SCUBA News 295
(ISSN 1476-8011)
February 2025

Best Diving in April? There are some great dive highlights to enjoy during April, including making the most of the Maldives before the wet season begins. Seychelles boats can reach remote spots and it's a good month for whale sharks in Belize and Ningaloo Reef. WHERE ELSE...

Malaysia Dive Operators Malaysia is in the coral triangle4 and has some of the best diving in the world. Find the best dive shops with new reviews. READ MORE...

Beyond Coral: A Diver's Guide to Unique Reefs Coral reefs often dominate discussions about top dive sites, but they are far from the only fascinating reef structures divers can explore. Others including granite, volcanic, rocky and wrecks provide incredible opportunities for divers to encounter diverse marine life and stunning landscapes. LEARN MORE...

5 Fabulous Liveaboard Deals - Save up to 50% this year

More great liveaboard diving deals, to some of the best diving destinations in the world, specially selected for us by Divebooker.com, the liveaboard specialists.

1. Ilike, Indonesia. SAVE 50% on Maluku, Banda Sea and Komodo, or 25% on Raja Ampat. 14, 13, 12, 11, 8 or 7 night trips.

   

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2. Serenity, Red Sea SAVE 15%, prices from just £401! to reefs and wrecks including the Thistlegorm and the wrecks of Abu Nuhas: Ghiannis D, Carnatic, Chrisoula K, and Kimon M. This steel built boat sleeps 22.



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3. Turks & Caicos Explorer II, SAVE $800. Reef sharks, white tip and black tip sharks plus tigers sharks are a frequent guest of this destination. Turtles and mantas can be seen here almost all year round.

   

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4. Oceana, Papua New Guinea, up to 25% off this trip of a lifetime. Dive sites are still uncrowded with dramatic volcanically formed reefscapes, oodles of fish, sharks and corals. Occasionally orca, pilot whales and whale sharks pass by. Sleeps 16 divers.

   

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5. Sea Star, Seychelles, SAVE 10%. Discover the islands' hard-to-reach places.

   

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See more liveaboard deals to some of the best diving in the world - Maldives, Galapagos, Cocos Islands...

Creature of the Month: Dragon Seamoth

The Little Dragon of the Sea

The Dragon Seamoth (Eurypegasus draconis) is an extraordinary creature.

The Dragon Seamoth is also known as the Little Dragonfish. Jill Studholme

A Walking Fish?

Unlike most fish, the dragon seamoth moves in a rather peculiar way - it walks. Using its fan-like pectoral fins, it slowly creeps across the seafloor, only occasionally using its large pectorals to 'fly'.

A Suit of Armour

It's body is encased in a hard armour. With its rough texture and colour, it looks like it's covered in fragments of shells or sand, making it incredibly difficult to spot.

Another remarkable feature of the dragon seamoth is its ability to shed its skin in one piece every one to five days. This keeps it clean, removing algae and small invertebrates that accumulate on this slow-moving fish. This process also helps with camouflage by allowing it to regenerate new skin with colour changes.

The seamoth uses its long snout to hoover up small crustaceans and other tiny animals. Jill Studholme

Monogamous Pair Bonds

The seamoth is not only intriguing in appearance but also in behaviour. Unlike many fish species, it practices monogamous pair bonding, meaning that once it finds a mate they stay together. This social structure likely evolved to ensure reproductive success in these low-density populations; just one pair is found per 325-477 sq m of suitable habitat. The same pair mate repeatedly, but show neither parental care nor site fidelity.

Single animals take a long time to find a partner, as sother seamoths are faithful to their partners and live at low densities.

You can tell males and females apart as when disturbed males flash a blue-white margin on their pectoral fins, possibly as a warning signal.

Deep and Shallow

The dragon seamoth has been seen as shallow as 3 m, but they are more commonly found in deeper water (37 to over 90 m). It thrives among seagrass beds and algae-covered environments.

A Hidden Gem of the Ocean

The rarely-seen dragonfish seamoth remains elusive. but the next time you find yourself diving in the warm waters of the Indo-Pacific, on seagrass beds or sandy bottoms, keep an eye on the seafloor - you might just spot a tiny dragon on a slow march across the sand.

References

Herold & Clark. Monogamy, spawning and skin-shedding of the sea moth, Eurypegasus draconis (Pisces: Pegasidae). Environ Biol Fish 37, 219-236 (1993).

Nadir M. Al Abri1 et al. The short dragonfish Eurypegasus draconis (Linnaeus, 1766) in the Sea of Oman. Bulletin of Fish Biology Volume 20 04.07.2021 1-6

Marivic G. Pajaro et al. Biology, fishery and trade of sea moths (Pisces: Pegasidae) in the central Philippines. Oryx. 2004;38(4):432-438.

Amanda C. J. Vincent. Trade in pegasid fishes (sea moths), primarily for traditional Chinese medicine. Oryx. 1997;31(3):199-208. doi:10.1046/j.1365-3008.1997.d01-12.x

Diving news from around the World

From Ocean to Plate: Easy Ways to Choose Sustainable Seafood If you love the ocean, making smart seafood choices is one of the easiest ways to help protect it.

Safely choosing a Red Sea liveaboard: New guidelines The UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has issued guidelines for choosing a Red Sea liveaboard.

Solo Traveller? 11 Easy Ways to Connect on Your First Liveaboard A liveaboard dive trip is one of the most immersive ways to go diving, exploring world-class sites multiple times a day. But if you're travelling solo, it can feel a bit daunting at first. Tips to make it easy.

Divers for Climate survey Divers for Climate want to know about divers' perceptions and experiences of climate change. You can help by completing their survey.

Turtles use magnetic map and compass to find food Loggerhead sea turtles learn to associate food with the geomagnetic signatures of various oceanic regions.

Deep songs let some baleen whales avoid killer whales Killer whales are the only natural predator of baleen whales - those that sieve their plankton diet from the water. Some baleen whales call at such deep frequencies that they're completely undetectable by killer whales

Seagrass meadows as natural climate protectors Seagrass meadows promote biodiversity, contribute to coastal protection by attenuating waves and improve water quality. They are also highly effective at storing carbon dioxide.

Study suggests algal blooms disorient whales, putting them in danger When certain algae flourish in the sea, they produce neurotoxins that can sicken both humans and marine animals. Acute exposure to these toxins is known to kill marine mammals both outright and as the toxins build up over time.

Diving Fatalities and Medical Conditions 50% of scuba victims had identifiable health problems, highlighting the importance of health assessments before engaging in diving activities. Additionally, many fatalities involved tourists, suggesting that unfamiliarity with local conditions may contribute to risks, says new study

Are dolphins at risk from plastics in rain? Exposure to phthalates is of particular concern for dolphins because these endocrine disruptors - impact directly upon mammalian hormone systems, causing problems with growth, fertility and reproduction.

Marshall Islands 1st marine sanctuary covers 8500 square miles The sanctuary will fully protect the remote atolls from fishing and other destructive activities.

Protect dive sites to increase economic prosperity by $2 billion, says new study Over 33 million scuba dives occur annually in marine environments worldwide, with 70% taking place within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). However, only 15% of these MPA dive sites are highly or fully protected. Making all recreational dive sites (representing less than 1% of the global ocean) as highly or fully protected MPAs would generate an additional US$2 billion per year in direct tourism revenue, and enhance nearby fisheries.

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Photo credits: Tim Nicholson, Jill Studholme, Tatiana Ivkovich, Rob Atherton/DepositPhotos, divebooker.com.

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SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011)

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