A mix of sites were visited over this leg of the trip: Nelson Island, Victory Bank, and Blenheim. P. acuta and P. damicornis were not observed at the vast majority of these reefs, so I instead focused on sampling both Seriatopora spp. and other pocilloporids for my collaborators. Please note that the two dives on 2015-04-22 were made at Salomon, though these have been moved to the Salomon page given how extensively this region was surveyed.

Please note that the site to the far west (BiNi80a) was technically considered part of Great Chagos.

Please note that the site to the far west (BiNi80a) was technically considered part of Great Chagos.

Three reefs (BiNi77-79) were surveyed around Nelson Island on 2015-04-20, and neither P. acuta nor P. damicornis were observed at any of them; instead, I sampled Seriatopora spp. (ChSe93-95 from BiNi77) and other pocilloporids for collaborators.

BiNi77 (2015-04-20) leeward lagoonal patch reef

BiNi78 (2015-04-20)

BiNi79 (2015-04-20)

BiNi80a (2015-04-21) This site was technically part of the Great Chagos region but has been included in the map above for convenience. I have grouped the images of the four Seriatopora spp. colonies (ChSe96-99) sampled across both dives to this site after the BiNi80b habitat images.

BiNi80b (2015-04-21) We returned to this site later in the day to collect crown of thorns seastars, which were decimating the reef.

BIOT_VictoryBank_diveSites_FINAL.png

BiVb81 (2015-04-21) Two Seriatopora spp. colonies (CHSe100-101) were sampled from this leeward submerged rim reef.

BiVb99 (2015-04-27) A lone P. acuta (ChPa141) and four Seriatopora spp. (ChSe146-149) colonies were observed at, and sampled from, this leeward lagoonal patch reef.

BiVb108 (2015-04-30) Three Seriatopora spp. colonies (ChSe153-155) were sampled from this lagoonal patch reef (actually, it could be part of the submerged rim).

BiVb109 (2015-04-30) Neither P. acuta/damicornis nor Seriatopora spp. were observed at this bank “forereef.”

BIOT_BlenheimReef_diveSites_FINAL.png

BiBl82 (2015-04-22) Three Seriatopora spp. (ChSe102-104) were sampled from this forereef site.

BiBl83 (2015-04-22) forereef

BiBl86 (2015-04-23) Two Seriatopora spp. colonies (ChSe111-112) were sampled from this forereef. Please note that sites 84-85 were at Salomon and so can be found on that page.

BiBl87 (2015-04-23) Seven Seriatopora spp. colonies (ChSe113-119) were sampled from this forereef. The latter colony was sampled by a collaborator and so I do not have the associated pictures.

BiBl113 (2015-05-03) did not dive at this leeward lagoonal patch reef