DAY 11 – MARCH FOCUS ON NORFOLK ISLAND’S REEF
Two different colour morphs of montipora coral
Norfolk Island is such a tiny island, so very isolated and remote, that we simply don’t register on the world’s coral reef radar. After all:
we are not the biggest
we are not the most southerly
we are not the prettiest
we are not the most colourful
we don’t have the most species.
Lord Howe takes the gong for the world’s most southerly reef, and we come in second. Southerly reefs don’t have the bright eye-popping colours of those found on the Great Barrier Reef. In fact, people say that our reef is rather boring and brown in comparison.
Well, let’s do some myth busting. When you look closely at the photograph, top, I think you will agree that they are anything but boring brown!
Just because Norfolk Island’s reef doesn’t win prizes for any of the above, doesn’t make it any less special. In fact, we are just beginning to scratch the surface in terms of what we have in our bays, through the accumulation of citizen science observations, and as interest from reef researchers is piqued. Which is great news.
Further reading: You can see many more close-ups of corals over on my corals page on this website.