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Expedition: the 'hidden' marine fauna of the Raja Ampat island groupCoral reefs are full of life, thousands of species living together form the richest ecosystem of the oceans. Multi-coloured gorgonians, stony corals, sponges and sea anemones offer a hiding place for camouflaged 'hidden' forms of life. These so-called 'cryptic' species are relatively unknown because their small size or camouflage make them hard to find. It is likely that species new to science will be encountered during this expedition.
The international research team will travel to the province of Papua, former Irian Jaya, between November 17 and December 17 2007, to carry out research on the biodiversity of the area's coral reefs. The hidden marine fauna of the Raja Ampat island group is the main research theme. The Raja Ampat island group is located west off the peninsula Birdhead in West Papua. The expedition leader is Dr. Bert W. Hoeksema, head department of Zoology and Marine Research at Naturalis.
Update every 1 or 2 days between November 17 and December 17. Marine Lakes of Raja Ampat - Leontine E. Becking, Lori J.B. Bell, Michael N. Dawson, Laura E. Martin, and Sharon Patris - 16 december 2007Marine lakes are little studied, yet fascinating ecosystems. These landlocked water bodies, which probably originated during the Holocene, have maintained a marine character through a network of submarine connections to the adjacent sea. During this expedition the ‘marine lakes team’ (Lisa Becking, Lori Bell, Michael Dawson, Laura Martin, and Sharon Patris) have conducted the first scientific surv... lees verderStel een vraag / bekijk eerder gestelde vragen Almost invisible seahorses - Frank Stokvis - 12 december 2007Pygmy seahorses belong to the genus Hippocampus, in which 33 species are recognized worldwide. Partially as a result of the growing popularity of underwater photography a number of pygmy seahorses have recently been described. They occur on, among others, sea fans and hydroids. These host species possess stinging cells in their tentacles, which function in food capturing and as a defense against p... lees verderStel een vraag / bekijk eerder gestelde vragen Shrimps on bubble corals - Eva van der Veer - 10 december 2007The high species diversity of Indonesian coral reefs is partly related to the numerous interspecific associations between species. My research focuses on the relationship between coral hosts and symbiotic shrimps. The corals within the bubble-coral family (Euphyllidae) have fleshy tentacles, which are exposed during day and night. Therefore they can provide shelter for shrimps of the genus Vir, bu... lees verderStel een vraag / bekijk eerder gestelde vragen Flatworms and Nudibranchs - Gerard van der Velde - 10 december 2007Flatworms and nudibranchs are both colourful freeliving animals on the reef, in mangroves and saline lakes. Although they resemble each other, the resemblance is superficial and both groups are evolutionary very different.. Flatworms form the most primitive two sided symmetrical, multicellular animals. They possess primitive eyes, an extensive intestinal system and a musculary pharynx, which is pr... lees verderStel een vraag / bekijk eerder gestelde vragen Colourful crawlers - Bastian Reijnen - 7 december 2007The Ovulidae is family of snails which primarily live on soft corals. They occur all over the world in both temperate and tropical oceans. Even one species is known from the North Sea (viz. Simnia patula). This species is often found by fisherman when they trawl for fish.What is amazing about these animals is that almost every ovulid species can copy the appearance of the host they live on. This k... lees verderStel een vraag / bekijk eerder gestelde vragen Foraminifera - Willem Renema - 5 december 2007Foraminifera are unicellular organisms with a calcareous skeleton. They are abundant and fossilise easily, and hence have attracted a lot of attention by paleontologists. During this expedition I am looking at large benthic foraminifera. This is an informal group that includes the reef associated foraminifera, generally recognizable by their relatively large size, often >0.5 mm. A better character... lees verderStel een vraag / bekijk eerder gestelde vragen Daily routine of the coral reef research - Bert Hoeksema - 1 december 2007The diving for the field research is done during all weekdays except Saturday. Night dives, which may result in records of species that hide during daylight, are an exception, since these are usually performed on Saturdays. After breakfast we depart in several boats to visit the first research locality of that particular day. We only make two dives per day in order to be able to deal with the larg... lees verderStel een vraag / bekijk eerder gestelde vragen Winardi - Reef flats of Mansuar and Kri - 1 december 2007A survey to map the reef condition of Mansuar Island, Kri Island and surroundings (Raja Ampat Regency, West Papua Province, Indonesia) was carried out 19-30 November 2007. This study is part of the Expedition of Widya Nusantara (EWiN) conducted by LIPI in collaboration with Naturalis, the Netherlands. Based on the preliminary survey results, the reef flats of the study area are mostly composed of ... lees verderStel een vraag / bekijk eerder gestelde vragen Rumput laut - Stefano Draisma - 27 november 2007Algae are at the base of the food chain, they use sunlight as energy source. Considering the fact that it takes ten kilo of plant material to make one kilo of herbivore (and 100 kilo of plant to make one kilo of carnivore), it is amazing how few algae you see on the reefs of Raja Ampat (the water is crystal clear so there cannot be a lot of phytoplankton). Many algae live a hidden life on the reef... lees verderStel een vraag / bekijk eerder gestelde vragen Coral gall crabs - Bert Hoeksema and Sancia van der Meij - 27 november 2007Several families of stony corals (Scleractinia) have species that may become infested by gall crabs. These very small crabs of some mm in diameter are so tiny that they are very hard to detect. One has to develop a search image in order to find these crabs, or more precisely to detect the holes that they produce inside their coral hosts. We are trying to find out whether gall crab species are very... lees verderStel een vraag / bekijk eerder gestelde vragen Commensal Amphipods and Host Associations - James D. Thomas - 27 november 2007As insects dominate the earth's terrestrial environment, amphipods dominate in aquatic environments. Occupying significant and crucial roles in ecosystem function and health, amphipods occur in all of the world's marine habitats. Amphipods in the family Leucothoidae possess a number of extraordinary features that include: 1) living an astonishing range of marine habitats; 2) commensal ecology; 3)... lees verderStel een vraag / bekijk eerder gestelde vragen Colourful shrimps - Charles Fransen - 20 november 2007The coral reef hosts many species of bright coloured shrimps. Most of these belong to the subfamily Pontoniinae. At present about 550 species are recognized. However, every year tens of new species are discovered. An interesting character of this group is the associations they form with other invertebrates. They can be found inside sponges, on a variety of cnidarians like hydroids, black corals, g... lees verderStel een vraag / bekijk eerder gestelde vragen Day 6: On Kri Island! - Sancia van der Meij - 20 november 2007Yesterday, Sunday November 18th) the expedition team arrived at Papua Diving on the Island Kri, our home for the coming four weeks. The trip to Kri, via Sorong, went very smooth considering the fact that 20 researchers and about 80 pieces of luggage had to be transported by plane, car and boot to reach our destination. The first picture shows our arrival at Kri by boat. The second photo is a panor... lees verderStel een vraag / bekijk eerder gestelde vragen Day 3 - 5: How it all started... - Bert Hoeksema - 18 november 2007At the end of the fieldwork period in the Thousand Islands off Jakarta (September 2005), Dr. Suharsono, the director of the Research Centre for Oceanography (RCO-LIPI, Jakarta) and I, marine research coordinator of Naturalis (Leiden), announced that the next expedition, to be performed two years later, would go to the Raja Ampat island group. This destination in West Papua, Indonesia, has a much b... lees verderStel een vraag / bekijk eerder gestelde vragen Day 1 - 2: Arrival in Jakarta - Sancia van der Meij - 15 november 2007Tuesday morning a part of the participants left Naturalis early in the morning, on their way to the first stopover to Raja Ampat: Jakarta. The other participants joined the group one by one on Schiphol, in Singapore and Jakarta. Upon arrival in Jakarta, a few hours were reserved for the transfer from the airport to the hotel. In the afternoon we were expected at LIPI for a warm welcome and the off... lees verderStel een vraag / bekijk eerder gestelde vragen  |
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