Gentoo Penguins live in the Subantarctic, nesting on islands such as Heard and Macquarie Island and the Antarctic Peninsula. They are the third-largest penguin, and, like Adelies, are known to steal nest stones from each other. #saef_arc #aurora_expeditions #marineexplorer flic.kr/p/2rRdBBV%F0...

Gentoo Penguin with chick

Gentoo Penguins live in the Subantarctic, nesting on islands such as Heard and Macquarie Island and the Antarctic Peninsula. They are the third-largest penguin, and, like Adelies, are known to steal n...

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King Penguins are the second largest penguin, growing to almost 1 m tall and weighing 18 kg. The adults have striking colouration similar to the Emperor Penguin, but their chicks are a lovely chocolate colour. #marineexplorer #saef_arc #aurora_expeditions #sydney_science flic.kr/p/2rQWGKj 🧪🦑

King Penguin

King Penguins are the second largest penguin, growing to almost 1 m tall and weighing 18 kg. The adults have striking colouration similar to the Emperor Penguin, but their chicks are a lovely chocolat...

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Albatross wingspans can reach 3 m. They are incredible to watch as they glide effortlessly without flapping, using the energy in the wind. #marineexplorer #saef_arc #aurora_expeditions #sydney_science flic.kr/p/2rQUpAs 🧪🦑

Albatross wingspan

Albatross wingspans can reach 3 m. They are incredible to watch, as they glide effortlessly without flapping, using the energy in the wind. Antarctic expedition 2025

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Royal Penguins on Macca. If I didn't know better I'd say the penguin in the foreground was thinking "ooh that's cold!!". #marineexplorer #saef_arc #aurora_expeditions #sydney_science flic.kr/p/2rPW3pM 🧪🦑

Royal Penguins

If I didn't know better I'd say the penguin in the foreground was thinking "ooh that's cold!!". Antarctica expedition 2025

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Campbell Albatross is one of around 20 albatross species, endemic to Campbell Island in the NZ subantarctic region. #marineexplorer #saef_arc #sydney_science #aurora_expeditions flic.kr/p/2rPo4hf 🧪🦑

Campbell Albatross

Antarctica expedition 2025

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Elephant Seals moult once a year in spring. They lose their outer fur layer then re-grow it. During this time they are on land, and are more susceptible to heat loss. #aurora_expeditions #saef_arc #sydney_science #marineexplorer flic.kr/p/2rP2uNd 🧪🦑

Elephant Seal moulting

Elephant Seals moult once a year in spring. They lose their outer fur layer then re-grow it. During this time they are on land, and are more susceptible to heat loss. Antarctica expedition 2025

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As we left the Antarctic region today en route to the NZ Subantarctic islands we were treated to a wonderful display of #icebergs #aurora_expeditions #sydney_science #saef_arc #marineexplorer More pics: www.flickr.com/photos/johnw...

Adelie Penguins are a sea ice obligate species; they need sea ice to forage and survive in Antarctica. They feed primarily on krill, which in turn feed on sea ice algae in winter. Declines in sea ice are expected to impact on Adelie Penguin populations. #marineexplorer flic.kr/p/2rNu8av 🧪🦑

Adelie Penguins on ice

Antarctica expedition 2025

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Merry Christmas everyone! To celebrate, here is a selection of white Christmas shots from Antarctica. We're currently sitting over the magnetic South Pole. @aurora_expeditions @saef_arc @sydney_science

Despite their name, Crabeater Seals eat primarily krill. They have specialised teeth for filtering their prey. These two remind me of my Labrador... #saef_arc #sydney_science #aurora_expeditions #marineexplorer 🧪🦑 flic.kr/p/2rNkjek

Crabeater Seal

Despite their name, Crabeater Seals eat primarily krill. They have specialised teeth for filtering their prey. These two remind me of my Labrador... Antarctica expedition 2025

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Sea ice and icebergs have wonderful colours that arise from different processes. White ice is filled with air bubbles which reflect the light. Blue ice is more solid, and the light loses the red wavelengths as it passes through Green/brown ice is coated w algae. flic.kr/p/2rMMnSW #marineexplorer 🧪

Sea ice colours

Antarctica expedition 2025

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Lots of animals huddle together, from birds to bats, rodents to seals. It can be for warmth and protection from predators... I wonder what is going on here? Elephant Seal huddle flic.kr/p/2rMBxDV #marineexplorer #aurora_expeditions #saef_arc #sydney_science 🧪🦑

Elephant Seal huddle

Antarctica expedition 2025; Macquarie Island

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First icebergs today! In order to qualify, bergs need to be at least 5 m high. I think these ones pass the test. You can only see 10% of the ice mass - the other 90% is below the water #sydney_science #saef_arc #aurora_expeditions #marineexplorer

Elephant seals can dive to great depths in order to find prey (over 2000 m). Their large eyes and sensitive whiskers allow them to find prey in low, or even no light. flic.kr/p/2rMbSin #saef_arc #aurora_expeditions #sydney_science #marineexplorer 🧪🦑

Elephant Seal eyes

Elephant seal's big eyes and sensitive whiskers help them to find prey in the dimly-lit depths of the ocean. Antarctic expedition 2025, Macquarie Island

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Spectacular morning ashore on Macquarie Island among the seals and penguins... thanks so much to #saef_arc #aurora_expeditions #sydney_science 🧪🦑 #marineexplorer

Royal penguins are endemic to Macquarie Island, and have a cool fluoro hairstyle. This yellow crest is not pure vanity, it is used to signal fitness for breeding, for species recognition and social signalling. flic.kr/p/2rM4Bn3 @saef_arc @sydney_science #marineexplorer @aurora_expeditions 🧪🦑

Royal penguin

Antarctic expedition 2025, Macquarie Island

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A new favourite bird for me, the light-mantled sooty. Several of this spectacular bird circled our ship for hours, making the most of the lift from the wind over the superstructure #SAEF #marineexplorer #Antarctica flic.kr/p/2rLTnjT 🧪🦑

Light-mantled sooty albatross

Antarctic aexpedition 2025

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Two more albatross species today; shy and grey-headed, and a white-chinned petrel that has followed the ship for hours #marineexplorer #Antarctica #aurora_expeditions #SAEF 🧪🦑

First day at sea on our expedition to Commonwealth Bay in east #Antarctica, and we've been joined by three species of albatross already! Such magnificent birds, cruising effortlessly on massive wingspans #auroraexpeditions #USyd #SAEF @stephgardner.bsky.social #marinescience 🧪🦑

A short set of clips from today's dive at Bare Island; testing lighting and camera settings. Lots of planktivores about... but 15 C water temp was a bit cool. 🦑 vimeo.com/1104838811

Bare Island July 2025

A short set of clips from today's dive; testing lighting and camera settings. Lots of planktivores about... but 15 C water temp was a bit cool

vimeo.com

Nice to see substantial populations of Hippocampus whitei #seahorses on our surveys of two sites in #sydneyharbour today #marinescience #threatenedspecies 🧪🦑

In our final week of fieldwork at One Tree Island and we have almost completed surveys on 26 sites, with current loggers and microhabitat studies on many of them. A massive thanks to all concerned! 🧪🦑 #SAEF_ARC #SydneyUni #marineexplorer

Whilst there is more dead coral than live, there are signs of growth throughout; small patches of live coral on broken reef, live tips on dead branches. The challenge of course will be when the next heatwave comes. For close ups: www.flickr.com/photos/johnw... #SAEF_ARC #marineexplorer

Our latest paper highlights changes in the marine community at Shiprock in Sydney over half a century. #sydney_science #SAEF_ARC #marineexplorer 🧪🦑 Open access: doi.org/10.1071/MF24...

Wonderful diversity of critters on our surveys today at the Labyrinth, #onetreeisland #sydneyuni #SAEF_ARC #marineexplorer 🧪🦑

Despite extensive damage from the recent cyclone and 2024 bleaching, there are some signs of recovery in the southern GBR #onetreeisland #universityofsydney #SAEF_ARC #marineexplorer 🧪🦑

The photogrammetry stage of our field trip is now well underway, capturing reef complexity and biodiversity in great detail #one_tree_island #sydney_science #marineexplorer #saef_arc 🧪🦑

Getting ready for a day in the field #SAEF_ARC #Universityofsydney ##marineexplorer #@OneTreeIslandRS 🧪🦑

Highly protected, actively managed MPAs with evidence of monitoring and enforcement have more positive ecological outcomes. Cell Reports Sustainability: Cell Reports Sustainability 🧪🦑 www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Marine protected areas stage of establishment and level of protection are good predictors of their conservation outcomes

Global targets should track MPA quality and quantity. This is the first study using a new science-based framework across 123 MPAs and tying levels of protection and stages of establishment directly to...

cell.com

Day 5 of our University of Sydney research trip to One Tree Island, and we have refined our methods and completed 8 biodiversity surveys. Tomorrow we put out flow meters to measure lagoon currents, then start our microhabitat study in earnest. #marineexplorer 🦑 🧪