guamreeflife.com was developed and is currently being maintained and updated by me, Dave Burdick, a resident of Guam and a research associate at the University of Guam Marine Laboratory. I’m an avid amateur underwater photographer and naturalist, and I’m eager to share with others my images, my knowledge and my enthusiasm about Guam’s amazing marine life. I am actively involved in the monitoring, management, and conservation of Guam’s coral reefs, and wish to increase awareness of Guam’s marine biodiversity and the myriad threats bearing down on our reef, its inhabitants, and the thousands of people upon which whose culture, and, ultimately, whose survival is dependent.
I feel it necessary to put forth a disclaimer regarding the accuracy of the organism identifications. I am an ecologist, not a taxonomist, so while I am quite familiar with many of the taxa that occur on Guam’s reefs, it is likely that some of the species identifications are incorrect. Many are based upon identifications provided in popular field guides rather than on descriptions/illustrations of type specimens, so any mistakes made in these field guides will unfortunately be perpetuated on this site. There is also the problem inherent in identifying organisms exclusively from images (as opposed to collecting specimens). I will do my best to verify the accuracy of the organism identifications as time permits, including referring to specialists in the various taxa and by researching original descriptions/illustrations of type specimens. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me at burdickdr at hotmail.com if you wish to provide a correction for one or more of the species identifications on this site.