SCUBA News 126

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SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011)
Issue 126 - October 2010
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk
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Welcome to SCUBA News. I hope you enjoy this newsletter, but should you wish to remove yourself from our mailing list please go to 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
- Creature of the Month - Tassled Scorpionfish
- Diving News from Around the World

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What's New at SCUBA Travel?
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Diving Tanzania

Brand new page on the diving in Tanzania, in particular Zanzibar and Mafia Island. "Apparently they have a lot of nice hard and soft coral on this dive, but it was so full of fish that most of the time we couldn't see anything else" Just one of the comments on this excellent Indian Ocean diving spot.
Red Sea Photos

Many more great underwater photos taken in the Red Sea are at
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/photored.html
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/photo5.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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Liveaboard Diving

I am planning a diving trip for about 2 to 2-1/2 weeks, starting sometime around the 3rd week of December thru the 2nd week of January, and am asking for some suggestions.

I live in Malta currently, so was tentively planning to travel to the Red Sea area during this time, but have heard from divers that the water is quite chilly, requiring a 5 mm suit, and there is not as much fish life in the area either. So I am looking for some other suggestions.

Thailand would be ideal for this time of year, were it not for the fact that it is quite far for just a two week trip, especially since plane tickets are well over 1200 U.S. dollars during this time frame, (i checked several websites). Another suggestion was Roatan, but again quite far away.

Any other suggestions for a fairly close, warm water destination without too high a flight ticket price would be most appreciated!

Thanks!
tb.

Post any answers on the Diving Board at __________________________________________________________
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Creature of the Month: Tassled Scorpionfish, Scorpaenopsis oxycephala
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The scorpionfish is one of the most venomous fish in the world. Its multiple spines link to venom glands and can cause severe pain and paralysis to the unwary.

From earliest times fishermen have believed in the efficacy of the liver and flesh of scorpionfish applied as an antidote to the wound from the animal. In his 1943 book, Sting-Fish and Seafarer, H M Evans recommends injecting crystals of permanganate of potash to alleviate a scorpionfish sting. This is not found in your average diver's first aid kit these days. Instead immerse the wound in very hot water and get medical help as soon as possible.

The scorpionfish is is extermely well-camouflaged. It can change colour to match its background and S. oxycephala also has many "tassles" masking its outline. This Tassled Scorpionfish lives from 1 to at least 35 m in the Red Sea and Indo-Pacific. Lacking a swim bladder, it remains on or near the bottom. Lethargically, the fish waits for prey to pass by then opens its lower jaw and sucks its victim in.

Not many animals prey on the scorpionfish, its venom deterring most. A fully grown octopus though, does not seem to be affected by the spines and will envelop and eat the scorpionfish.

Further Reading
Coral Reef Guide Red Sea by Ewald Lieske and Robert Myers
The Red Sea in Egypt Part I, Fishes, by Farid S Atiya
Sting-fish and seafarer, by H M Evans

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Diving News From Around the World
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If you would like to read the diving news as it happens, without waiting for this newsletter, then grab the SCUBA News feed from http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/scuba.xml. It's free and automatically updates you with the latest SCUBA news via your web site or e-mail.

Humpback whale swims a quarter of the world

In a record-breaking journey, a female humpback whale has travelled across a quarter of the globe, a distance of at least 10000 km. This is the longest documented movement by any mammal. The voyage is twice the distance that the whales typically migrate each season to new breeding grounds.

Climate Change Remains a Threat to Corals

Hopes that coral reefs might be able to survive, and recover from, bleaching caused by climate change are fading for certain coral species. It was previously thought that corals may be able to take up stress-tolerant algae to provide critical nutrients, but new research shows they cannot do this for any length of time.

Ocean in Focus Conservation Photo Contest Winner

Oceanographer and photographer Guy Marcovaldi has won the Grand Prize and a runner-up prize for the third annual Ocean in Focus conservation photography contest. Marcovaldi won the Grand Prize for his stunning shot of a free diver removing dead sea turtles from a discarded fishing net. The net was discovered drifting off the coast of Brazil with 17 sea turtles that had been entangled and killed.

Discoveries of the Census of Marine Life: Making Ocean Life Count

New book explains the rationale behind the 10-year Census of Marine Life and highlights some of its most important and dramatic findings, illustrated with full-color photographs throughout. It explores how new technologies have helped discover unknown species and habitats, migration routes and distribution patterns, and how the oceans are changing.

Palau and Honduras urge the world to protect sharks

Having decided to ban shark fishing in its waters, the governments of Honduras and Palau are calling on other countries to take action to protect this endangered species.

Study finds alarming increase in flow of water into oceans

Freshwater is flowing into Earth's oceans in greater amounts every year, a team of researchers has found, thanks to more frequent and extreme storms linked to global warming. All told, 18 percent more water fed into the world's oceans from rivers and melting polar ice sheets in 2006 than in 1994, with an average annual rise of 1.5 percent.

'AquaPad' controls robot dive buddy

You would balk at getting an iPad wet, but a tablet computer has now been designed to work under the sea - not to allow divers to check e-mail, but so that they can communicate with underwater robots working in hard-to-reach or dangerous locations.

Oil drilling to resume in Gulf of Mexico's deep waters

The Gulf of Mexico's deep waters are open for oil drilling once more, now that the US government has lifted a moratorium put in place on 27 May.

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