The Emily Bay’s massive ‘brain’ coral, *Paragoniastrea australensis*, photographed on 6 July 2024

While you were sleeping ...

July 10, 2024

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.

The 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

April 6, 2024

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.

High tide and pounding waves on Norfolk Island’s coral lagoon, southern shore, looking east towards Point Hunter

Norfolk Island reef's autopsy reports

March 3, 2024

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?

Green moon wrasse, Emily Bay, Norfolk Island

I only have fish eyes for you!

February 22, 2024

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.

A territorial banded scalyfin, *Parma polylepis* (aatuti), Norfolk Island

Know your damsels – multispine damselfish versus banded scalyfins

February 7, 2024

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.

Norfolk Island’s inshore reef during low tide and at sunrise

A year in review – 2023 on Norfolk Island's reef

December 29, 2023

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.

Free weed!

December 22, 2023

I couldn’t resist posting these beautiful images of floating seaweed. Enjoy!

Acropora coral, Norfolk Island, 14_StairwayReef, 14 November 2021

The journey from coral reef to rubble

December 16, 2023

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.

White syndrome on a *Hynophora pilosa* colony, Norfolk Island, 23 November 2023

The spatiotemporal dynamics of a coral disease

December 9, 2023

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.

Do sea anemones hold the key to immortality?

October 17, 2023

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!

Brown? Yes. Boring? Definitely not!

October 11, 2023

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!

Emily Bay, full moon rising, by Norfolk Island photographer Joelene Oliver

Full moon, low tides and Norfolk Island’s reef

June 2, 2023

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.

For the sake of our grandchildren

March 26, 2023

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.

Norfolk Island blenny, *Parablennius serratolineatus*

Norfolk Island's endemics on record

March 14, 2023

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.

Just some of our beautiful corals on Norfolk Island

A boring, brown reef?

March 11, 2023

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!

White-speckled sea hare, *Aplysia argus,* in Emily Bay, Norfolk Island

Sea hares – our submarine shreks

February 19, 2023

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.

Be like Senator David Pocock - wear a rashie

Sunbeams and sunscreens

December 19, 2022

Did you know that sunscreen is highly toxic?

From 1 January 2021, Hawaii banned all sunscreens containing the reef-harming chemicals oxybenzone and octinoxate, and with good reason. This radical action was taken because unsafe sunscreens can, and have, caused ecological ruination to coral reefs.

Norfolk Island's Blenny Fest

October 31, 2022

At this time of year, as the mating season begins, the delightful little Lady Musgrave blennies, Cirripectes chelomatus, change colour from dark inky blue black with a few barely visible red spots to a showy and vibrant mustard yellow.

A flatworm, *Pseudobiceros sp*, dining on the tunicates

Sea squirts – friend or foe?

October 17, 2022

Emily Bay and Slaughter Bay have recently experienced a significant increase in the numbers of overgrowing tunicates. In this post I take a look at these critters – which, incredibly, are distant cousins to humans – and ask some questions about their presence and impact on our coral reef ecosystem.

Corals found in the lagoons of Norfolk Island

First records of coral spawning on Norfolk Island

July 17, 2022

There were three confirmed coral spawning events on Norfolk Island’s coral reef during the 2021–2022 season. The evidence for these has now been published in Galaxea, Journal of Coral Reef Studies. Written by Professor Andrew Baird, chief investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, I am very kindly cited as a co-author because of my observations of these events. Read here to find out more.

Featured

Oct 20, 2024

Gorgeous, boring and brown!

Oct 20, 2024

Gorgeous, boring brown, Montipora corals! These beautiful coral colonies (and remember, these consist of loads of tiny little animals, which work together to create these amazing shapes) are one of our key reef-building corals. There are around 85 known species belonging to the Montipora genus.

Oct 20, 2024

Oct 14, 2024

Taking stock. Which way from here?

Oct 14, 2024

CSIRO are on Norfolk Island this week to present the findings of their report into water quality. As our Administrator, George Plant, says: ‘What the data shows us is that the quality of ground and surface water entering Emily and Slaughter Bays often contains high levels of contamination ... The health of the Emily and Slaughter Bay reef will continue to decline if we do not improve water quality.’

Oct 14, 2024

Sep 15, 2024

You may call this beauty 'Lobophyllia recta sensu Veron'

Sep 15, 2024

One of the first corals to catch my eye when I set out with my new camera in January 2020 was this stunning boulder coral that sits off the Salt House in Emily Bay. Regular swimmers would all be aware of its presence, but not many would realise that it is quite possibly an as-yet undescribed species of coral, which for the moment is known as Lobophyllia recta sensu Veron.

Sep 15, 2024

Sep 7, 2024

'Barometers of life' – National Threatened Species Day

Sep 7, 2024

Today's National Threatened Species Day post discusses the conundrum of Australia's threatened species list and the IUCN Red List as they relate to vulnerable and threatened species here on Norfolk Island in the Marine Park. How, for example, do we offer protections to something that hasn't been formally identified yet, let alone listed as threatened?

Sep 7, 2024

Aug 9, 2024

Groundhog Day in Emily Bay

Aug 9, 2024

Four years ago, we had what amounted to nothing short of an environmental catastrophe in our lagoons. In the intervening years we have had numerous reports commissioned and delivered, and I have written plenty of blog posts about our poor water quality. Three weeks ago, on 20 July 2024, it all happened again. In this post, I explain exactly what occurred. Groundhog Day in Emily Bay, Norfolk Island.

Aug 9, 2024

Jul 23, 2024

Ageing colourfully. This guy!

Jul 23, 2024

I’ve been photographing this guy, a green moon wrasse, since 2020, when he was a young adult just transitioning from being a female to a male. Green moon wrasse are said to live five to seven years in the wild, which means that our lovely old friend here could well be classified as an elder. This post is dedicated to this cheeky and inquisitive fish, the boss!

Jul 23, 2024

Jul 10, 2024

While you were sleeping ...

Jul 10, 2024

Jul 7, 2024

Gender transitioning in the birdnose wrasse

Jul 7, 2024

All birdnose wrasses are born female but will change to males if the conditions are right. Its appearance changes radically throughout is lifecycle, from when it is a juvenile, through to being a female and then finally to being a male (known as sexual metamorphosis, or sequential hermaphroditism). For about three weeks you can see that transition taking place in the sequence of photos in this blog.

Jul 7, 2024

May 27, 2024

One hundred year-old coral gone in less than one hundred days

May 27, 2024

Paragoniastrea australensis is an incredibly slow growing species of coral. The colony featured in this post is probably 100 years old. When disease took hold in January 2024, it was gone, dead, in less than 100 days. Now it is a skeleton overgrown with algae. The worst part of this sad story is that it is our fault it died.

May 27, 2024

Apr 22, 2024

Fish stocktake – the mysteries, the surprises and the wins

Apr 22, 2024

In my ‘Year in review for 2023 on Norfolk Island’s reef’, published in December 2023, I made a few observations about the apparent disappearance of some fish species from Norfolk Island’s lagoons. I thought I would revisit these, principally because since December there has been so much additional fish activity here, with some exciting population increases and a few new species turning up.

Apr 22, 2024

Out on A Swim

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