Wild Tobago

Dr Anjani Ganase, coral reef ecologist, looks at the bleak picture through the lens of the degradation of coral reefs worldwide, and what we must do to reverse the trend towards an unsustainable existence.   El Niño climate conditions aggravated by man-made global heating caused mass bleaching on coral reefs in the northern hemisphere during the summer of 2023, and brought devastation and mortality to reefs throughout the Caribbean. In Tobago, above average temperatures persisted for three months (September to November 2023). Over the past month, these conditions have delivered a deadly blow to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Anomalously high ocean temperatures have been washing over the reefs for at least ten weeks, similar to the heat waves experienced in Caribbean.   Initial reports from the Australian Institute of Marine Science who conducted aerial surveys state that broadscale mass bleaching has occurred along the shallow reefs in the impa...

Anjani Ganase, marine scientist and PhD candidate for a study of Coral Reefs, made a presentation to the Green Market community in Santa Cruz. She shares the presentation here in support of her belief that caring for the Caribbean Sea no longer rests only with marine scientists. We should all know and care about what’s happening offshore our islands and in the oceans everywhere. This feature was first published in the Tobago Newsday on Friday March 3, 2017  Follow Anjani on twitter @AnjGanase Coral reefs around the world can be found in specific locations, around tropical islands where ocean temperatures are warm and the water is generally clear enough for sunlight to filter through. These locations amount to about one percent of the ocean floor. If we look at the map, we’ll see that our islands – Trinidad and Tobago – lie within one of these coral-select regions of the world, the Caribbean.  Map shows where most coral reefs are located (Courtesy WWF)...

Anjani Ganase, Trinbagonian marine biologist, continues her exploration of marine Tobago. In this episode, first published in Tobago Newsday on Thursday August 4, 2016, she looks at one of the biggest (living) brain corals in the world, located at the dive site off Speyside known as Kelleston Drain. Follow Anjani Ganase on twitter: @AnjGanase Big brain coral at Kelleston Deep, Speyside, Photo courtesy Rochelle Ramlal (Name Brand Ting) Just below the waves around Little Tobago lives one of the oldest inhabitants in Tobago waters, the giant brain coral. It has made its home in about 55 feet of water along the base of the reef slope, and is part of a larger reef community abundant in corals, sponges, as well as both micro and mega-fauna, including sharks, manta rays and turtles that use its crevices for shelter. Our brain coral is of the species Colpophyllia natans commonly known as the boulder brain coral or the zipper coral after the interlocked pattern formed in t...