Snorkelling Track on Vauxhall Reef on Jan 29, 2023.
My reference to the “Vauxhall Reef” is to Reef #34 in Maclean & Oxenford, 2016. There is an adjacent fringing to the south of it, #35, also in the area of Vauxhall (see Map under MPA on this website).
For info on “The Wreck”, see subpage The “Pamir’ (Wreck on Vauxhall Reef)
Background: “I was especially fortunate in early 2015 to spend three months in Barbados. In the 1960s, I spent three years in Barbados conducting research for a graduate degree in Marine Biology and have visited the island a number of times since, but this was the first extended visit for over 20 years. Fortuitously, the nearest beach to my residence lay on a currently undeveloped strip of land abutting on the Recreational Zone of Barbados’ Folkestone Marine Reserve. Donning a mask and snorkel, I was pleased to find the outer zones of the fringing reef in this area known as Vauxhall to be as healthy as those of reefs just up the coast that I had explored in the 1960s. Further, the Vauxhall reef as a whole supported an abundance and diversity of fishes much greater than I had viewed in the 1960s; not a surprise as fishing has been banned in this area following its designation as a MPA (Marine Protected Area) in 1981.”
REEF ZONES
Zones (Lewis, 1960) of the Vauxhall Reef, from ground observations in 2015.
Sketch of Zones of the Vauxhall Reef after MacLean & Oxenford, 2016 , Fig 23. Areas of zones in square meters: Spur & Groove 5,692, Reef Crest 7,076, Reef Flat 13,172, Total 25,940
For some drone imagery of the area, see Barbados by Drone: Beachlands
For some photos, see:
Staghorn coral (above), which was killed off by disease in the 1980s, appears to be making a comeback in deeper water in the area of Vauxhall, while the fused staghorn coral has appeared in the shallow, Reef Crest area of the Vauxhall fringing reef.
David Patriquin on versicolor.ca. Includes Mar 9, 2019 Update, and links to 3 photo albums, copied below.
Photo Albums
Fringing Reef of the Barbados MPA Recreational Zone
The Vauxhall fringing reef supports a diversity of fishes and corals and high coral cover in the outer zones, in contrast to fringing reefs elsewhere in Barbados’ Folkestone Marine Reserve.
Acropora prolifera (fused staghorn coral) in Barbados’ MPA 2015
Photos document a cluster of colonies of this hybrid between elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) and staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) at the junction between the Zooanthid and Reef Crest zones of the Vauxhall fringing reef in the Recreational Zone of Barbados’ Folkestone Marine Reserve. It is an ecouraging development. For more perspective, see a recent (2016) report on Acroporoids in Barbados
Squarrose Fire Coral Communities in Barbados
There’s a lot going on inside the boxes created by the Squarrose Fire Coral.
2.Healthy & Diseased Corals on Vauxhall Reef, Barbados Jan 29, 2023
The Snorkelling Track. Red Asterisks are corals with presumptive SCTLD. For details see this page
A set of photos taken to illustrate all diseased corals along a snorkelling track, and examples of healthy corals & coral habitat (editing in progress).
– Pos 1 to Pos 4
– Pos 5 to Pos 9
– Pos 10 to Pos 12
– Pos 13 to Pos 16
– Pos 17 to Pos 19
– Pos 20 to Pos 25
– Pos 26 to end
4. The Acroporoids and subpages
– All 3 Acropopoids occur on Vauxhall Reef
– A palmata
– A. cervicornis
– A. prolifera