Astrea curta corals are ‘small, moderately plocoid [flattened], distinct, and almost circular’ . Normally grey-green in colour, you can see from the images here, ours are often beautiful rich gold, although they do vary. They have a neat growth habit and button-like corallites, which can grow in columns, spherically or flattened. Large colonies of these can form gorgeous undulating bumps.
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Slaughter Bay, Norfolk Island, March 2020
From 'Watch' to 'Warning'
Last week, the chance of coral bleaching in Norfolk Island’s inshore lagoons was raised from ‘Watch’ to ‘Warning’ and will more than likely rise to Alert levels one and two in coming weeks. So why do I worry about water quality all the time when bleaching seems inevitable these days and so the reef is probably doomed anyway? Read on to find out.
Read MoreFrom little things – watching them grow
Small numbers of different fish species is not an unusual phenomenon on Norfolk Island’s reef, but it does demonstrate what a tiny, precious, coral reef ecosystem we have, when we can count individuals on one hand and watch each of them grow, like these little blackeye thicklips, a member of the wrasse family.
Read MoreEmily Bay at low tide, early morning, December 2024
A year in review – 2024 on Norfolk Island’s Reef
It is five years since I began wielding a camera underwater in Norfolk Island’s lagoons and my third ‘year in review’ for this ‘Out on a swim’ blog. And what a journey it has been. At least this year I have some great news to report, but – a bit like a curate’s egg (partly bad and partly good) – there are also some downers. Find out what 2024 has meant for Norfolk Island’s reef.
Read MoreThe Emily Bay’s massive ‘brain’ coral, Paragoniastrea australensis, photographed on 6 July 2024
While you were sleeping ...
This massive and incredibly slow-growing Paragoniastrea australensis sits in Emily Bay on Norfolk Island and is one of our most recognisable bommies. While all looks reasonably calm during the day, at night, while you are sleeping, the surface of the coral colony seethes with millions of tiny tentacles busily reaching out to find food, while others aggressively ward off opportunistic interlopers.
Read MoreThe view across Emily Bay and Slaughter Bay’s contiguous reef at low tide. Quintal’s Passage can be seen as two parrallel lines of rocks. It runs from Emily out to sea.
Blasting a passage through the reef, Norfolk Island
We have shaped Kingston, Norfolk Island, to suit our own ends, whether it is by draining the swamp, undertaking major earthworks, or by using it for agriculture and grazing. Our interventions have placed the reef at risk. But simultaneously, the confluence of human activity and a unique natural environment have created a place of incredible significance, which deserves some special management to preserve all its facets.
Read MoreHigh tide and pounding waves on Norfolk Island’s coral lagoon, southern shore, looking east towards Point Hunter
Norfolk Island reef's autopsy reports
More reports to add to a long catalogue of reports were delivered to the general public over the last few days on Norfolk Island’s water quality and reef health. Reassuringly, they all say the same thing. Our poor water quality is affecting the health of our reef. So the science must be good! So when are we going to do something about it?
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Green moon wrasse, Emily Bay, Norfolk Island
I only have fish eyes for you!
Do fish have eyes that move independently? Well, no, not really, but, yes, sort of, in some species, sometimes!
Read on for a brief ‘Fish eyes 101’ summary of how they work.
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A territorial banded scalyfin, Parma polylepis (aatuti), Norfolk Island
Know your damsels – multispine damselfish versus banded scalyfins
The banded scalyfins and the multispine damselfish are arguably two of the most common species in Norfolk Island’s lagoons. People often confuse them, particularly the juveniles, so here are some photos to clarify which are which. Once the differences have been pointed out, you’ll never confuse them again.
Read MoreNorfolk Island’s inshore reef during low tide and at sunrise
A year in review – 2023 on Norfolk Island's reef
Sadly, the year didn’t bring any obvious improvements to Norfolk Island's reef in terms of reductions in incidences of coral disease, or runaway algal growth. And while some fish seem to have departed the scene, another species has re-established its home. Here’s a rundown of what I've been doing during the last four years of observations, and what I've seen happening on our reef in 2023.
Read MoreFree weed!
I couldn’t resist posting these beautiful images of floating seaweed. Enjoy!
Read MoreAcropora coral, Norfolk Island, 14_StairwayReef, 14 November 2021
The journey from coral reef to rubble
For two years, I have stopped by and photographed this beautiful Acropora coral formation in Emily Bay on Norfolk Island. In my database for this colony, I called the folder 14_StairwayReef; 14 for the geographic location on a map, followed by my romantic name for it. Today it is just so much rubble.
Read MoreWhite syndrome on a Hynophora pilosa colony, Norfolk Island, 23 November 2023
The spatiotemporal dynamics of a coral disease
A pictorial study of the spread of white syndrome, over time, in a Hynophora pilosa colony on Norfolk Island. This beautiful coral colony is in the middle of the channel that runs between the contiguous Emily and Slaughter Bays, in Norfolk Island’s inshore coral reef lagoon. It’s one of my favourite places to pause and admire the scenery, when I’m out on my swim.
Read MoreA bubble-tip anemone, Norfolk Island
Do sea anemones hold the key to immortality?
A close relative of corals and jellyfish, sea anemones are soft-bodied animals that ensnare passing prey with their stinging tentacles. No one really knows how long they can live, but in the wild they are thought to live for more than a hundred years. They have some clever adaptations that contribute to their longevity. Maybe they can teach us their secrets for a long life!
Read MoreAcropora corals, Norfolk Island’s reef
Brown? Yes. Boring? Definitely not!
Norfolk Island’s reef is one of Australia’s most southerly. It isn’t showy like the Great Barrier Reef, and I often hear the comment that it is a little dowdy – boring and brown. I’m here to tell you that it is anything but.
For this little photo essay I randomly selected just a handful of my many ‘boring, brown’ coral images to demonstrate my point. I barely scratched the surface of my photo library, yet I think you will agree, the diversity is just amazing!
Read MoreEmily Bay, full moon rising, by Norfolk Island photographer Joelene Oliver
Full moon, low tides and Norfolk Island’s reef
With the low, low tides associated with a full moon, the bays on Norfolk Island are like a huge, calm swimming pool, giving us some great snorkelling opportunities. These low tides should also let us view the causeway, which will no doubt be exposed too. This post explores these opportunities as well as what the low tides mean for corals. Read more in this fact packed blog post.
Read MoreMy grandson
For the sake of our grandchildren
What will my grandson see when he is old enough to snorkel on Norfolk Island’s reef? Will there be anything left as I know it? Or will he think it is all great because of that hoary old phenomenon called ‘shifting baseline syndrome’? This record of all my photos and observations will give him some idea of what we had in our bays in the 2020s.
Read MoreNorfolk Island blenny, Parablennius serratolineatus
Norfolk Island's endemics on record
It is fascinating to me that, in terms of biodiversity, there is still a slight feel of the frontier to Norfolk Island. So remote and isolated from any other land mass, it stands to reason that we have some different species that are found only here. On such is the Norfolk Island blenny.
Read MoreJust some of our beautiful corals on Norfolk Island
A boring, brown reef?
People say that Norfolk Island’s reef is rather boring and brown when compared to the Great Barrier Reef. While it may not be as colourful, I think you have to agree that it is anything but boring brown!
Read MoreWhite-speckled sea hare, Aplysia argus, in Emily Bay, Norfolk Island
Sea hares – our submarine shreks
Sea hares, little submarine shreks that lumber their way slowly around intertidal zone are fascinating, and quite common, although most people won’t have heard of them. Their appetite for algae makes these a really useful species to have in our bays, along with parrotfish, sea cucumbers and sea urchins. And it is the algae that dictates their colouring.
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