Aug 10, 2026 · 38 min · 12 segments
From diving with bubble-loving manta rays in Indonesia to wrestling off nibbly seals in the Bristol Channel, Madeline St Claire’s tales of life underwater are full of unexpected twists and turns. The…
Madeline St ClaireGuestAmy ChapmanHostKatrina RidleyHostAnd how do you, um, sort of personally deal with that? 'Cause I guess you're seeing all this stuff up close.
You're seeing like, you're getting the awe, the wonder, but also maybe like the heartbreak and sadness.
Um, I'd love to say that, you know, the beauty of the world outweighs, uh, the things that we see.
And you know, I always say, um, to people around me, you know, when I became a marine biologist, it was because of curiosity.
Um, but then I remember literally my first coral reef lecture at university, I think it was probably my second year, and they were like, "Yep.
the race to save these ecosystems." Um, and while I was doing my undergraduate degree, we had the third global mass bleaching event.
So this is basically where coral reef ecosystems around the world experienced marine heat waves.
Um, which is, you know, how earlier I referenced the coral has an algae inside its tissue, and that's what makes it colorful.
When it gets too hot, uh, the coral actually expels the algaes from its tissue in a response to the heat, which is why we call it bleaching.
Because with all that color pigment gone, it's just flesh and bone, that calcium carbonate skeleton underneath.
Um, and so the first, uh, coral bleaching event that I experienced was then, uh, so my first ever introduction to the coral reef world was during, uh, that first bleaching event for me, fourth one... a third one in the world.
Uh, and then most recently, in the last two-ish years, year and a half, um, we've had the fourth global mass bleaching event, and it's been even more destructive.
Um, so these weather patterns that cause, uh, these awful hurricanes, like how we just saw in Jamaica last year, the strengthening of hurricanes, it's caused by the same weather phenomena, uh, that causes coral bleaching, the El Niño cycles, which is a natural climate cycle, but is getting more intense, uh, and more frequent with climate change.
Um, and emotionally, it's pretty tough to see reefs bleach, and if they bleach for too long, die.
And how do you, um, sort of personally deal with that? 'Cause I guess you're seeing all this stuff up close.
You're seeing like, you're getting the awe, the wonder, but also maybe like the heartbreak and sadness.
Um, I'd love to say that, you know, the beauty of the world outweighs, uh, the things that we see.
And you know, I always say, um, to people around me, you know, when I became a marine biologist, it was because of curiosity.
Um, but then I remember literally my first coral reef lecture at university, I think it was probably my second year, and they were like, "Yep.
the race to save these ecosystems." Um, and while I was doing my undergraduate degree, we had the third global mass bleaching event.
So this is basically where coral reef ecosystems around the world experienced marine heat waves.
Um, which is, you know, how earlier I referenced the coral has an algae inside its tissue, and that's what makes it colorful.
When it gets too hot, uh, the coral actually expels the algaes from its tissue in a response to the heat, which is why we call it bleaching.
Because with all that color pigment gone, it's just flesh and bone, that calcium carbonate skeleton underneath.
Um, and so the first, uh, coral bleaching event that I experienced was then, uh, so my first ever introduction to the coral reef world was during, uh, that first bleaching event for me, fourth one... a third one in the world.
Uh, and then most recently, in the last two-ish years, year and a half, um, we've had the fourth global mass bleaching event, and it's been even more destructive.
Um, so these weather patterns that cause, uh, these awful hurricanes, like how we just saw in Jamaica last year, the strengthening of hurricanes, it's caused by the same weather phenomena, uh, that causes coral bleaching, the El Niño cycles, which is a natural climate cycle, but is getting more intense, uh, and more frequent with climate change.
Um, and emotionally, it's pretty tough to see reefs bleach, and if they bleach for too long, die.
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