Weekly Roundup March 1st - March 6th

This week marked the start of a new group of students amongst which were:

2 interns

1 x 4 week course

1`x 2 week course

1 x 3 day course

&

1 x Conservation Diver Instructor Trainee

 

We started the week learning about our Ecological Monitoring Program and the species that we record as indicator species along the reef.

 

First up was the invertebrate EMP

 

Marbled Sea Cucumber (Bohadschia graeffei)

       Jorunna Nudibranch (Jorunna funebris)

Our students made their way through the transect counting all of the invertebrate species that fell into our indicator species list.

 

Then came the Fish EMP and a chance for the guys to have a second run at invertebrates

The transect line 

   Longfin Bannerfish (Heniochus acuminatus)

 

The most exciting part of the week however was that our students were lucky enough to join us around coral spawning time and it’s safe to say the coral did not disappoint. We were able to catch a whole range of coral genera releasing their gamete bundles into the big wide world.

The aftermath of Fungids spawning

 

          The start of Goniastrea spawning after the initial setting period       

   Acropora mid spawn

 

To round of the week we ended with Substrate EMP and Coral Taxonomy

Let’s see what the next week brings

Until then remember its