SCUBA News 221
(ISSN 1476-8011)

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SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011)
Issue 221 - November 2018
https://www.scubatravel.co.uk
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Welcome to SCUBA News. Creature of the month is back in this issue, plus our diving news and offers.

You can download a pdf version of SCUBA News here.


Contents:
What's new at SCUBA Travel?
Featured Liveaboard - Swim with Orcas
When is a Sea Snake not a Sea Snake?
Diving news from around the World


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What's New at SCUBA Travel?

Soft coral on the Carnatic

Who to dive with in Hurghada?

Divers rate and review the dive operators in the Red Sea town of Hurghada.
Read More…

 Fernando de Noronha.

Impressive Diving in Brazil

Brazil's offshore diving has warm water, caves, spectacular rock formations and many, many reef and large pelagic creatures. A hot spot for sharks and manta rays.
Read More…

Interesting Nudibranch

Reasons to Dive Malaysia

Malaysia has some world class diving, including the famous Sipadan which features in the top ten dives of the world. As well as sharks & turtles Malaysia is also famous for its macro-life.
Read More…


Featured Liveaboard - Swim with Orcas and Humpback Whales

Snorkel with Orcas

Orcas

Join Norway's Sula liveaboard for a unique chance to swim with orcas & humpback whales, and see the Northern Lights.

Learn More…


When is a Sea Snake not a Sea Snake?

When it's in the Red Sea.

Our creature of the month is the Spotted Snake Eel, Myrichthys maculosis. This eel occurs throughout the Indo-Pacific and it is often mistaken by divers for a sea snake. However, if you should be in the Red Sea and see what looks to be a sea snake you can know for sure that it is actually a snake eel. This is because there are none of those venomous reptiles in the Red Sea. Scientists think that this is because the Red Sea is too salty.

Spotted Snake Eel in the Red Sea

The snake eels are an interesting group, seen much less frequently than the morays.

The spotted snake eel can grow up to 1 m long, but is usually less than half that length. It generally lives at depths between 1 and 25 m. However, it has been found 262 m down. You see it most often on sandy areas by reefs.

Spotted Snake Eel hunting

Feeding on fishes and crustaceans, it hunts by sense of smell. Like a lot of snake eels, when not hunting it burrows into sand. The tip of its tail is hard allowing it to dig down backwards.

The eels live in the Indian and Pacific Oceans down to South East Australia and South Africa. They are also known as tiger snake eels or oscellate snake eels.

Class: Actinopterygii > Order: Anguilliformes > Suborder: Congroidei > Family: Ophichthidae

Other creatures of the month...

References

Coral Reef Guide Red Sea, Lieske and Myers
Red Sea Reef Guide, Helmut Debelius


Diving News From Around the World

Our round up of the best underwater news stories of the past month. For breaking news see our Twitter page or RSS feed

Sunscreens

Palau bans sunscreens harmful to sealife
Diving hotspot Palau is the world's first country to ban sunscreen lotion containing environmentally harmful ingredients.

Liveaboard

Scuba Liveaboard Sale
Up to 50% off on liveaboards around the world.

Soft robots in the deep sea

Marine biologists explore delicate deep-sea life with soft robotics and 3D printing
As scientific expeditions to remote parts of the world are costly, on-the-fly printing of soft robot manipulators offers a real-time solution to better understand and interact with delicate deep-sea environments, soft-bodied, brittle and otherwise fragile organisms

Used drinks cans

Five everyday items that contain hidden plastic
Even drink cans contain a hidden plastic element

Zeagle BCDs

Zeagle Sport Buoyancy Control Devices (BCDs) recalled due to 'Drowning Hazard'
The buttons on the BCD inflators can break or leading to a rapid loss of air or auto inflation of the BCD and the possible drowning of the diver.

Crew-less ship

Is autonomous shipping the future for the maritime industry?
Due to the scale of the maritime industry, shipping is a major contributor of carbon emissions. An autonomous ship is the first zero-emissions vessel.

Fish fingers

Sustainable fish fingers are surprisingly cheap
Saver brands of fish fingers are surprisingly sustainable. They contain just four different species - Atlantic cod, Pacific cod, Alaska pollock and haddock

Socorro liveaboard

New Liveaboard offers exceptional marine life encounters in Socorro and Guadalupe
The new Socorro Aggressor liveaboard launches in December and transports scuba divers to encounter great white sharks at Guadalupe or giant manta rays, humpback whales, dolphins and sharks at the Socorro Islands in Mexico.


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. Some of the photos though, might be copyright the photographer. If in doubt please get in touch.

Photo credits: Tim Nicholson, Andrew Reay-Robinson

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

DE6 2HR
UK
news@scubatravel.co.uk

PUBLISHER
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