Adventure Ausrama Blog

Though heat itself may damage the Great Barrier Reef, higher levels of acidity due to raised temperatures will not increase coral bleaching. Too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere ends up absorbed in the surface of sea water. This raises acidity. There is not a direct relationship between acidification and coral bleaching . However, the kinds of animal life present in an area will be changed by more acid conditions. The whole ecosystem of the reef will be altered forever. Both heat and more acidity will cause this. Tests have been done with the national sea simulator which gives quite specific results. The Sea Sim is new technology. It is being given test runs at present. Acidification and heat together do not raise coral bleaching. This is a major finding. Scientists are now going down a new path. The new premise came from a combined research program using the Sea Sim and hands on tests off the coast of Papua New Guinea; so coral itself is relatively safe, but...

Australia has the highest skin cancer rate in the world. This is because the population of this country is composed mainly of fair-skinned northern Europeans and Australia is very hot in summer. Despite advertising campaigns citing the dangers of sun bathing men still go around with no shirts and women bake in their back gardens or at the beach. If only people could take a pill to stop skin cancer. Tests on a coral indicate that a tablet to prevent eye and skin damage from exposure to the sun may be within reach. The coral contains natural UV blockers. Though the coral is on the Australian Great Barrier reef, research is being done by the British government. Paul Long of King's College London is taking samples from Acropora microphthalma coral on night dives. Walter Dunlap of the Australian Institute for Marine Science noticed the attribute in 1986. While the coral contains the UV protector, a base chemical is created by algae living nearby. The coral absorbs this ...

It's well known that fish living near coral are colored the same as Othe background for protection from predators. The Harlequin filefish (orange spotted filefish), Oxymonacanthus longirostris , goes to extremes to blend into the coral it lives in. The fish has a hook on the back of its head that it uses to hook onto coral so it can sleep in peace. The shape with the polka-dot blue and yellow spots on its body perfectly match the coral it lives in. Its fin is the same color as the coral's growing tip. It blends in so well predators just swim past them. When fish use shape and color to match background coral the system is called masquerading. Using color alone is called crypsis. Insects look like plants that they live in, but coral fish have perfected camouflage. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia http://www.technorati.com/blogs/ http://adventure--australia.blo...

Two new species have been found in Australia in the Coral Sea near the Barrier Reef. Atolls were explored by a team from the Queensland Museum and the University of Queensland. In the dark depths adjacent to the atolls a new pygmy seahorse and coral were found. They are not really new: they have always been there. The depths were surveyed with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). The seahorse, Hippocampus denise , is native to the Coral Sea of the Indo-West Pacific. It was not know to exist in Australian waters. The tiny seahorse usually lives in shallow water not at depths which sunlight does not reach. They may be going deeper to avoid damage to coral from climate change. In regard to the new coral, Echinomorpha nishihirai , perhaps the larvae are safer in this zone. They could be acting as seeding areas to repopulate shallower zones. La Niña has damaged many of these. Many more new species are expected to be identified in the ongoing research. http://www.adventure--austr...