Today, we worked on the reefs on the northeast and north sectors of Diego Garcia, the largest island of the Chagos archipelago, at depths ranging from 25 meters up to 5 meters. Conditions were a little bumpy on the surface, but it was wonderful, as usual, underwater. This photo shows the manta ray that swam by today, so close it almost swam into one of us. It was startled when at about a metre away it noticed the diver. One of the problems with scientific diving is that your head is usually down, carefully observing the half metre quadrant or perhaps of tape in front of you and so you often miss much of the spectacular wildlife that swims by. A favorite way of winding up colleagues is to ask them if they noticed the shark, dolphin, manta or some other exotic swimming over their head. In fact, today team members Dr. Heather Koldeway and Catherine Head didn’t see this manta as it swam over them, much to their disappointment.
Huge schools of jacks, snappers, fusiliers and parrotfish continue to thrive here as they did before. As we dropped team member and ornithologist Pete Carr off on one of the small islands, which has many birds, it was nice to see a family of nurse sharks in the shallows.
The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)
Professor Charles Sheppard with the University of Warwick in the UK has led several scientific research expeditions to the Chagos Archipelago. Following early visits in the 1970s, expeditions he has organised since 1996 have involved over 100 scientists from numerous institutions, chosen to produce an integrated understanding of this archipelago. His speciality is the condition of coral reefs, especially those around the world that have suffered from human impacts. This specialization quickly led to recognition of the contrasting, remarkable, and unique condition of the huge area of reefs in Chagos: Chagos has escaped most of the impacts that have affected most of the world.
