For the Indo Pacific Coral Finder
Difficulties in identifying corals underwater have been hampering coral enthusiasts and researchers alike for decades. I feel that the Coral Finder is a huge leap ahead. It is exceptionally well designed and easy to master. It is also timely, as the need for accurate survey has never been so pressing. I strongly endorse it for use anywhere in the Indo-Pacific.
Russell Kelley has produced an ingenious guide which can easily be carried underwater and allow anyone to identify corals on the spot. This is an enormously important tool for the biology and conservation of coral reefs.
I highly recommend the “Indo Pacific Coral Finder”. I field tested it this summer in Palawan. It is very accurate and does a great job of covering the major genera and some dominant species. Every dive operation in the Indo-Pacific should have at least one (I could hardly keep it away from the resort staff), and it will help alleviate the ‘overwhelmed head-aches’ experienced by many Caribbean researchers when they first visit these high-diversity areas. It is not as comprehensive as Veron’s encyclopedic “Corals of the World” on which it is based, but is infinitely easier to carry into the field!
When I need to get my head around coral ID quickly I use the Coral Finder. It just works.
It is by far the best coral identification survey tool I have seen…
Running practical classes with the Reef Finder and Coral Finder has been wonderful for my students – they enjoy the being able to explore visually. Next week I will take them in the field for some more of the same but with live specimens.
I don’t get to the tropics enough which is why your rather wonderful key is such a boon. Easy to use, very simple, but with enough detail to make it very useful to amateurs and professionals alike.
We use the Coral Finder across our entire aquarium business and our collectors, aquarists and facility staff find it very easy to use. There is no other tool for quick and easy coral identification.
Out here in Madagascar your Coral Finder Guide has been a life saver for our research!!! I don’t know what we would have done with out it.
The Coral Finder is an excellent piece of kit and a very useful tool as it provides people with an intuitive (given the human brain is a fairly remarkable pattern recognition machine) and rapid means to begin the process of indo-pacific coral ID.