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At Home in the Tentacles

A pink anemonefish peers out from the tentacles of a big anemone in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea, where WHOI biologist Simon Thorrold was part of an international team that tracked how far fish larvae disperse from their natal coral reefs. The 30-person team spent thousands of hours scuba-diving to collect DNA samples from thousands of adult and juvenile clownfish and butterflyfish in one of the largest studies of larval dispersal ever conducted. How far fish disperse is a key factor to consider in the design of marine protected areas to conserve fish populations. The WHOI Fish Ecology Lab’s TOTEM Project also tracks the movements of large fish such as sharks. (Photo by Simon Thorrold, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)