The reef in time: The prophecy of Charlie Veron's living collection

[Extract] In the year 1972 young Charlie Veron felt bewildered as he swam underwater among the dazzling corals of the Great Barrier Reef. Perhaps this was a moment of nemesis, he mused; he’d fluked a job as the first full-time professional scientist on the Great Barrier Reef without any qualifications in marine biology, and now the identity of the corals he saw among the fringing reefs off Townsville eluded him.