Lizard Island - Island Life 5/6 - Go Wild

Rising from the blue waters of the Great Barrier Reef to the north of Cooktown, Lizard Island is the perfect spot from which to explore this coral wonderland for tourist and scientist alike. For nearly three decades, the waters around Lizard have been attracting the world’s top marine biologists and the island has become home to one of the most important reef research stations in the world.

The coral reefs surrounding Lizard have always been the island’s main attraction - even if not always a desired one. Famous English navigator James Cook set foot on the island back in 1770, climbing to its summit in a desperate bid to find a way out of the labyrinth of reefs he had found himself trapped within. At the time, naturalist Joseph Banks was to lament in his journal that he had too little time to study the wealth of strange creatures he saw in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef. Two centuries later biologists like David Bellwood, Uli Siebeck and Jeff Leis are finally fulfilling his dreams.

Like Cook, David Bellwood hails from Yorkshire. He has spent two decades studying fish here at Lizard, among other things trying to work out which groups of fish are the most important residents in the reef community. His answers are a little surprising: it seems to be the grazing fish like parrotfish. These fish are responsible for ‘mowing’ the algae which would otherwise smother the coral but perhaps more significantly, they physically shape the reef structure. Most important of all is the bumphead parrotfish Bolbometopon. Over a metre long, this giant cruises the reef edge in large schools, crunching through both living and dead corals like a herd of buffalo grazes the plains. But studying Bolbometopon is not as easy as it sounds. For all their size, these fish are shy and elusive, adding a little spice to every research trip Bellwood makes to Lizard.

Uli Siebeck’s fish, on the other hand, can always be found. The small damsel fish she is working on for her PhD project are bright yellow and territorial which means they can always be found hiding under their ‘home’ rock or their favourite piece of coral. Uli’s challenges come when she tries to work out how the damsel fish see the world around them. Like many fish of the brightly coloured fish on the reef, Uli believes her yellow damsels can see using ultraviolet light and that they have a hidden colour pattern which they use for intimate communication between individuals. Because UV is invisible to humans, Uli has to find a way to make the fish reveal to us that they are really using this secret communication channel.

Lizard Island is the perfect place for Uli to do these experiments and she appreciates the privilege, not that the weather always lives up to its postcard reputation. Strong winds and storms can upset even the most well-planned trip to this remote island and, once there, the researchers just have to battle on to get their work done. Everything they need they must bring with them or ship in on the fortnightly barge service.

Out in the blue water beyond the island, Jeff Leis has his own problems: trying to follow a larval fish no bigger than a fingernail as it swims up, down and all-around in the featureless world of the open sea. Out here, Jeff and his divers can feel as exposed to danger as the tiny fish larvae they are following. There is method in their madness though, for they are close to filling in one of the most mysterious chapters in the life of reef fish – how do baby fish find their way back to the reef after being cast adrift by the parents at birth.

At Lizard, scientists have been exploring the intricacies of fish social life, the mysteries of reef growth and the spectacle of mass spawning. It’s important work. With coral reefs in decline around the tropics, the work being done on Lizard Island is providing the vital clues to reef health, growth and maintenance. Now, with summer on the way, it’s the perfect time to follow some of those researchers and share their amazing discoveries.

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