Heron Island Sampling Oct/Nov 2025

My first time sampling at Heron Island reef was a blast. Heron Island is a coral cay (a small, sandy island on top of a coral reef) in the southern Great Barrier Reef. The University of Queensland runs a successful marine research station with amazing staff around.

This trip was my first time collecting my main model species, the coral reef sponge Amphimedon queenslandica with my wonderful collegues Oceane and Eve, who taught me everything about collection, spawning and larval collection. Additionally, I was able to do some sponge cell reagreggation experiments for my GlySelf project.

In our (little) free time, I was mainly snorkeling and exploring live rock under the microscope - some pictures posted below!