
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Juvenile lionfish (Pterois volitans) seem to grow into their pectoral fins like puppies grow into their ears.
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The scientists enjoy a visit with the local kids.
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Giant Anemone
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The scientists had some local children visit them while on their dive.
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Blue Dragon Nudibranch
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Bicolor Damselfish and juvenile Blueheadswim behind Thin Leaf Lettuce Coral.
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Local children free-diving to have their photos taken by scientists who are scuba diving.
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Gorgonian Corals
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Nassau Grouper
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Giant Anemone with Flamefish.
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Bandtail Puffer
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Black and white sea krait (Laticauda columbrina).
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Rough Fileclam
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Platygyra
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Margate
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Adhesive anemone (Cryptodendrum adhaesivum) with threespot damselfish (Dascyllus trimaculatus) swimming around.
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Blackspotted Sea Cucumber
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Yellowhead Jawfish
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Barrel Sponge with Cleaning Goby.
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Rough Box Crab hides between Sun Anemone and Encrusting Fan-Leaf Algae.
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Traditional fishing weight used to sink handlines – made of palm fronds tied around a rock.
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Colors of the reef.
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Sun Anemone Shrimp sits in a Sun Anemone
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School of blue and yellow fusiliers (Caesio teres) swimming over the top of a plating coral.
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Barred Blenny
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Juvenile Threespot Damselfish swimming in Pillar Coral.
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Scientists surfacing from a dive.
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Great Star Coral
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We just surfaced from a dive to see this beautiful view.
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School of blue and yellow fusiliers (Caesio teres).
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Mermaid's Tea Cup
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Holding on by a thread.
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Dr. Sonia Bejarano conducts a scientific survey.
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Yellow Tube Sponge
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Euphyllia coral.
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Orange Lumpy Encrusting Sponge
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School of blue and yellow fusiliers (Caesio teres).
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Green Moray
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Green Moray
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Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas).
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Here is a close-up photo of a cushion star.
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Giant Sweetlips (Plectorhinchus albovittatus) makes a close pass out of curiosity.
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Mounding Porites and short-branched tabular Acropora corals cover the reef along a sloping dropoff.
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Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) cruising by the divers today near Vanikoro Island.
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On one of our dives, a hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) swam by us today.
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Day Octopus (Octopus cyanea) emerges from a hiding hole between corals.
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Ctenophore comb jelly swimming below the rain dappled surface.
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School of bigeye trevally (Caranx sexfasciatus).
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Luzon Sea Star (Echinaster luzonicus) on Goniastrea sp. coral.
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Fungia fungites mushroom coral abstract detail.
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Chinese Lettuce Coral (Mycedium elephantotus).
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Flat-Top Bristle Brush
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Acropora digitifera with bright blue apical polyps and base where active growth is taking place.
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Chief Scientist Andy Bruckner descents to the reef in a shower of bubbles.
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Yellow Pencil Coral
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School of Rainbow Runners (Elagatis bipinnulatus) buzz by the reef.
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Convoluted Barrel Sponge
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Smooth Giant Clam (Tridacna derasa).
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Shallow reef composed of thickets of brancing Acropora, digitate Porites, and leafy scrolls of Turbinaria corals.
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Large Crown of Thorns seastar (Acanthaster planci) eating table acroporid corals.
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Anderson Mayfield swims the shallows over mounds of digitate Porites corals and thickets of Acropora.
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Waves of sunlight cast through the shallows of a reef covered in Porites and Acropora corals.
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Red encrusting sponge covers the dead branches of an Acropora coral thicket.
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Pectinia alcicornis detail.
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Papuan Scorpionfish (Scorpaenopsis papuensis) is a master of camouflage.
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Swollen Phyllidia nudibranch (Phyllidia varicosa).
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Banana Nudibranch (Aegires minor)
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Large Feathertail Stingray (Pastinachus stephan) resting in the sand.
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Textural detail of the surface of Pachyseris speciosa coral.
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Very large giant clam (Tridacna gigas) nearly a meter long with a firey orange mantle.
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Family of pink anemonefish (Amphiprion perideraion) living in anemone.
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Pink Vase Sponge
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Great Star Coral with Cleaning Gobies
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Each one of these corals is an individual coral polyp known as fungid coral.
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Orangespotted Filefish
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Day octopus (Octopus cyanea) changes its colors to try and camouflage with the background.
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Day octopus (Octopus cyanea) crawling around the reef.
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Blue Bell Tunicate
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Acropora table coral.
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Great Barracuda
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Artichoke Coral
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Shoal of bigfin reef squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana).
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Encrusting Fan-Leaf Algae
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Scorpaenopsis spp.
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Sea whips (red) are a type of soft coral.
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Banded Butterflyfish
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Mosaic of Crustose Coralline Algae (CCA).
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Mustard Hill Coral
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Yellow Stingray
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Large gorgonian sea fan.
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Redband Parrotfish
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Gorgeous soft coral.
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Close-up photo of a soft coral colony.
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Garden of gorgonians, soft corals, and crinoids.
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Artichoke Coral
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Warty sea stars (Echinaster callosus) are named after the large round bumps that cover their arms.
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Warty sea star (Echinaster callosus).
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Smooth Flower Coral
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Gorgonian sea fan with winged oyster.
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Southern Stingray
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Zebra dartfish (Ptereleotris zebra) aggregating on bottom.
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Queen Conch
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Spotted Moray
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Cuming’s sea star (Neoferdina cumingi).
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Giant Anemone
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Black-axil chromis (Chromis atripectoralis) and reticulated dascyllus hanging out above coral thicket.
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A beautiful close-up view of the mantle (tissue) of a giant clam.
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Junvenile pinnate spadefish (Platax pinnatus).
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Fishing net left behind.
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It was a good start to our day waking up to a double rainbow near Malakobi Island.
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Unidentified sea star.
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Chubs and snapper swimming around a coral bommie.
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Xenia soft coral.
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Loggerhead Turtle
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Feather star resting on top of a blue sponge.
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Macro view of Acropora.
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Here is a gorgeous giant clam. Notice the two openings called siphons. These siphons allow the clam to filter feed.
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Scientists Monteiro and Anderson Mayfield ascending from a dive.
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We Nemo AKA the clown anemonefish (Amphiprion percula).
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Looking up from the underwater world below.
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Spotfin squirrelfish (Neoniphon sammara) hanging out in staghorn coral.
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Freckled hawkfish (Paracirrhites forsteri) perched on coral.
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Double-bar goatfish (Parupeneus crassilabris).
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Close-up view of Symphyllia coral.
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Side view of a lue elephant ear sponge.
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A school of blackfin barracuda (Sphyraena qenie).
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Phyllidia elegans, a type of dorid nudibranch.
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Large school of Bigeye Jacks (Caranx sexfasciatus) greeted us at the start of the dive.
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This day octopus (Octopus cyanea) was trying to camouflage itself near a rock.
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Large school of Bigeye Jacks (Caranx sexfasciatus) greeted us at the start of the dive (taken from underneath).
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Friendly Hawksbill Sea Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata).
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Fellow, Joao Monteiro photographing a blue, elephant ear sponge.
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Pair of Pink Anemonefish (Amphiprion perideraion) in a large Leathery Sea Anemone (Heteractis crispa).
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Crocodile flatheads (Cymbacephalus beauforti) usually try to camouflage themselves; however, we saw this fish in its black phase.
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A crocodile flathead (Cymbacephalus beauforti) blending in with its background.
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White Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus caeruleopunctatus) hiding beneath an overhang surrounded by soft corals.
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Commonly seen Shadowfin Soldierfish (Myripristis adusta) hugs the reef.
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Top view of a lue elephant ear sponge.
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Large bushy red sea fan soft coral juts out from a sheer wall in order to filter plankton passing by on the current.
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Group of Pyramid Butterflyfish (Hemitaurichthys polylepis) being cleaned by a Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus).
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Bright red Dendronephthya soft coral looks purple underwater till it is hit with the light of a camera strobe.
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Samantha Clements performing benthic surveys on the edge of a wall.
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Large polarized school of Yellowfin Goatfish (Mulloidichthys vanicolensis) sweeps by the reef.
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Group of Penguin's Wing Oysters (Pteria penguin) growing on branch of an old octocoral.
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Oddly put together Pajama Cardinalfish (Sphaeramia nematoptera) looking like they were designed by committee in a patch of Porites cylindrica coral.
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Black Velvet Snail (Coriocella nigra) looks like a nudibranch but has an internal shell.
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Worm Sea Cucumbers (Synaptula sp.) on a cluster of pale blue tube sponges.
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