by Alison Jones | Mar 7, 2020 | Coral
What is it about the Keppel Islands? Even after a marine heat wave in February 2020 reaching temperatures of 32 °C and lasting weeks and affecting 90% of the branching corals in the Keppels, they recovered within a matter of months 1. Cumulative heat stress, which...
by Alison Jones | Nov 1, 2020 | People and places
Gordon La Praik is a citizen scientist who devoted decades of his life to studying, identifying and documenting the soft corals and mollusc of the Keppels and Southern Great Barrier Reef. Gordon has allowed us to share his stunning photographs and unique story through...
by Alison Jones | Aug 23, 2020 | Coral
—The Keppel Islands— Keppel Bay’s 7700-year-old reefs By Dr Alison Jones | 23 Aug 2020 Unlike other reefs of the Great Barrier Reef, Keppel Bay reefs have been able to alter their pattern of growth and survive changes in sea level and climate about every...
by Alison Jones | Apr 20, 2020 | Coral
In February 2020, the first bleaching event in 14 years occurred in the Keppel Islands. The corals mainly affected were the fast-growing branching corals that live in the shallow waters fringing the islands. While many see this as a devastating event, a new study...
by Alison Jones | Jan 22, 2020 | Coral
If you’re visiting Monkey Reef off Great Keppel Island this week, you may see patches of bleached or seemingly dead corals. After a run of days with light winds and water temperatures peaking during the mid afternoons above 28 degrees C in the last 3 weeks, the...
by Alison Jones | Sep 29, 2019 | Coral
Corals at Monkey Beach reef off Great Keppel Island were exposed to the air during the spring low tides at around 3am and 3pm on the 28th and 29th of September 2019. These extreme ‘spring’ low and high tides occur monthly at the time of the New Moon but...
by Alison Jones | Sep 29, 2019 | Everything else
Coral will grow just about anywhere! This diver’s mask lay submerged for months and has become home to sponges, soft corals, turf algae, macro algae and what looks like a cyanobacteria. It shows how opportunistic marine animals and plants can be....
by Alison Jones | Jun 8, 2019 | Everything else
Scott Gardner was returning from an 18-metre dive in the Keppels on 12 November 2006 when he heard a cracking noise. He saw a tuskfish hovering just above a sand patch near a rock grasping a cockle in its mouth. His photos show the fish grasping the shell in its jaws...
by Alison Jones | May 23, 2019 | Everything else
Aptly named for its random attacks on humans, this giant Ferocious Puffer fish didn’t seem so fierce at the time. It was not camera-shy and seemed to enjoy our pats and attention. The spines of the Ferocious Puffer fish can be poisonous and it can bite off...
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