Armed with giant tentacles, swivelling hooks, and the world’s largest eyes, the colossal squid is thought to be the biggest squid species and the source of centuries-old sea monster myths.
But the largest squid ever caught was “a giant, gelatinous blob,” sluggish and highly vulnerable to predators, a squid expert who dissected the specimen said last week.
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. More »
The Atlantic goliath grouper, found in warm waters of the Americas and western Africa, is a separate species from the goliath grouper that roams tropical reefs of the eastern Pacific Ocean, a new genetic study shows.
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
Ambient Pressure Diving has found that some hoses fitted to its products could be unsafe due to insufficiently crimped connector fittings.
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
Two professional British divers have been found guilty of fraud by claiming £250,000 from the National Health Service (NHS) for treatment of bogus cases of the bends. David Welsh, 49, from Plymstock, Devon, and 43-year-old Michael Brass from Liverpool, at Welsh’s Fort Bovis diving centre in Plymouth, paid strangers to pose as divers needing decompression treatment and billed the NHS £6,500 each for 37 fake victims… More »
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… More »
It may be necessary to charge Divers on Egyptian Red Sea liveaboards to help cover rising fuel costs.
Egypt’s Chamber of Diving and Watersports (CDWS) has recommended that liveaboard operators charge around £24 per diver per week for northern Red Sea itineraries and £32 per week for marine park and southern itineraries.
The announcement by the CDWS, an association that represents more than 500 dive operations in the region, follows an increase of 50 per cent on fuel prices in Egypt.
‘To date, all rising costs of commodities have been absorbed by liveaboard operators in order to allow the end user to benefit from a highly competitive market place,’ said CDWS in its statement.
The fees are not compulsory and will depend on specific agreements between liveaboard operators and tour operators, CDWS added. Divers have been advised to contact their tour operators for further information.