The Great Barrier Reef supports healthy populations of whitetip, blacktip, and grey reef sharks. Understanding their behaviour - and their ecological role - changes how you feel about sharing the water with them.
Every June and July, dwarf minke whales arrive in the northern Great Barrier Reef and do something no other whale population does anywhere on Earth: they seek out divers.
At Cod Hole on Ribbon Reef No. 10, potato cod the size of armchairs have been greeting divers for decades. Understanding why tells you something important about fish intelligence.
Parrotfish produce the white sand beaches of the Great Barrier Reef - and they do a great deal more besides. Understanding their role changes how you see the reef entirely.
I’ve been “hypnotised” by a cuttlefish. I mean this almost literally. I was snorkelling in a shallow bay near Whyalla in South Australia — home to the world’s largest aggregation of giant Australian cuttlefish during their winter spawning season —…
Reef manta rays follow predictable routes along the Great Barrier Reef, visiting cleaning stations with the regularity of commuters. Scientists have been tracking them for years - and what they've found is remarkable.
I have dived with sea turtles in a dozen countries. I have watched them feed on coral and seagrass, sleep wedged under ledges, glide through schools of fish that parted for them the way crowds part for someone large and…
Most people, on their first reef dive, look past the coral. This is understandable. The reef is full of movement — fish darting, current swaying sea fans, a turtle ghosting through the blue. The coral is just the backdrop. The…
Let me tell you about the worst dive of my life that turned out to be the best. I was doing a channel dive at Fakarava Atoll in French Polynesia — the south pass, Tetamanu, which has a reputation among…
The first time I hovered above a carpet anemone on the Great Barrier Reef, I was convinced I was witnessing something rehearsed. A pair of orange-and-white clownfish darted in and out of the swaying tentacles with the confidence of animals…