SCUBA News 232
(ISSN 1476-8011)
20 October 2019

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SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011)
Issue 232 - October 2019
https://www.scubatravel.co.uk
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Welcome to SCUBA News. Thanks for very much for subscribing.

You can download a pdf version here.

What's New at SCUBA Travel?

	Palau's Pelagic Paradise Silky sharks, manta rays, bigeye tuna, marlin and swordfish pass through Palau. The country takes great care of its seas - the whole nation will be a marine reserve in 2020 and they also plan to ban the use of coral-harming sunscreens and shampoos. Read More…
	Astounding Diving at Elphinstone A fabulous dive in the Red Sea and one of the few places you see Oceanic Whitetip Sharks in shallow water, plus beautiful coral, resident turtle, dolphins swimming above and hammerheads in the blue. Read More…
	Bellisima Belize Belize's most famous dive site is the Blue Hole, currently ranked one of the world's best dives. However, some people think that Belize has even better dives. Read More…

Featured Liveaboard - Tiger Blue

Photography trip in Raja Ampat

A special sailing teamed up with Jack Randall of National Geographic and Jenny Stock - award winning underwater photographer and documentary maker - sails 20 January 2020

Learn More…

Letters

Hi, I am from out of the UK and I have diving qualifications. I want to know which qualification is more acceptable in the UK?
Sahba

BSAC and PADI are the most common qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland the Scottish Sub Aqua Club qualification is also widely used.

More on diving the UK

Creature of the Month: Pixie Hawkfish, Cirrhitichthys oxycephalus

A pretty little fish with pink splodges, the pixie hawkfish lives on reefs and in lagoons and between one and forty metres down. It likes to sit on small heads of hard corals or sometimes. They are more abundant on midshore and offshore reefs which tend to have healthier, intact coral communities. Coral cover is a good indicator of pixie hawkfish abundance.

Members of the hawkfish family have protrusible mouths which enables them to sit so still

Territorial males maintain a harem of females. Courtship occurs at dusk or early night.This occurs throughout the year in the deep tropics but in sub-tropical areas, such as the northern Red Sea, only in the summer. They make a short (up to 1 m), rapid ascent and then spawn.

If male hawkfish take on too many females, one of the two largest females will change sex and take over half of the harem, mating as a male. In some species if a new male hawkfish loses a few females to other harems and is challenged by a larger male, it will revert back to mating as a female instead of wasting precious energy fighting a losing battle.

The pixie hawkfish is also known as the coral hawkfish.

Class: Actinopterygii > Order: Perciformes > Family: Cirrhitidae

References and Further Reading:

Coral Reef Guide Red Sea, Ewald Lieske and Robert Myers
Cross Shelf Patterns in Habitat Selectivity of Hawkfish (Family: Cirrhitidae) in the Red Sea, Veronica Chaidez
Zoologger: Transgender fish perform reverse sex flip, New Scientist 6 January 2012

Diving News From Around the World

Our round up of the best underwater news stories of the past month. For breaking news see our Twitter page or RSS feed

	Egypt ups environmental standards to protect coral reefs Egypt is adopting Green Fins environmental standards to protect its coral reefs. The country has become the first in its region and the 11th worldwide to officially adopt Green Fins.
	Love Whales? They Can Help Solve Climate Change Whales permanently remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - not only minimising the effects of climate change, but also supporting the health of commercial fisheries.
	Right whale mothers whisper to their calves to avoid attracting predators The mothers stop making "whooping" noises and communicate to their young through a very quiet, grunt-like sound that can't be heard more than a short distance away.
	Coral gardeners slowly restore Jamaica's 'forest under the sea' In the past 10 years, more than a dozen grass-roots-run coral nurseries and fish sanctuaries have sprung up, supported by small grants from foundations, local businesses such as hotels and scuba clinics, and the Jamaican government.
	Top investment banks provide billions to expand fossil fuel industry The world's largest investment banks have provided more than $700bn of financing for the fossil fuel companies most aggressively expanding in new coal, oil and gas projects since the Paris climate change agreement, figures show.
	Big oil is selling dirty assets, but they aren't going away New owners of high-carbon projects continue to boost output
	Bahrain opens world's largest underwater theme park Covering an area of 100,000 m2, complete with a sunken Boeing 747.
	Fish-derived bioplastic wins award for solving plastic problems MarinaTex - a bioplastic made of organic fish waste ordinarily destined for landfill or incineration will degrade harmlessly in a garden compost bin after just four to six weeks.
	Malaysia to extend marine protected areas around Sabah In the coral triangle, Sabah is home to some of the best diving in the world. The famous diving areas of Sipadan and Mabul islands are off the coast of eastern Sabah, with Layang Layang in the west. The MPAs will further increase the marine diversity in the area.

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Photo credits: Tim Nicholson, Jill Studholme, Clark Anderson/Aquaimages

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Jill Studholme
SCUBA News
The Cliff

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