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SCUBA News 88~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Welcome August's SCUBA News. I hope you enjoy the newsletter, but should you wish to cancel your subscription you may do so at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html Contents: __________________________________________________________ What's New at SCUBA Travel? 
We're Donating to the Footprints Charity If you buy your travel insurance through us from World Nomads, we will donate the equivalent of 5% of the purchase price to the Footprints project of your choice. The Footprints program supports a range of community projects around the world, including: a teacher training programme in Nepal and building capture fog nets to generate a new clean drinking water supply for a Guatemalan village. World Nomads travel insurance is designed for travellers who like to take part in adventurous sports and activities. 
Use this link to buy your travel insurance and generate a charitable
donation from us.
More dive site and dive operator recommendations are in the Spain
section of the SCUBA Travel site.
We've updated our Americas section with a new page on the dive
operators and accommodation in Barbados.
__________________________________________________________ Creature of the Month: Blue Tang, Acanthurus coeruleus 
Blue Tangs are often found roaming the reef, in search of their favourite food - algae. Blue Tangs are surgeonfish which may appear either singly or in large schools, which can contain hundreds of individuals. The name surgeonfish comes from the defensive spines located on the caudal peduncle (the part of the fish between the tail and the rest of the body) which are as sharp as a surgeon's scalpel. They are herbivorous, eating plants and algae, so their spines are used only for defense. Blue Tangs are sometimes found schooling with other members of the surgeonfish family. These schools form around dusk when nocturnal predators, such as moray eels, begin to hunt. These schools provoke an aggressive reaction from the smaller damselfishes defending patches of algae. Acanthurus coeruleus is found in the Caribbean. Other fish are also sometimes referred to as Blue Tang. In the Red Sea, for example, there is Zebrasoma xanthurum, more properly known as Yellowtail Tang. Also in the Indo-Pacific masquerading as Blue Tang is the Palette Surgeon, Paracanthurus hepatus; familiar if you've watched the "Finding Nemo" film. As you might expect, blue tangs are largely blue. The Caribbean Blue Tang, Acanthurus coeruleus, has a bright yellow or white spine. It lives between 3 and 28 m on rocky or coral reefs. As it is unafraid of divers you can usually get quite close to it. The Blue Tang, and other surgeonfish, are important on a shallow coral reef because they help keep the algae in check. Without them the algae would grow so fast that coral larvae settling and trying to make a start on the reef would soon be overgrown.
Further reading: __________________________________________________________ Diving News From Around the World 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, e-mail or any news feed reader. Coral Reefs are Disappearing faster than Rainforests The rate and extent of coral loss are greater than
expected, American researchers have found. And the
reduction of coral rapidly causes a decline in the
abundance and diversity of reef fish. The estimated
annual rate of coral cover loss in the Caribbean is
over three times the estimated net annual loss of
global humid tropical rainforest. Throughout the
world nearly all reefs have been damaged; there are
virtually no remaining pristine reefs and very few with
coral cover close to the historical average. The race to find Nazi gold hoard underwater
Rumours have it that a hoard of gold and diamonds
were secreted by the Nazis in an unknown location. Some
believe that location is on the sea bed off the coast
of Corsica. Now a British expert has said he knows for
sure that the treasure lies in waters less than a
nautical mile off Bastia, a seaport in northern
Corsica. Certified Diver's Handbook: The Complete Guide to Your Own Underwater Adventures Released this month, this book aims to help
divers organise their own diving trips and dive
independently. It covers buying or renting the equipment;
planning dives; finding great diving sites close to home;
mastering rescue procedures and shore- and night-diving
techniques; and exploring wrecks and underwater caves. Echolocation took whales to the depths TOOTHED whales may owe their deep-dive ability to the
power of echolocation. Early whales preyed on nautiluses
and squid, which rose to the surface waters only under
cover of darkness. To take advantage of this midnight
feast, the ancestors of today's sperm whales evolved to
find their prey by echolocation. Once in place, this
adaptation allowed whales to track molluscs into the
inky depths during the day. How the coelacanth got its fins
Matt Friedman of the University of Chicago, has
stumbled across a unique fossil that reveals how the
coelacanth evolved its fins - previously considered to
be close relatives of the hands and feet of
land animals. Ancient wreck site 'sabotaged' Divers say a 3,000-year-old UK wreck site has been
deliberately sabotaged. The site has revealed Bronze-
Age artifacts including axe heads, rapier blades and a
gold torc. 'Tangled' diver's quarry tragedy
A diving instructor drowned in a 300ft (91m) pool at
a disused Welsh quarry (Dorothea) after she became
entangled in ropes and a companion was unable to
free her, an inquest heard. There was also a fault
with Mrs Paula Blakemore's breathing equipment. Brazil Fishermen Caught Killing Dolphins A crew of Brazilian fishermen was captured on video
killing 83 dolphins and joking about their illegal haul,
Brazil's Ibama environmental protection agency
has revealed. Preserving deep-sea natural heritage Human activity in the deep sea is extending ever
deeper, with recent research showing that this
environment is more sensitive to human and natural
impacts than previously thought. States Petitioned on Ocean Acidification US states add the Pacific and Atlantic oceans to their
list of impaired waterways. The reason: ocean
acidification, the changing of sea water chemistry
because of absorption of carbon dioxide produced by
humans. Attorney Miyoko Sakashita said listing the
oceans as impaired under the Clean Water Act
would allow states to set limits on the discharge
of pollutants. Melting glaciers will dominate sea-level rise Ice melt from small glaciers and ice caps will be the
dominant cause of sea-level rise this century, according
to new research. The findings are surprising as glaciers
and ice caps contain just 1 percent of the water found in
ice sheets. Yet glaciers contain enough water to raise
sea levels by nearly a metre. Barrier Reef 'can adapt to warming' The Great Barrier Reef may be much better suited to
surviving climate change and warmer conditions than
previously thought. Researchers have found many corals
contain several types of microscopic algae that can
provide nutrients at higher temperatures. Mud Volcano Thrusts up from the Sea It is growing under the sea off Trinidad - a mud volcano that
fills people who live nearby with foreboding. Mud volcanoes
are created when natural gases, often methane, escape pressurised
areas from shallower levels in the crust. There is no larva
or magma. Fickle ocean current foils climate modellers The North Atlantic is stirring
fitfully. A new monitoring system has shown that the
ocean's currents change rapidly, surging or slowing from
one week to the next. That makes it difficult to compare
speeds with historical records. __________________________________________________________ * Copyright SCUBA Travel - http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/ * Reprinting welcomed with this footer included. We are happy for you to copy and distribute this newsletter, and even use parts of it on your own web site, providing the above copyright notice is included and a link back to our web site is in place. Previous editions of SCUBA News are archived at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html SUBSCRIBING AND UNSUBSCRIBING Visit http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html and add or remove your e-mail address. CONTACTING THE EDITOR Please send your letters or press releases to: The Editor SCUBA News The Cliff Upper Mayfield DE6 2HR UK ADVERTISING Should you wish to advertise in SCUBA News, please fill in the form at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/newsad.html PUBLISHER SCUBA Travel, The Cliff, Upper Mayfield, DE6 2HR, UK Subscribe To SCUBA NewsOur newsletter, SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011), is absolutely free. It is a monthly publication, delivered by e-mail. To receive your copy fill in your details below. We will never pass your e-mail address to any third parties, or send you unsolicited e-mail. You will receive an e-mail confirming your subscription. If you don't receive this you have probably entered your e-mail address incorrectly - revisit this page and re-subscribe. Send us your Press Releases
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