| | REEF CHATTROPICAL NORTH QUEENSLAND
January 2018 | |
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| | Next gen movie stars
The next generation of movie stars has arrived on the Great Barrier Reef. Divers Den captured this image of baby clownfish swimming above clownfish eggs at the Sandras dive site on Norman Reef. The clownfish or anemonefish lay about 1,000 eggs on a rock or hard surface near their anemone home. | |
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| | As we saw in the movie, the dads are very protective of their offspring so the eggs have a great chance of survival ensuring there will be plenty of baby Nemos and grown-up Nemos for visitors to see. Like many animals on the Reef, they have developed a mutually beneficial relationship with another species, large sea anemones whose stinging tentacles they are immune to. The tentacles deter would-be predators from pursuing the anemonefish into their carpet-like hosted home. There are more than 30 species within the Amphiprioninae subfamily with colours ranging from yellow to orange and even a dark blackish colour. Most show white bars or patches. They range in size from 7cm to 16cm and live at the bottom of shallow seas in sheltered reefs. | |
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| | Spotlight on Arlington Reef by Sunlover Cruises
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| | Visibility: Like all parts of the Great Barrier Reef, which is made up of more than 2,900 individual reef systems, visibility can vary depending on the weather and currents. Visibility was 10 - 15 metres on the day this photo was taken allowing snorkellers to easily see the reef around the pontoon.
Highlights: Visitors can now explore Arlington Reef from the comfort of a pontoon with the launch of Sunlover’s reef platform at the site. One of the first things that snorkellers and divers will see are giant clams which can weigh up to 200kg and can be more than a century old. Another large marine creature that regularly glides through is the manta ray. Living off tiny Zooplankton, these amazing animals can grow to more than 2 metres long and a massive 7 metres wide. The much smaller clownfish are also plentiful in the shallower water of Arlington Reef. | |
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| | Health: Arlington Reef has been affected by the crown-of-thorns starfish in the past. To ensure this pest, which feeds on coral, does not encroach on the reef around the pontoon, Sunlover Reef Cruises supports the Eye on the Reef program. Through this Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority program, Sunlover’s dive and marine biology teams look for and remove the starfish.
www.sunlover.com.au | |
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| | People on the ReefBedarra Island owner Sam Charlton loves the perspective he gets of the Great Barrier Reef from a stand-up paddle board. “My favourite Bedarra experience was having a manta ray follow me around the island. Every time I stopped paddling it would do a loop around me and come back again. On another occasion, I wanted to show a new staff member around the island. It was a perfect glassy day so we both went for a paddle and heard the noise of whales exhaling through their blowholes. Three humpback whales came up beside us, a mother, father and their calf.” In 1986, aged 12, Sam spent 18 idyllic months living on Bedarra Island with his family alongside renowned Australian artist Noel Wood who had resided on the island since 1936. >> Read full story | |
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| | Reef Initiatives on the Land | |
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| | The knowledge of Traditional Owners and farmers is being used as part of a research project to ensure one of the largest lagoons in the Tully Great Barrier Reef catchment is in top shape. Terrain’s Tony O’Malley said farmers were working with Gulnay Traditional Owners, Girringun Aboriginal Corporation, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services, Cassowary Coast Regional Council and James Cook University to share technical, local and practical knowledge about Barretts Lagoon. >> Read more | |
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| | Getting Social on the Reef | | | |
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Photo courtesy: Wavelength Reef Cruises | |
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Photo courtesy: Queensland Government Baby turtles are hatching along the Great Barrier Reef and Raine Island, on the remote northern tip of the Reef, is the breeding ground for one of the world’s largest populations of green turtles. During the nesting season, as many as 60,000 female green turtles swim thousands of kilometres from their feeding grounds in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Torres Strait and the West Pacific to this tiny island to lay their eggs. Raine Island has been a nesting place for green turtles for more than 1000 years, making it the longest known marine turtle rookery anywhere in the world. The Queensland Government has joined with BHP, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Traditional Owners and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation to invest in the island’s future. >> Read more | |
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| | WE INVITE YOU TO CONTRIBUTE CONTENT TO REEF CHAT! Reef Chat is distributed on the 3rd Thursday of each month. Please submit your Great Barrier Reef news to Reef Chat before the 2nd Thursday of every month. | |
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