Rarotonga

Mar

2026

Are there snakes in the Cook Islands?

Gerald McCormack, CINHT

Illustration depicting spotted and banded snake eel and a sea snake – J. Kunzlé

Inshore sea-snakes are common on and around the reefs of Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Niue, but have never been recorded in the Cook Islands. The snake-like creatures in our lagoons are scaleless fish in the Snake-eel Family.

Snake-eels differ externally from sea-snakes in having a dorsal fin along most of the body, a more-or-less pointed tail, and protruding nostrils on the upper lip. Although they are not poisonous, they do have lots of small sharp teeth.

Spotted Snake-eel, (Myrichthys maculosus) – A&R Martin

The most common snake-eels are the Spotted Snake-eel (Myrichthys maculosus) and the Banded Snake-eel or Barred Snake-eel (Myrichthys colubrinus). The Spotted Snake-eel is up to 80cm, cream in colour with black spots. The Banded Snake-eel is a similar length with dark bands completely encircling its white body. And a less common third species has its bands reduced to dark saddles.

Although we have no inshore sea-snakes, we share with the rest of the tropical Pacific, the oceanic Yellow-bellied Sea-snake (Pelamis platurus). Like the inshore sea-snakes, the Yellow-bellied Sea-snake has external scales, a vertical paddle-like tail, no dorsal fin, and non-protruding nostrils. They swim to the surface to fill their lungs with air and can remain submerged for about two hours.

Continue reading →

Feb

2026

Cook Islands’ Needlefishes

Gerald McCormack, CINHT

Illustration showing identifying features of the four needlefish species found in Cook Islands

The Cook Islands’ biodiversity database lists 650 species of marine bony-fishes. In looking at the distribution of fishes across the Pacific it is obvious that there must be at least another hundred to be recorded locally. The Trust is always interested in information on new and unusual records.

For the needlefish family the database lists four species: Keeled Needlefish (Miro Va‘a-roroa, Platybelone platyura), Houndfish or Crocodile Needlefish (‘Aku, Tylosurus crocodilus), Reef Needlefish (‘Aku, Strongylura incisa ) and the Flat Needlefish (Pāpā, Ablennes hians).

The Keel-jawed Needlefish has been recorded across the South Pacific, but not specifically in the Cook Islands. However, it is an off-shore species and therefore very unlikely to have been caught in Ngatangi‘ia harbour.

Many species of fish have distinctive features and are reasonably easily identified from photographs, but some require a more detailed analysis of specimens. In the illustration we show some of the more conspicuous features of the four species of needlefish positively identified in the Cook Islands. Continue reading →

Feb

2026

Life in the Karekare Bee Hotel

Gerald McCormack, CINHT

Karekare Bee Hotel at 6pm on 28th December 2021 with suites numbered left to right

We built a small hotel to study the behaviour of the local Leaf-cutter Bee, which usually nests around March or April. The hotel had three 12mm holes about 50mm long drilled to overlap two blocks of wood so that separating them would open the holes for inspection. As a hotel, each hole is a suite and any occupying bee or wasp makes its own rooms by building partitions or doors. Within a suite, Room 1 is the first to be partitioned and will contain the oldest offspring.

Early morning on the 28^th December 2021 it was unexpectedly noticed that a large Tahitian Mason Wasp had already sealed Suite 2 with mud and was starting work on Suite 3, which she sealed in the early evening. Suite 1 remained vacant. Twelve days later, on the 9^th January the hotel was opened for inspection. Continue reading →

Feb

2026

Rarotonga’s largest skink is now an endemic

Gerald McCormack, CINHT

In 2010 scientists studied the DNA of Rarotonga’s largest skink and concluded that it was a new species, unique or endemic to Rarotonga. In February they named it Emoia tuitarere – Māori for wanderer, stranger, alien or sailor. For an English name we’ll call it the Wandering Skink. Continue reading →

Jun

2021

Keanui’s Biodiversity Bonanza

Gerald McCormack, CINHT

Entomologist at work!

Residents often talk about Cook Islands biodiversity, but few have discovered as many unrecorded species as 6-year-old Keanui Selam. His recent insect-catching expeditions led to the discovery of eight unrecorded species of Heteroptera, a group of insects known as true bugs, or typical bugs.

True bugs all have a proboscis of long tubular mouthparts, which some use to suck the sap of plants; while others use it to spear and suck the juices out of caterpillars and other insects. The first group are farmers’ foes, while the latter are farmers’ friends. Continue reading →

Rarotonga

Are there snakes in the Cook Islands?

Cook Islands’ Needlefishes

Life in the Karekare Bee Hotel

Rarotonga’s largest skink is now an endemic

Keanui’s Biodiversity Bonanza

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