“Gar” and “Garfish” in Barbados 4Oct2025

Posted on October 4, 2025 by admin

My curiosity about these fish began with a question about “houndfish”

Observed Mar 5, 2025 near Reef Crest, in Barbados MPA. View iNaturalist record. iNaturalist member sue1001 disagreed with my ID of it as a redfin needlefish (Strongylura notata), commenting “[it’s a]” Houndfish Tylosurus crocodilus – [note] Shorter, thicker beak. No red/yellow fins. Nice find!”
Now I’m not so sure, only that it is a needlefish – or what Bajans call “gar” or “garfish”.
Click on images for larger versions

My interest in the category of fish caught in Barbados that are commonly called “gar fish” or “garfish” arose from a fish I had photographed and posted on iNaturalist, suggesting it was a redfin needlefish; a more knowledgeable iNat. member identified it as a houndfish (see pic at right). I have often seen groups of this fish – or a very similar species –  near the reef crest of fringing reefs in the Barbados MPA, but could not get close enough to them to get a really good image.

I was curious as to how common houndfish might be in Barbados.  I could find no references to “Houndfish, Barbados” on social media, so  I sent this message to spearfishingbarbados.com on Aug 31, 2025… Read More

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Videos of healthy fringing reef at Vauxhall, Barbados 2015 to early 2023

Posted on August 19, 2025 by admin

In the early months of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2023, 2024 and 2025, I had the good fortune to spend a lot of time snorkelling on the fringing reef at Vauxhall, Barbados, camera in hand.

Up until early 2023, it was a healthy reef with overall high % coral cover and high coral diversity and an abundance and diversity of fish.  As such, it stood out from other fringing reefs in the Marine Protected Area which were (and still are) highly degraded.

Beginning in early 2023, Vauxhall Fringing Reef degraded significantly due to the arrival of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, extreme warming/coral bleaching events, and extreme physical disturbance associated with Hurricane Beryl.

I have put together a set of videos to illustrate the overall healthy state of the Vauxhall Fringing Reef 2015 to early 2023.

View Healthy Fringing Reef Videos.

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URGENT CALL TO ACTION TO CONSERVE AND RESTORE SHALLOW-WATER CORAL REEFS 24Jun2025

Posted on June 25, 2025 by admin

Continue reading →

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Boergesenia forbesii, a recent immigrant to Barbados? 26Mar2025

Posted on March 26, 2025 by admin

IN SHORT…

To date, photos of a green alga from Barbados uploaded to iNaturalist that appear to be Boergesenia forbesii have commonly been identified as Valonia utricularis (some gaining Research Grade status), or a species of Ulva or Caulerpa. A suggestion that a specimen I had identified as Valonia sp. was in fact a species of Boergesenia prompted my investigation of this topic.

The Conclusion: Overall, reports in the literature and iNaturalist records suggest that the earliest occurrence of Boergesenia forbesii in the Caribbean was in Puerto Rico (2008 reported collection date), and that it has spread southward reaching Barbados sometime between 2008 and 2016.

Of Indo-Pacific origin, Boergesenia forbesii is clearly a recent immigrant to Barbados.

Read more in iNaturalist Journal

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Pelagic Sargassum blooms may be associated primarily with atmospheric phenomena 24Mar2025

Posted on March 24, 2025 by admin

Sargassum at Bath, Barbados Apr 6, 2015

So argue Julien Jouanno et al., in An extreme North Atlantic Oscillation event drove the pelagic Sargassum tipping point, published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment published Feb 8, 2025.

Abstract (Bolding inserted)
The proliferation of pelagic Sargassum in the tropical Atlantic since 2011 is causing considerable health and economic concerns as large amounts of this brown alga arrive and accumulate in coastal ecosystems of western Africa and of the greater Caribbean Sea every year.
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“No El Niño, no relief: January sets another heat record” 9Feb2025

Posted on February 9, 2025 by admin

Impact of extreme warming in the fall of 2023 on a Barbados coral. Above: Healthy A prolifera in the “Mother Colony” on Vauxhall Reff on April 3, 2023. Below the same A prolifera dead and covered with algae on Jan 12, 2024. No recovery evident in early 2025. The yellow zooanthid at left remains healthy, however.

So reads the headline for a Feb 7 post by Chris Hatch in the National Observer (Canada) Zero Carbon Newsletter.

…despite conditions that should have cooled things down, Earth hit its hottest January in recorded history.

We’ve been on a run of record-setting temperatures ever since June 2023 when global heating suddenly kicked up a gear. Scientists are still trying to figure out what’s happening — why the last two years were so inexplicably hot and 2024 broke through the symbolic figure of 1.5 degrees above temperatures before the industrial revolution. The worry is that all this fossil fuel burning has unleashed an unexpected step change in the climate system.

Continue reading →

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“Transplanting healthy reef ecosystems to damaged reefs can improve coral health” 2Jan2025

Posted on January 2, 2025 by admin

So reads the title for an article by by Bar-Ilan University in phys.org, Nov 26, 2024. It  offers some hopeful news going forward at the beginning of 2025 for Barbados  where there are both healthy and degraded reefs and a lot of practical experience involving both volunteers and researchers with growing and transplanting corals.

The article continues …”The study, just published in the journal Nature Communications, was led by Dr. Natalie Levy and Prof. Oren Levy from Bar-Ilan University’s Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, in collaboration with Prof. Ezri Tarazi of the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, and Prof. David Bourne of James Cook University and the Australian Institute of Marine Science. Continue reading →

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Loss of fishing boats to Hurricane Beryl affecting demand for chicken in Barbados 11Oct2024

Posted on October 11, 2024 by admin

In Barbados Today, today: Officials say fish shortage driving increased demand for chicken. Some extracts:

On Thursday, BEPPA board director Amir Juman said there were two main factors impacting the industry, which resulted in consumers being unable to source the quantity of fresh chicken they usually would at supermarkets and other outlets. He explained that there had been a significant increase in demand for chicken over the past weeks as hundreds of protein lovers sought alternatives to fish which has been scarce since Hurricane Beryl affected the island’s fishing fleet…

In July, Hurricane Beryl destroyed 220 of the 312 active boats at the Bridgetown Fisheries Complex, the island’s largest fish landing site. This has left Barbados reliant on limited cold-stored fish and the small number of boats still able to venture out for fresh catches.

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Barbados unveils “the world’s first vehicle powered by renewable natural gas (RNG) from Sargassum seaweed, rum distillery wastewater and Blackbelly sheep manure” 18Sep2024

Posted on September 18, 2024 by admin

This story has been brewing for a while, perhaps since the first waves of Sargassum hit the coast of Barbados!

Yesterday (Sep 17), in a post on its Facebook Page, the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus posted this, with an accompanying video:

Barbados on Tuesday unveiled the world’s first vehicle powered by renewable natural gas (RNG) from Sargassum seaweed, rum distillery wastewater and Blackbelly sheep manure, and The UWI Cave Hill Campus came in for high praise for its pioneering role in this renewable energy project.
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Sargassum Outlook 1Aug to 31Oct 2024 Severe

Posted on August 11, 2024 by admin

“Middle islands: Severe influxes and heavy coastal accumulations are expected over the next three months.”

Read more in the Sargassum Sub-regional Outlook Bulletin by the Sargassum Team at The Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) at the Cave Hill Campus of The University of the West Indies, Barbados.

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