Portuguese Man o’ War is not a jellyfish, it is a floating colony of hydrozoans. The Portuguese Man O’ War (Physalia physalis), is commonly thought of as a jellyfish but is actually a siphonophore—a colony of specialized polyps and medusoids.

The Portuguese Man O’ War is found in warm water in all of the world’s seas. It lives at the surface of the ocean, with its blue float above the water, serving as a sail, and the rest of the organism hanging below the surface. It has no means of propulsion, but is moved by a combination of winds, currents, and tides. Very rarely is a single Portuguese Man O’ War seen, but rather the discovery of one is usually a warning of more to come. Extreme “swarms” of this nature can cause the closure of beaches, due to the danger of painful stings posed to surfers and swimmers. (Wikipedis)

Touching the tentacles will result in painful stings that leave lesions and ulcerations. The poisonous sting has been known to trigger fatal anaphylactic shocks. The public are asked to report any sightings and not to touch the creatures.

A research team of British and Japanese scientist5s located and filmed the shoal of 17 fish on the bottom in 7.7km (4.8 miles) depth.

The 30cm-long, pale-coloured fish could be seen swimming about surprisingly energetically and eating shrimps.

The Hadeep research project began last year and has involved scientists from the University of Aberdeen’s Oceanlab and the University of Tokyo’s Ocean Research Institute. They have concentrated their lifeform studies on trench systems mainly around the Pacific Rim, at depths from 6-11km.

Funding has come from Britain’s Natural Environment Research Council and Japan’s Nippon Foundation. Research equipment has included custom-designed “landers”, highly pressure-resistant contraptions which have legs to stand on the seabed and, with lights and cameras at the ready, lie in wait for any passing creatures.

The newly discovered fish, named Pseudoliparis ambylstomopsis, is not the deepest ever located. That honour goes to the species Abyssobrotula galatheae which, in 1970, came up in a dredge from the bottom of the Puerto Rico Trench at a depth of 8km (5 miles). But it was dead by the time it was observed at the surface.

The project team used DNA analysis similar to that used in human paternity testing. They were alerted to launch the study after the adult aquarium blacktip, called Tidbit, was found to be pregnant despite the fact that she had remained in captivity, with no contact with males, since shortly after her own birth in the wild.

This followed the discovery, in May last year, of parthenogenesis by a hammerhead aquarium shark in Omaha, Nebraska.

“It is now clear that parthenogenesis occurs in sharks other than just hammerheads,” said the group’s report author Dr Demian Chapman, of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at New York’s Stony Brook University. His view was that “this is something female sharks of many species can do on occasion”.

The blacktip is closely related to the tiger, bull and dusky sharks. “This raises intriguing questions about how frequently this may occur in the wild in this group of heavily fished sharks,” said joint researcher Dr Mahmood Shivji, Director of the Guy Harvey Research Institute and Professor at Florida’s Nova Southeastern University.

“It is possible that parthenogenesis could become more common in these sharks if population densities become so low that females have trouble finding mates.”

But, warned Chapman, this was in no way a panacea for the ills of overfishing. “It is very unlikely that a small number of female survivors could build their numbers up very quickly by undergoing virgin birth,” he said.

The sharks’ parthenogenesis occurs when the mother’s chromosomes split during egg development and, instead of combining as normal with split chromosomes from a male’s contributed sperm, combine instead with a copy of themselves.

Resultant offspring feature reduced genetic diversity, which can be a disadvantage in environmental adaptation.

A study report on the Virginia blacktip’s parthenogenetic birth has been published in the Journal of Fish Biology.

Source: Divernet

Erik Bos, one of the crew members of Flipper Ono, whose job it is to spots the dolphins and chat to the passengers about their daily lives and habits, noticed that one of the dolphins alongside the boat was acting in an unusual way. After a few moments of observation he noticed that she was giving birth as she followed the boat. Quick thinking he grabbed his camera and took a couple of shots before the boat changed course and left her in peace.

The boat’s captain, Jennifer Dubbelaar sent the photographs to a biologist who confirmed that as far as they were aware, they were the first recorded photographs of a dolphin giving birth in the wild.

Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Qantas have all changed baggage rules which will force divers to pay excess weight fees for carrying heavy scuba diving equipment.

All three airlines now have a strict per passenger limit of 20kg for all check-in baggage, with excess charges up to £40 per kilogram on some flights. Previously, the airlines granted around 10kg extra for passengers carrying diving or other sporting equipment.

Olivia O’Corbett, a spokesperson for Emirates, which operates flights from the UK to the Maldives, told DIVE: ‘Following a review of our baggage allowances, we have withdrawn the free 10kg allowance for scuba equipment with effect from 10 June. We regret that this has been necessary, but the ever-increasing cost of our operations driven by the very high price of fuel has made this unavoidable. Passengers will only be charged for the carriage of scuba equipment if it and the weight of any other hold baggage they are travelling with exceed our normal baggage allowances. Excess baggage charges vary from route to route.’

However, passengers travelling with golfing equipment are still entitled to extra free luggage allowance on Emirates flights.

DIVE asked Emirates why golfers are not facing the same excess baggage charges because of rising costs. After seven days Emirates was still not able to give an answer as DIVE went to press.

Emirates confirmed the excess baggage charges for flights from the UK to Maldives were £36.78 per kilogram.

Malaysia Airlines, which operates flights from the UK to some of the world’s most popular destinations, looks set to withdraw all special luggage allowances for sporting equipment.

‘It is very likely that this will happen,’ said Guy Moreau, marketing manager of Malaysia Airlines. ‘All the airlines are facing difficult times because of rising fuel prices.’

Spanish airline Iberia does not offer any allowances for divers and has now introduced a fixed rate excess baggage fee of €150 per flight.

Hand luggage restrictions have also been tightened across the board.

DIVE contacted those airlines frequently used by divers to find out how much it costs to carry dive equipment that exceeds the maximum weight allowance on economy flights (see table below). Divers should contact their airline prior to travel about relevant luggage restrictions for specific routes.

For hold luggage, there are two types of allowance. Passengers are given either a ‘weight allowance’ or a ‘piece allowance’. A weight allowance typically ranges from 15kg to 60kg per person, depending on the airline or class of travel. A piece allowance will usually restrict a passenger to two pieces of hold luggage. Both weight and piece allowances will also have limits on the maximum size of the baggage as well as the weight limits.

Source: DIVE

The dissection of the half-ton female at a New Zealand museum in April suggests she was an egg-producing machine, which—like most squid—would probably have given birth once before dying, said Steve O’Shea of New Zealand’s Auckland University of Technology.

The 30-foot-long (10-meter) squid, snagged on a fishing line off Antarctica in 2007 (photo), carried some partially developed eggs. But when fully mature, he said, she would have had “many, many thousands of eggs” inside her mantle cavity, a chamber inside her tubular upper body.
That may explain why she had been scavenging from fishing lines, rather than actively hunting.

Not-So-Colossal Cousin
O’Shea stressed that much of his work was still theoretical.
“Life cycles, reproductive strategies, egg brooding, all the behaviour of these things is basically unknown, so we’ve got to make do with the most closely related example for which we have more information.”

That example, he said, is Teuthowenia pellucida, “a small-bodied colossal-squid equivalent in New Zealand waters,” he said.

Though it grows to only about 8 inches (20 centimeters) long—versus the colossal squid’s estimated 50 feet (15 meters)—Teuthowenia is “basically identical,” O’Shea said.

Female Teuthowenia that have mated carry “very large eggs” in their mantle cavities.
“The male has an enormous, long penis—but it’s incredibly narrow—with which he inserts packages of sperm directly into the female’s mantle,” he said. “The heads of those packages of sperm explode and individually fertilize the eggs within the mantle itself.

“That process is confirmed” in Teuthowenia, O’Shea said. “It’s obvious that she’s brooding those eggs within the mantle, and I don’t think it’s a big stretch to extrapolate that to the colossal squid.”

Glowing Babies Blacked Out
O’Shea also speculates that, as the thousands of baby colossal squid grow inside their mother, they develop the light-emitting organs called photophores, which were confirmed during the April dissection. That could pose a risk in the dark depths where colossal squid live—as far down as 6,500 feet (1,980 meters).

“She’s just a sitting duck down there,” O’Shea said. “You don’t want to be lit up like a giant crystal chandelier.”

The squid’s natural predator, the sperm whale, would relish a meal of “nutritious, egg-brooding colossal squid,” he added.

But, in an apparent evolutionary defence, the colossal squid’s mantle is lined with an opaque, deep-red membrane, which would block the light of her babies’ photophores.

Live Birth?
Previous research has proposed that colossal squid lay eggs. But O’Shea speculates that the giants give birth to live young.

“She’s holding onto them until they’re fully functional juveniles, then spitting them out at great depth. Then she is going to die,” he said. Though the life cycles of deep-sea squid are not fully known, better-studied squid species are known to die shortly after birth.

Fresh from dissection, the colossal squid is now on display at the Museum of New Zealand in Wellington.

Chris Paulin is the natural environment projects officer at the Museum of New Zealand in Wellington, where the colossal squid is now on display. He said growth rings seen in another species, the giant squid, indicate that giant squid live for just a few years.

“It’s quite likely that this colossal squid—assuming it has a similar life history to the giant squid—may have reached this size in three or four years.”

“A Hell of a Lot of Squid”
Confirmation of the colossal squid’s habits, though, will come only from “more specimens and building our knowledge base … ,” Paulin said.

Given the recent boom in commercial fishing for toothfish (sold as “sea bass”) in Antarctic seas, more colossal squid specimens should turn up in the next few years, he said—particularly if New Zealand mandates that all accidentally caught animals be brought back to port along with the intended catch. Colossal squid are thought to frequent the same deep Antarctic waters as toothfish, apparently a favorite colossal squid food.

Colossal squid could well be very numerous, Paulin said.
“Put it this way: A sperm whale has to eat about 2,200 pounds [1,000 kilograms] of food a day, and the colossal squid makes up about 75 percent of that.

“I don’t know how many sperm whales there are in Antarctica, but that’s a hell of a lot of squid.”

Source: National Geographic News - Dave Hansford

The newly identified Pacific goliath grouper can grow more than 6 feet (1.8 meters) long and weighs nearly 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms).

Since the oceangoing giants are identical in body shape and markings, scientists hadn’t thought to analyze their genes.

“For more than a century, ichthyologists have thought that Pacific and Atlantic goliath groupers were the same species, and the argument was settled before the widespread use of genetic techniques,” Matthew Craig of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology said in a statement.

Craig led the study, which appeared recently in the journal Endangered Species Research.
The goliath groupers split off into two species about three and a half million years ago, when the Atlantic and the Pacific became separated by modern-day Panama.

But the new species may be short-lived, experts warn: The Pacific grouper will likely join the Atlantic grouper as critically endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

Source: National Geographic—Christine Dell’Amore
Photograph courtesy Rachel Graham/Wildlife Conservation Society

The fittings should be crimped so that eight flats are clearly visible on the fitting collar (picture, top). If the collar is smoothly rounded, crimping has not been done (picture, bottom).

“While these [uncrimped] hoses work properly for a time, there is potential and a very real risk of the hose fittings coming away from the hose,” says the company.

Potentially affected are low-pressure hoses used on Inspiration, Evolution and Evolution+ rebreathers; the Buddy Blast Hose (air horn end only); second stage regulator hose (second stage end only); and gas connection system (second stage/ADV end only).

Among the rebreathers, the hoses to examine are the ADV hose (ADV end only); buzzer hose (both ends); oxygen supply hose (solenoid end); and handset hose (lid end).

It is thought that the problem relates to a small number of hoses made between April and July this year. But it is “prudent to look back further”, says APD, such that customers who purchased hoses after January 2007 - either as part of another product or as a spare - are asked to check their hose-crimping.

Divers should not dive again with any hose suspected of being defective, but contact APD to obtain a replacement.

APD is contacting directly all its known customers who have bought potentially affected equipment.

APD hoses which employ screw-together fittings - which account for the majority of low-pressure hoses made by the company since the mid-1980s - are not affected by the recall.

To obtain a replacement or make an enquiry about the recall, call AP in the UK on 01326 563834, or in the USA on 603-447-2600. Alternatively send an email to Nicky@apdiving.com

Mr Michael Fitton, QC, prosecuting, said that the health authorities had not carried out thorough checks on the validity of the claims other than checking the “patients” details and that they were currently registered with a GP. “They did not challenge it very much and it therefore turned out to be quite a simple fraud to conduct,” he told the jury. “It was very easy money from just filling in forms and making up information using personal details and the money came in.”

The Fort Hyperbaric diving centre at Fort Bovisand has it’s own decompression chamber, also used for genuine cases of the bends, but a number of those supposedly treated had never dived or even been to Plymouth the court heard. Two other men linked to the diving company were cleared by the jury. Judge Ian Leeming, QC, said both men face probable jail terms.

Source: BBC

We all know the answer to that one, but researchers have proved that the one thing we all think we know about the octopus is wrong. It has six arms and two legs! The researchers were surprised to find that our most basic assumptions about the creatures are in fact incorrect…

It had always been presumed that the octopus used it’s tentacles in two equal sets, one set for propulsion and one for manipulation. But the researchers wanted to find out if they favoured one side to another or were multi-dexterous. Claire Little, who led the research at Weymouth, where the project was devised, said: “We’ve found that octopuses effectively have six arms and two legs. “ It had been thought they used four tentacles for movement and the other four for feeding and manipulating objects, but observations showed that they use the rearmost two to get around over rocks and the seabed. They also use these two legs to push off when they wish to swim, and then other tentacles are used to propel them.”

One of the most intelligent of marine creatures, they were given a variety of toys like the rubic cube to play with and were observed as to the use of the limbs that were preferred. The research was conducted at 20 centres over Europe. “More than half of the octopuses studied were found to display no bias at all for either right or left-sided limbs. The rest were split fairly evenly between those preferring the right side and those favouring the left. An octopus’s eyes are angled towards the front of its body, so if it used its eyes to determine which tentacles it mobilised, you would expect the choice to favour those more directly in its line of view. That was precisely what we found.” Ms Little continued, Ms Little said: “We identified seven octopuses that genuinely do prefer one side over the other, possibly because of some weakness in the other eye. If any of those animals should fall sick, we can now care for them that little bit more efficiently by delivering food and medication from the direction they prefer. As with any sickly animal, any measure that reduces stress, however slightly, can make a crucial difference.”