SCUBA News 303
(ISSN 1476-8011)
October 2025

What's New at SCUBA Travel?

Sensational Solomon Islands WWII wrecks, caves, coral gardens and immense biodiversity of marine life, coupled with hardly any divers. GO NOW Top 10 Shore Dives From Indonesia to Iceland, discover the best shore dives around the world - as voted for by readers. SEE LIST & VOTE

Letters

"Great article (refering to last month's newsletter). Diving in the Sea of Cortez truly feels like exploring a giant aquarium. That said, I was surprised you didn't mention Loreto. The Bahia de Loreto National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, encompasses five stunning islands: Isla Coronados, Isla del Carmen, Isla Danzante, Isla Montserrat, and Isla de Santa Catalina. Their dramatic rock formations create some of the best dive sites in Mexico, with a wide variety of locations suitable for divers of all experience levels."
Bill Mashek

Thanks Bill, we'll add Loreto to the site.

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The elusive Longnose hawkfish is creature of the month

This very distinctive fish is white with checked red lines. It has a much longer snout than other hawkfish, which look more like mini groupers.

They are not common, in 40 years of diving this month I saw my first one this month.

Longnose hawkfish (Oxycirrhites typus) on sea fan, Um Sid, Dahab, Red Sea. Jill Studholme

The longnose hawkfish favour depths between 30 and 100 m, although you do occasionally see one shallower. Pairs of them make their homes on sea fans, where they blend in, and black corals on the outer slopes of the reef.

All born female

All hawkfish are born female. Some then change to male later in life.

Longnose hawkfish on black coral. Fiona Ayerst/Bigstock

Monogamous

Unlike most other hawkfish, the longnose hawkfish appears to be monogamous. A study by Donaldson and Colin in Papua New Guinea found that males and females occupied separate corals. Males either visited females at their corals or met them at an adjacent coral just prior to courtship at dusk. Courtship culminated in a rapid ascent into the water column and the release of floating eggs.

Longnose hawkfish are called Abu Zoohlêt in Arabic. Jill Studholme

Why are they named after a bird?

Hawkfish are so called owing to their habit of perching on coral held up by their pectoral fins. With a burst of speed, they then rush out to ambush even smaller fish and crustaceans.

The Longnose hawkfish grows to just 13 cm long. Garry Frazer

Uncommon

You don't often sea these lovely fish. Although they are geographically widespread, occurring throughout Indo-Pacific, they are uncommon or rare in most areas. However, due to their habit of staying mostly on one coral or sea fan, once you know where they are you can see them again and again. It is the only species in its genus.

Class: Actinopterygii > Order: Perciformes > Family: Cirrhitidae > Genus: Oxycirrhites > Species: Oxycirrhites typus

References

Coral Reef Guide Red Sea , Ewald Lieske and Robert Myers (2012)

The Red Sea in Egypt, Part I - Fishes. Farid S. Atiya (1991)

Donaldson, T.J. Facultative monogamy in obligate coral-dwelling hawkfishes (Cirrh tidae). Environ Biol Fish 26, 295-302 (1989).

Diving news from around the World

2025 Ocean Art underwater photo contest is now open This prestigious competition is open not just to professional photographers and those with expensive camerags but also features categories for compact cameras and smart phones. With $60000 of prizes, what are you waiting for?

Plastic pollution could linger at ocean surfaces for over a century Even no plastic was released into into the sea ever again, fragments of buoyant plastic debris would continue to pollute the ocean surface and release microplastics for more than a century.

Dark dyes accelerate microplastic release in oceans: especially purple Research reveals that darker-colored synthetic fabrics, especially purple ones, fragment faster into microplastics than lighter colours.

Developing COVID-19-Type Tests to Monitor Coral Health Lateral flow tests saved the day for public health during the COVID-19 pandemic. What if these technologies could also be used to monitor coral health?

Fiji's Coral Reefs Show Remarkable Recovery After Category 5 Cyclone Hard coral cover and community composition rebounded to near pre-cyclone levels, supported by strong fish populations, despite losing more than half of their hard coral coverage 4 years earlier

Decoding a decade of grouper grunts unlocks spawning secrets More than 10 years of acoustic recordings of grouper grunts are providing new insight into how sound can be used to monitor and manage vulnerable fish populations.

Sunk debris from World Wars provides home for wildlife More marine life is living on World War II munitions on the Baltic Sea's seabed than on the sediment surrounding it: tolerating high levels of toxic compounds if there is a hard surface for them to inhabit.

14 New ocean animals described Earth's vast oceanic biodiversity remains largely unexplored, with only a fraction of an estimated two million total living marine species formally named and described.

Apply now for SSI Global Ambassador Program Passionate divers and content creators wanted to represent SSI on social media, share their underwater adventures and inspire a new generation of ocean explorers.

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SCUBA News is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. This means we are happy for you to reuse our material for both commercial and non-commercial use as long as you: credit the name of the author, link back to the SCUBA Travel website and say if you have made any changes. Most photos though, are copyright the photographer. Please get in touch for details.

Photo credits: Tim Nicholson, Jill Studholme, Mark Chang, Fiona Ayerst/Bigstock, SSI, FAU Harbor Branch, Senckenberg Ocean Species Alliance/CC BY 4.0, Daniel Lamborn, R Atherton/DepositPhotos, divebooker.com

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CONTACTING THE EDITOR
Please send your letters or press releases to:
Jill Studholme
SCUBA News
The Cliff

DE6 2HR
UK
[email protected]

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SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011)

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