Great feedback on the ReefCI experience from Pam!

I found the whole experience amazing and far exceeded my expectations. I was quite apprehensive before I booked as I have never taken a trip by myself before. When I phoned PoD for information the staff were really helpful and reassuring. Booking was easy and the information I received was very detailed. I was particularly [...]

Underwater wonderland at risk

Source: CBS News Fifty miles off the shores of Cuba lies one of the world’s healthiest coral reefs, an underwater Eden full of rare and endangered species. Anderson Cooper and “60 Minutes” cameras take viewers on an underwater adventure to this colorful world that could disappear someday if mankind isn’t more careful. Cooper’s story about [...]

Man gets prison for smuggling rare reef fish

Source: San Francisco Chronicle A Hayward man is facing prison after pleading guilty to smuggling a rare fish worth up to $10,000 per animal by claiming they were a more common species. The Hayward Daily Review reports (http://bit.ly/szy1SZ) that federal prosecutors accussed 58-year-old Steven Robinson of capturing 52 Clipperton angelfish off the coast of an [...]

Divers ill after clearing River Avon in Chippenham

Source: BBC News More than 40 shopping trolleys, 20 bicycles and a 1980s bus stop were removed from the river Volunteers from a diving group who removed three lorry loads of rubbish from a Wiltshire river have since reported symptoms of nausea. Members of Calne Divers spent six hours clearing a stretch of the River [...]

Blue Marlin Blues: Loss Of Dissolved Oxygen In Oceans Squeezes Billfish Habitat

Source: Underwater Times.com This is a blue marlin with a satellite tag used to monitor horizontal and vertical habitat use in a new study. Credit: B. Boyce The science behind counting fish in the ocean to measure their abundance has never been simple. A new scientific paper in Nature Climate Change shows that expanding ‘ocean [...]

Scientists Discover Astounding Deep-Sea Sponges With Carnivorous Ways, ‘Jaws Of A Great White Shark’

Source: Underwater Times.com   Abyssocladia carcharias: microscleres and sponge Asbestopluma (Asbestopluma) anisoplacochela sp. spicule NIWA’s Dr Michelle Kelly and a visiting scientist, Professor Jean Vacelet from Centre d’Oceanologie de Marseille, have recently discovered and described three “previously unknown species” of carnivorous sponges from the family Cladorhizidae. The scientists say that one resembles a “tiny shrub“, [...]

How penguins ‘time’ a deep dive

Source: BBC The penguins beat their wings an average of 237 times on each dive Emperor penguins “time” their dives by the number of flaps they can manage with their wings. This is according to a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. It aimed to show how the birds reached the “decision” [...]

Fish Show Females Choose Sexier Friends To Avoid Harassment

Source: UnderwaterTimes.com   Two male guppies harrass a female. Image: Dr Darren Croft, University of Exeter. Scientists have observed a strategy for females to avoid unwanted male attention: choosing more attractive friends. Published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the study is the first to show females spending time with those more [...]

More great feedback on the ReefCI experience – Michael

I have to say that the reefci experience is not one to miss. The crew that runs the diving there are not only experts but also just amazing people. I was certified there as a rescue diver in three weeks and the opportunity to learn from diving veterans Polly Wood and Laura King was a [...]

Inside the mind of the Octopus

Source: Orion Magazine Photograph: Brandon Cole   ON AN UNSEASONABLY WARM day in the middle of March, I traveled from New Hampshire to the moist, dim sanctuary of the New England Aquarium, hoping to touch an alternate reality. I came to meet Athena, the aquarium’s forty-pound, five-foot-long, two-and-a-half-year-old giant Pacific octopus. For me, it was [...]