Orpheus Island Research Station November 2025
Author: Andrew Baird Spawning is upon us again on the Great Barrier Reef and I have just returned from a few days on Orpheus Island Research Station. I was helping Dr Carrie Sims of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute find…
Keep reading
The Mentawai – October 2025
Author: Andrew Baird “A marine biologist is never on holiday” — James Bond, the Spy Who Loved Me (1977) I have just returned from a trip to the Mentawai Islands in West Sumatra, Indonesia, in October 2025. The Mentawai Islands…
Keep reading
The Seychelles
Author: Andrew Baird Andrew, Tom and Charlotte recently returned from a sampling trip to the Seychelles hunting topotypes and attempting to sample as many different species as possible over 10 days on D’Arros Island followed by a week on Praslin…
Keep reading
Moreton Bay, December 2024
Author: Andrew Baird Andrew from James Cook University, Tom, Stefano and Merrick from Queensland Museum and Amanda from Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service visited the Moreton Bay Research Station on North Stradbroke Island in December 2024 (Fig. 1). The aim…
Keep readingTaiwan – July 2024
Author: Andrew Baird Andrew Baird has recently returned from Taiwan as a guest of the Delta Electronics Foundation (Delta), the Taiwanese Coral Reef Society and the National Museum of Marine Science and Technology (NMMST). Delta fund the reef research project…
Keep reading
Ogasawara wrap 2023
Author: Andrew Baird Prof Andrew Baird, of James Cook University, Australia, a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) alumni, joined Dr James Reimer and members of the Molecular Invertebrate Systematics and Ecology (MISE) Laboratory of the University of…
Keep reading
The Crystal Pool on Norfolk Island, January 2024
Author: Andrew Baird If you only have one chance to go snorkel on Norfolk Island, the place to go is the Crystal Pool. This series of rock pools are almost completely isolated from the Ocean at low tide. The rock…
Keep reading
The Corals of the Great Sandy Marine Park, Queensland (AU)
Author: Andrew Baird A team from Project Phoenix visited the coastal town of Hervey Bay as guests of the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service & Partnerships to assess the biodiversity of the corals of the Great Sandy Marine Park (GSMP)…
Keep reading
The Indian Ocean Territories (IOT), Australia
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…
Keep reading
Corals of Moorea
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…
Keep reading
Corals of the Exmouth Navy Pier
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…
Keep reading
The Coral Fauna of Aceh, Indonesia
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…
Keep reading
Wonders of Ogasawara Islands
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…
Keep reading
Ishigaki and the fabled Sekisei lagoon and Kabira Bay
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…
Keep reading
August 2022 Shikoku and Kyushu
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…
Keep reading
July 2022 Amami Islands
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…
Keep reading
November 2021 Norfolk Island
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…
Keep reading
October 2021 Port Noarlunga Jetty, South Australia
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…
Keep reading
October 2021 Vernon Islands
Project Phoenix has just returned from a field trip to the Vernon Islands north of Darwin, Australia. The Top End is a vastly under-explored area for coral reef research. Indeed, there have been only two papers on the coral fauna…
Keep reading
May 2021 Palms Islands Group Field Trip
Andrew Baird, Tom Bridge, Pete Cowman, Augustine Crosbie, Jeremy Horowitz and Julia Hung have just returned from two weeks on James Cook University’s Orpheus Island Research Station. The aims of the trip were two-fold. Firstly, the hunt for topotypes continues.…
Keep readingSomething went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Project Phoenix 