SCUBA News 115

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SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011)
Issue 115 - November 2009
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk
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Welcome to November's SCUBA News: thanks for subscribing. This month we've finally launched ourselves on Facebook, mostly because it is an easy way to show our "pic of the day" (more on this below). Please join us at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html

SCUBA News is published by SCUBA Travel Ltd, the independent guide to diving around the world.

Contents:
- What's new at SCUBA Travel?
- Letters
- Diving Bookshelf: New Releases
- Creature of the Month: Killer Whale
- Diving News from Around the World

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What's New at SCUBA Travel?
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Diving Jordan

There is some terrific coral in Jordan's Red Sea and we have updated our guide to the diving there
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/redsea/jordandive.html
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/redsea/jordan-diving.html

:ADVERT__________________________________________________

Scuba Dive Sipadan - Mabul - Kapalai, From Budget to Luxury, our aim is to prepare and deliver you the very best diving holidays. Experience tornado-like formation of Barracudas, big-eye trevallies, thousands of silver jack fishes, bumphead parrot fishes, napoleon fish, reef sharks, numerous turtles and the occasional mantas, hammerhead sharks, whale sharks, etc. http://www.sipadan.com/

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Diving France

Planning to dive in the French Mediterranean? We've listed more dive centres in our France section at
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/france/franceacc.html#diveop

Underwater Pic of the Day

Every day we are featuring one of our best photos as the "Pic of the Day" on Facebook and Twitter.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SCUBA-Travel/211507355743
http://twitter.com/SCUBANews

New photos of Rosalie Moeller

The wreck of the Rosalie Moeller lies in the Red Sea at 46 m. She is almost totally intact with many fish: a very scenic dive site. New underwater photos of her are now up on the SCUBA Travel site. http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/photorosalie.html

More...

For regular announcements of what's new at the SCUBA Travel site see the Diving Board at
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=2

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Letters
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Turks and Caicos

"I will be staying in a private residence at Sopadilla Bay area, can you point me to some half day dive trips that include two morning dives. I would like to also do a wall dive and/or night dive."
Bob
Diving Board or e-mail news@scubatravel.co.uk.

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Bookshelf: New Releases
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Plenty of new books are out at this time of year, so we can all buy them in time for Christmas. Here is our pick of the new SCUBA diving books.

1. Ultimate Diving Adventures: 100 Extraordinary Experiences Under Water by Len Deeley and Karen Gargani
Details some of the best dive sites around the world, with some lovely photographs. The authors have included many of the dives listed in the SCUBA Travel top 100 list.

2. Dive Atlas of the World: An Illustrated Reference to the Best Sites by Jack Jackson
This has consistently been at the top of our best seller list for the last 5 years. Contributing Editor Jack Jackson has updated this second edition, adding some new wreck dives and making sure that all the travel and dive information is up-to-date.

3. World Adventure Dives by Jack Jackson
Not content with updating his Dive Atlas of the World, Mr Jackson has been very busy and has published a new photographic guide to "the most exhilarating and fascinating diving experiences in the world". Features unusual dives like the jellyfish lake in Palau.

4. The Underwater Photographer by Martin Edge
Fourth edition of what the SCUBA Travel photographer (Tim Nicholson) considers to be the best underwater photography manual available.

5. Dangerous Marine Animals: Mediterranean - Caribbean - Indo-Pacific by Matthias Bergbauer, Manuela Kirschner and Robert F. Myers
Myers is the co-author of one of my favourite fish identification books. This new guide covers all forms of sealife: invertebrates, fish, birds, cetaceans, reptiles and mammals.

6. Diving the World by Beth and Shaun Tierney
Another re-release, this time covering over 200 dive sites but all in warm waters.

7. Scuba Diving by Dennis K. Graver
Out in December, a reference book explaining the physics, equipment and techniques of diving.

8. Sharks of the World by L Compagno
This is billed as the first field guide to all known species of shark. Colour plates illustrate all the sharks and there are helpful tips for differentiating between species.

9. Recreational Trimix Diving by Kevin Evans
Explains the techniques, tips and equipment needed to safely dive with Trimix.

10. 1001 Things to Spot in the Sea by Katie Daynes
One to occupy young children. They can have fun finding things in the book from submersibles to squirrel fish.

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Creature of the Month: Killer Whale, Orcinus orca
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There are three forms of killer whale: residents who eat fish; transients who eat mammals; and offshores about who little is known. These three types never associate with each other. Scientists have established that residents and transients are genetically distinct and it looks like these two populations of killer whales are on their way to becoming separate species.

Orcas live in all oceans, from the poles to the topics. They have a highly developed social structure and hunt as packs. This, together with their speed and size, means they can hunt even the largest animals.

Resident orcas are very fussy about the fish they prefer. They take this to an extreme: if their chosen fish species disappear they find it difficult to adapt and choose a new prey. This can even lead to the death of a whale.

The collective name for a group of whales is a pod. Resident killer whales fish in large pods. Transient pods are much smaller, often with only 5 or 6 members, which is more suited for hunting warm-blooded prey. They are also much less vocal: using stealth to surprise their victims.

Resident killer whales have been known to dive to 264 m. Less is known about the diving behaviour of transients but they are thought to stay much shallower.

The killer whale is a toothed whale in the family Delphinidae which comprises the oceanic dolphins, making the killer whale in fact a very large dolphin.

As with other oceanic dolphins, killer whales hear sounds through the lower jaw and other portions of the head, which transmit the sound signals to the middle and inner ears. Killer whale hearing is the one of the most sensitive of any toothed whale.

Female killer whales start having young when they are between 10 and 17 years old. They continue to do so at intervals until they are around 40. Like humans they can live for 90 years or more. Males are shorter lived, estimated at 50-60 years.

Further Reading:
Whales by Phil Clapham
News and Research on Killer Whales

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Diving News From Around the World
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If you would like display this news on your web site then go to http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/newsfeed.html to find out how. It's free and automatically updates your web page with the latest diving news.

First film of a giant stingray

The largest species of stingray is finally caught on film for the first time. An underwater camera crew filming for the BBC has recorded a smalleye stingray swimming off the coast of Mozambique. The smalleye stingray is the largest of all 70 species of stingray, attaining widths of more than 2m. The elusive creature, first discovered in 1908, has only ever been seen alive off Tofo in southern Mozambique.

Western Australia sea level rising fast

New figures have revealed that sea levels along the coast of Western Australia are rising at a rate double that of the world average. Scientists say man-made climate change has played a significant role in the rise.

Tags reveal Great White Sharks' Beat

A tracking study of white sharks in the northeastern Pacific Ocean shows they follow a rigid migration route across the sea, returning to precisely the same spot on California coast. Over tens of thousands of years, this behavior has made the population in the northeastern Pacific genetically distinct from other white shark populations.

Swarms of ocean robots to monitor oil spills

Swarms of miniature robotic ocean explorers could one day help predict where ocean currents will carry oil spills. The robot swarms could also aid in development of marine protected areas by following currents for determining critical nursery habitats and for tracking harmful blooms of algae.

IUCN to unveil mysteries of the deep

Research expeditions are to survey seamounts in the southern Indian Ocean. These underwater mountains are magnets for marine life. The researchers hope to determine priority areas for the establishment of future marine protected areas, and improve the management and conservation of the ocean's species.

Scientists discover new deep sea species

Census of Marine Life scientists have catalogued an astonishing abundance, diversity and distribution of deep sea species that live down to 5000 meters (around 3 miles) below the ocean waves.

Maldives anger at climate inertia

The president of the Maldives has strongly criticised the world's rich countries for doing too little to stem climate change.

Award-winning photographers support marine environment

Few people are better qualified to inspire the protection of the oceans than the world's finest underwater photographers and that's why the UK's shark and marine conservation organisation, Bite-Back, turned to them for help. The result is a 2010 calendar that Bite-Back hopes will help motivate a sea-change in attitude for the marine world. The photographers like David Doubilet and Michael Aw chose favourite images from different corners of the globe including the coastal waters of Hawaii, Tonga, Bahamas, Guadalupe, West Papau, South Africa and Borneo.

Melting sea ice dilutes water, endangers sea life

Melting of the Arctic sea ice due to global warming is diluting surface waters and this is endangering some species of shellfish which need minerals in the water to form their shells and skeletons, scientists have found.

World's Oldest Submerged Town

Submerged town in Greece has been found to be the world's oldest.

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