Author: Andrew Baird Australia's Indian Ocean Territories (IOT) are made up of Cocos (Keeling) Island and Christmas Island, 1000s of km to west of Western Australia. Cocos (Keeling) Island is one of the most isolated atolls in the world. Cocos (Keeling) Island is famous, among other things, for being the first atoll visited by Charles … Continue reading The Indian Ocean Territories (IOT), Australia

Author: Andrew Baird The coral fauna of French Polynesia is an important part of the taxonomic puzzle. Tahiti, in particular, has been visited by numerous expeditions including the US Exploring Expedition, the British led Challenger Expedition, and more recently the Tara Oceans Expedition. All these expeditions collected specimens that serve as type material for some … Continue reading Corals of Moorea

Author: Andrew Baird The Exmouth Navy Pier is often ranked as one of the 10 best shore dive sites, famous for its fish life and invertebrates such as nudibranchs, octopus, and harlequin shrimp. However, what it is not so well known for its corals, indeed, about 5 minutes into our dive I thought I had … Continue reading Corals of the Exmouth Navy Pier

Author: Andrew Baird Andrew Baird has recently returned from a research trip to Aceh, Indonesia. The aims of the trip were to present some of Project Phoenix’s results to colleagues at Syiah Kuala University (Universitas Syiah Kuala; USK) in Banda Aceh and to curate the coral specimens collected on previous trips to Aceh. The results … Continue reading The Coral Fauna of Aceh, Indonesia

Author: Andrew Baird The Ogasawara Archipelago is a group of approximately 30 islands in the northern Pacific. The islands are part of the territory of Japan. The Ogasawara Islands are an important location in terms of taxonomy because they are the type location for nine nominal species. The islands were visited by the US Northern … Continue reading Wonders of Ogasawara Islands

Author: Andrew Baird I have just returned from Ishigaki where I dived in the fabled Sekisei lagoon and close to Kabira Bay (Fig. 1) to track down 10 or so topotypes from the Yaeyama Islands, Japan. My host for this trip was Dr. Go Suzuki who has done great work on the population ecology of … Continue reading Ishigaki and the fabled Sekisei lagoon and Kabira Bay

Author: Andrew Baird In August I had the pleasure and privilege of diving with Dr. Takuma Mezaki of the Kuroshio Biological Research Institute on the rocky reefs of Misaki, Japan. The area is the type location for a number of nominal coral species, including Lobophyllia robusta Veron 1990 and Cyphastrea japonica Yabe & Sugiyama, 1932 but the area is … Continue reading August 2022 Shikoku and Kyushu

Author: Andrew Baird Project Phoenix’s hunt for topotypes continued in the magical Amami-Oshima Island in the Ryukyu Archipelago in Japan.  In 1856, the ships of the Northern Pacific US exploring expedition anchored in the south of 'Amami-Ousima' (as written in ships log and associated expedition texts) and collected a number of coral specimens that served … Continue reading July 2022 Amami Islands

Project Phoenix has just returned from a collecting trip to Norfolk Island. Norfolk Island (29.03° S; 167.95° E) is one of the most isolated reefs in the Pacific Ocean according to an index developed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The size of the reef surrounding the island is likely to have fluctuated widely … Continue reading November 2021 Norfolk Island

South Australia might not seem like an obvious destination to collect reef-building corals, but it is, in fact, the type location for four nominal species: Caryophyllia australis Milne-Edwards & Haime 1849; Cylicia magna Tenison-Woods, 1878; Homophyllia incrustans Dennant 1906 and Plesiastrea proximalis Dennant 1904. Caryophyllia australis is currently accepted as Homophyllia australis; Cylicia magna is … Continue reading October 2021 Port Noarlunga Jetty, South Australia