PRISTINE ECOSYSTEM

Researchers are attracted to Palmyra Atoll out of interest in better understanding how relatively pristine reef ecosystems function ecologically....[More]

PRISTINE ECOSYSTEM

Researchers are attracted to Palmyra Atoll out of interest in better understanding how relatively pristine reef ecosystems function ecologically. With its intact communities of predators, herbivores and sea bottom species, Palmyra provides a time machine for estimating what's been lost from more degraded reef systems elsewhere. Here, a large school of herbivorous convict tang (Acanthurus triostegus) flows over a back reef while predatory bluefin trevally (Caranx melampygus) patrol for unwary prey.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

SUNSET WRASSE

On coral reefs full of diverse fish species, the vibrant colors and patterns of the sunset wrasse ( Thalassoma lutescens ) are likely important for species and mate recognition....[More]

SUNSET WRASSE

On coral reefs full of diverse fish species, the vibrant colors and patterns of the sunset wrasse (Thalassoma lutescens) are likely important for species and mate recognition. Like many other wrasses, sunsets usually change gender during the course of their lifetimes. Most individuals are born female, and a few will then pass through this initial phase to become territorial terminal phase males, like the individual in this photo. A smaller number of fish are born male and remain in the initial phase throughout their lives, acting as "sneaker" or "streaker" males in terminal males' harems.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

A scarface blenny (Cirripectes vanderbilti) perches in the folds of the coral Turbinaria reniformis. The blenny feeds on algae and detritus.

HAWKFISH

As its common name may imply, freckled hawkfish ( Paracirrhites forsteri ) perch on corals (here, Hydnophora microconos ) and other bottom structures, waiting to ambush smaller fishes and crustaceans....[More]

HAWKFISH

As its common name may imply, freckled hawkfish (Paracirrhites forsteri) perch on corals (here, Hydnophora microconos) and other bottom structures, waiting to ambush smaller fishes and crustaceans. Male hawkfish establish and defend territories in order to attract females to their harems.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

MORAY EEL

A giant moray ( Gymnothorax javanicus ) stares at the camera as it rests at a cleaning station and allows several small fishes (a red lip cleaner wrasse, Labroides rubrolabiatus , and two bluestreak cleaner wrasses, Labroides dimidiatus ) to remove small ectoparasites from its skin....[More]

MORAY EEL

A giant moray (Gymnothorax javanicus) stares at the camera as it rests at a cleaning station and allows several small fishes (a red lip cleaner wrasse, Labroides rubrolabiatus, and two bluestreak cleaner wrasses, Labroides dimidiatus) to remove small ectoparasites from its skin. Many would-be predators and prey species (especially wrasses, gobies, and shrimp) have evolved cleaner mutualisms on reefs—presumably because for the predator, the benefit of having parasites removed outweighs the cost of forgone predation on the cleaners. Similarly, for the cleaner the benefit of easy access to small crustaceans living on the predator's skin as well as food residue, parasites, and mucus in the predator's mouth outweighs the risk of being eaten.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

One of the most common reef sharks, Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos is found in particular abundance on the reef, part of an unusual surplus of predators.

GREEN TURTLE

A green turtle ( Chelonia mydas ) swims on the fore-reef at Palmyra Atoll. Like other species of sea turtles, green turtles are imperiled by a mix of direct exploitation for food, entanglement in fishing gear, impacts from pollution, and disturbance and destruction of their nesting beaches....[More]

GREEN TURTLE

A green turtle (Chelonia mydas) swims on the fore-reef at Palmyra Atoll. Like other species of sea turtles, green turtles are imperiled by a mix of direct exploitation for food, entanglement in fishing gear, impacts from pollution, and disturbance and destruction of their nesting beaches. In addition, green turtles in some parts of their pantropical to subtropical distribution suffer from an often fatal infectious disease known as fibropapillomatosis. Although highly protected areas such as the Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge within the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument provide areas of refuge from many human impacts, these wide-ranging animals require additional conservation measures to ensure the viability and recovery of their populations.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

SEA BIRDS

Birds, such as the sooty terns ( Onychoprion fuscata ) pictured here, play a crucial role in the life of the reef by feasting on bait fish at sea and then bringing that biomass back to islands like Palmyra, where their feces fertilizes the reef....[More]

SEA BIRDS

Birds, such as the sooty terns (Onychoprion fuscata) pictured here, play a crucial role in the life of the reef by feasting on bait fish at sea and then bringing that biomass back to islands like Palmyra, where their feces fertilizes the reef. Sooty terns are notoriously wandering birds that were historically found in vast numbers across the central Pacific. Unlike other terns, sooties feed largely at dusk and through the night and do not dive, but rather pluck small fish and squid from the water's surface. The colonies on Palmyra have grown via several programs to expand potential breeding areas by removing all shrubby vegetation. The birds have responded vigorously, and there are now two large breeding areas that they use in the tens of thousands.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

BABY BIRD

This young masked booby ( Sula dactylatra ) will grow into a huge bird that employs spectacular high-speed, torpedolike plunge dives into the vast shoals of fish that surround Palmyra....[More]

BABY BIRD

This young masked booby (Sula dactylatra) will grow into a huge bird that employs spectacular high-speed, torpedolike plunge dives into the vast shoals of fish that surround Palmyra. Masked boobies were once abundant across many islands of the tropical Pacific, but because they nest close to the ground they are exceptionally vulnerable to human development and to larger introduced predators such as pigs. Prehistoric and modern human colonization of oceanic islands has doubtlessly extirpated numerous colonies. Palmyra's masked boobies are relatively protected by the stable size of the small colony, the atoll's remoteness and protected status, and the unlikeliness of repeated large-scale disturbances.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

GREAT FRIGATE

Great frigate birds ( Fregata minor ) are famous for being "kleptoparasites," for their incredible skill and persistence in stealing food from other individuals....[More]

GREAT FRIGATE

Great frigate birds (Fregata minor) are famous for being "kleptoparasites," for their incredible skill and persistence in stealing food from other individuals. Observing huge great frigates on Palmyra artfully chase tiny terns, many times smaller in size, until they drop a meal they are carrying back to their nests, only to be snatchedin midair by the frigate, is a spectacular sight. However, of the five frigate species in the world ocean, the greats are generally the least reliant on kleptoparasitism. Rather, they tend to use their slender hooked bills to specialize on delicately plucking fish from just below the surface; they also feast on flying fish (Exocoetidae) flushed by marine predators or the frigates themselves into the air. Frigates are birds that will travel great distances in search of concentrations of their preferred food, often seeking out aggregations of large predatory fish and marine mammals that aid in their hunting success by concentrating otherwise inaccessible food sources such as squid at the surface. One bird first tagged in the French Frigate Shoals in the northwest Hawaiian Islands turned up in the Philippines having traversed a distance of over 4,600 miles (6,500 kilometers).  [Less] [Link to this slide]