Life on the Reef

Many bright colors and patterns appear on the reef at night. Take a peek at some of these crazy creatures.

Turtles are hatching on Raine Island. Watch as one adorable baby turtle is captured by a ghost crab and fights for its life.

The human and animal residents of the reef prepare as a category five cyclone brings destruction to the North Queensland coast. But as cyclone season finally gives way to calm seas, the reef begins to recover and thrive.

Take to the skies to see the Great Barrier Reef from a new perspective.

View the sharks that live around Osprey Reef in Australia.

Hear the story of Wally, the sex-changing (protogynous hermaphrodite) maori wrasse.

Out at sea a perfect confluence of temperatures, tides and currents are about to trigger the biggest marine event of the year. The reef is being primed for reproduction.

View a collection of predator moments from Life on the Reef.

All at once, billions of coral polyps for hundreds of miles release their egg and sperm into the ocean during the annual coral spawn. As the fireworks begin, the water column fills with what looks like an upside down snowstorm. This mass synchronized event is unlike any known elsewhere in the animal kingdom. Yet as big as it is, there’s also beauty in the detail.

Witness the explosion of life on the reef as the wet season approaches: corals spawn, sea birds nest and thousands of turtle hatchlings erupt over the beaches. Soon torrential rain and storms will bring change and upheaval to the delicate ecosystem.

Humpback whales have made the long journey to calve in the warm tropical waters. They spend a few months on the reef so the newborns can build up their strength, before heading down to the cold waters of the Southern Ocean. It’s one of the longest migrations in the animal kingdom.

See time pass on the reef in hyper-speed.