Asian Diver

“Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time.” William Shakespeare SOME FRIENDS AND I decided it seemed like a good idea to drop down to 20 metres at night in several thousands of feet of water a few kilometres from a tiny sulphur-belching volcano in the middle of the remote Banda Sea. After a few minutes, this squid appeared, inked out this yellow mass and then sat, resting in the middle of it! Melanin gives squid ink their pigment. They can control the thickness or viscosity of their ink through the use of mucus, to achieve thick clouds or wispy puffs. The colour of the ink can change depending on how much light is able to penetrate through it, meaning it can range in hue from black and brown to…

“Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time.”William Shakespeare SOME FRIENDS AND I decided it seemed like a good idea to drop down to 20 metres at night in several thousands of feet of water a few kilometres from a tiny sulphur-belching volcano in the middle of the remote Banda Sea. After a few minutes, this squid appeared, inked out this yellow mass and then sat, resting in the middle of it! Melanin gives squid ink their pigment. They can control the thickness or viscosity of their ink through the use of mucus, to achieve thick clouds or wispy puffs. The colour of the ink can change depending on how much light is able to penetrate through it, meaning it can range in hue from black and brown to this less-seen yellow. Squid…

WHO’S THE STRANGEST OF THEM ALL…? Strangely enough, other than the deepest part of the ocean, those seemingly uninteresting seascapes – the muddy, silty, and rubble-strewn, the mangroves and seagrass beds – are actually home to some of the most interesting, cryptic, and weird critters around. Though the bizarre denizens of the deep are also accessible if you’ve got the guts, and fancy drifting in the open ocean at night, waiting to bump into the crazy life forms making their nightly pilgrimage to the shallows. So yeah, with its tongue-eating parasites, mysterious underwater formations, gender fluidity, and faces that only a mother could love, the sea is most certainly a repository of the strange. Yet, considering that this planet is more ocean than earth, it could well be argued that…

WHO’S THE STRANGEST OF THEM ALL… Strangely enough, other than the deepest part of the ocean, those seemingly uninteresting seascapes – the muddy, silty, and rubble-strewn, the mangroves and seagrass beds – are actually home to some of the most interesting, cryptic, and weird critters around. Though the bizarre denizens of the deep are also accessible if you’ve got the guts, and fancy drifting in the open ocean at night, waiting to bump into the crazy life forms making their nightly pilgrimage to the shallows. So yeah, with its tongue-eating parasites, mysterious underwater formations, gender fluidity, and faces that only a mother could love, the sea is most certainly a repository of the strange. Yet, considering that this planet is more ocean than earth, it could well be argued that us…

JUL JULY 4–11 Finswimming World Junior Championships Annemasse, France JULY 16 PADI Women’s Dive Day PADI Dive Centres worldwide www.padi.com/women-dive JULY 21–29 Destination Eco Tour: Marine Animal Research & Rescue in Maui, Hawaii Get involved with saving and researching turtles on a once-in-a-life-time trip www.marinelife.org/SWIM JULY 29–31 Malaysia Dive Expo (MIDE) Putra World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia www.mide.com.my AUG AUGUST 1 4TH CHINA UNDERWATER PHOTO CONTEST (PART OF ADEX CHINA) ENTRY DEADLINE Submit your entries now! All photographs must be taken between 1 July 1, 2015 and July 31, 2016 www.adexchina.cn/index.php/ underwater-photo-contest AUGUST 19–26 Intermediate Freediving course with Kirk Krack, top freediving trainer and founder of Performance Freediving International (PFI) Wakatobi Dive Resort www.wakatobi.com AUGUST 24 Launch of the Truk Master: A brand new liveaboard diving in Truk Lagoon www.masterliveaboards.com/truk_lagoon SEP ADEX CHINA SEPTEMBER 2– Beijing Exhibtion Centre www.adexchina.cn SEPTEMBER 3 Launch of the new Sri Lanka Aggressor The liveaboard will offer snorkelling with whales and dolphins,…

SHARKS HAVE PERSONALITIES Researchers from Macquarie University in Australia have published findings in the Journal of Fish Biology that prove that sharks have distinct personalities. The study found that different sharks have consistent and distinct responses to various stimuli and stressors. Sharks now join the growing list of more than 200 species whose members have been found to have individual characters. Far from being mindless machines, these ancient predators are once again shown to be complex creatures. FRIENDLY UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHERS? YES – IT IS ENTIRELY POSSIBLE! The Lembeh Gulen Critter Shootout 2016 certainly generated a social media buzz over the last month with over 200,000 divers checking out the Facebook page daily. Not only were some amazing images generated under the guidance of Keri Wilk and Tobias Friedrich but this was a competition…