Archive by category | Marine science

Chasing Coral: beauty and destruction

Chasing Coral: beauty and destruction

First we take the plunge, off the boat and into the blue. Once the bubbles clear, wonders emerge. Guided by the camera, the eye is initially drawn to the obvious: turtles, rays, eels, jellies, fish. But the star of this show is a different kind of animal. The focus shifts, and we see a variety of fabulously intricate and colourful structures, some branched like trees, others spiny and globular. Each edifice in this marine metropolis was erected by corals — master builders now under unprecedented threat.  Read more

A reef dive at London’s Natural History Museum

A reef dive at London’s Natural History Museum

Covering less than 1% of the ocean’s floor, coral reefs house around 25% of the ocean’s biodiversity. This diversity, and the ‘services’ reefs provide, are celebrated in the Natural History Museum of London’s exhibition Coral Reefs: Secret Cities of the Sea, which opened on 27 March.  Read more