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the blue bottle jellyfish
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date: 14/3/2009
Author:Nick Brennan
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Weather: Overcast | Air Temp: 27.4°C | Wind: SE 20/25 knots | Water Temp: 25°C | Water Visibility: ~10 m | Sea State: Chop
After a few big days tidying up from Cyclone Hamish the resort is back in action! We were fortunate to escape the full brunt of Hamish’s fury with the resort only sustaining very minor damage that our sensational crew has easily fixed.
The reef is still looking amazing as always with all of the usual colourful and curious inhabitants weathering out the storm. Cyclones are completely natural phenomena on the Great Barrier Reef and all of the organisms of the reef are adapted to deal with them. In actual fact the disturbance that a cyclone creates actually promotes diversity among coral species by breaking the fast growing corals and letting the slower growing corals underneath get more sunlight.
The glass bottom boat got out amongst it today and had some brilliant encounters with juvenile green turtles that seemed keen to hang out with our guests. It was very exciting and a lot of great photos were taken with these special creatures. Big schools of blue green chromis were making the most of plankton in the water dazzling guests with their iridescent colouring.
The guided reef walk was fantastic today with a lot of interesting creatures showing up. The group came across three beautiful dolabella sea hares that were all completely different in colour. Blue linckia sea stars were found throughout the duration of the walk allowing guests to get some brilliant photos and observe the tiny tube feet they use for locomotion.
In the evening at Island Whispers guests were invited down to the beach to release some turtle hatchlings that had been processed out of a nest during the day. The three little turtles were all named Hamish after the cyclone and ran down the beach very energetically. They were very special and guests thought these might be the lucky little turtles that will come back in 30 years time.
After a delicious dinner guests came to learn about some dangerous marine creatures found on Lady Elliot Island. They were interested in the blue bottle jellyfish, particularly the fact that it’s not a jellyfish at all. It is actually a hydroid made up of a group of organisms all working together. Guests had seen them on the gold coast and knew about their nasty sting. In the end everybody had some great questions and enjoyed expanding their knowledge on these fascinating creatures.
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Blue Bottle Jenni
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