News
Manta rays and their look-alike cousins Mobula Rays are in peril due to the alarming increase in trade of their gill rakers, skin, and other body parts. We need to determine the extent of this trade, and find out where these rays are common and where they are declining.YOU CAN HELP! If you have more...
Russian scientists have spotted white adult orca, or killer whale, during a research expedition off Russia's east coast. The picure on the left is screenshot of the video footage they got of it. The team will embark on a quest to observe the only all-white killer whale ever spotted, a majestic and elusive bull they...
The other day when I looked at a huge gorgonian fan at 30 m with magnifying glasses in my hand I had trouble focusing on this tiny moving spec which blends so perfectly into the background. It made me wonder how someone ever would have found these cute creatures with bare eyes. So I did...
Considering it is one of my most favorite dive sites, it had been way too long since I had been for a dive at Julian Rocks at Byron Bay. While I love my chosen degree and profession, it had slowly began to feel like I spent majority of my time inside learning about marine creatures...
Blog submitted by the team from PADI Project Aware.Our Big Shark Shout Out is the month of April.Sharks are balancing on the brink and our aim is to protect them from overexploitation – overfishing, finning and bycatch – before it’s too late. We would love the help of all scuba divers, in getting more attention...
A 15-kilometre wide patch of seagrass could be the oldest living thing on earth.Researchers including Carlos Duarte, of the University of Western Australia analysed 40 meadows across 3500 kilometres of the Mediterranean Sea. The seagrass, giant Posidonia Oceanica, reproduces asexually, generating clones of itself.The giant organism, which is more than 6000 tonnes in mass, is...
Nature has provided Sydney scientists with a brilliant underwater palette of colours that will help cancer research. A rare community of highly fluorescent corals, discovered in shallow waters in the Lord Howe Island Marine Park, could also provide clues about how some corals cope with global warming.Anya Salih, from the University of Western Sydney, who...
Australian scientists say the discovery of interbred sharks off the east coast, the first hybrid sharks found, could signal the presence of ‘tropical’ sharks in waters as far south as Sydney. This may suggest the sharks are adapting to cope with climate change. The mating of the local Australian black-tip shark with its global counterpart,...
All divers in northern Australia are asked to look out for this type of ray this summer (picture by John Thorsborne): the porcupine or thornback ray, or the ‘Urogymnus asperrimus’ in its Latin name. You can even win major prizes if you spot one and report it! Why do you need to look out for...
They are magnificent creatures and anyone lucky enough to have dived with manta rays can confirm this: they are very inquisitive too! They don’t have a stinging barb, so no chance of you getting ‘speared’ either. If you haven’t spotted them yet, you better try quick though, because manta ray populations have declined by as...