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SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011)
Issue 154 - March 2013
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk
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Welcome to Issue 154 of SCUBA News. Today: how to get more followers on Twitter with SCUBA News; some stunning cold water photos; creature of the month is the delightful Tompot blenny; plus our round-up of the diving and marine news.
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Contents:
- What's new at SCUBA Travel?
- Letters
- Get More Twitter Followers with our SCUBA News Feed
- Creature of the Month: Tompot Blenny
- Diving News from Around the World
Photo Gallery: British Isles
See some fantastic new photos of cold water diving in Britain, especially some stunning shots of nudibranchs by Tim Nicholson.
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/photouk.html
Diving Djibouti
Djibouti, at the far end of the Red Sea, is famous for whale sharks. See our new article on what else to expect from the diving and the country.
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/redsea/djibouti-diving.html
Dive Centres in the Gulf of Thailand
Some of the best diving in the Gulf of Thailand is around Koh Tao and Koh Chang. We've now more dive centres listed with your ratings and reviews.
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/thailand/thaigulfop.html
For regular announcements of what's new at the SCUBA Travel site see our Twitter feed, Google+ and Facebook pages.
Diving with Sharks in Florida
@SCUBANews: looking for place in Florida to dive with sharks?! #anyhelp
Kelby Cudmore, via Twitter
Any answers for Kelby tweet @SCUBANews with the tag #anyhelp, or email news@scubatravel.co.uk and we'll pass your comments on.
Diving in Central America
Just after a bit of advice. I am going to Central America this April and will be there for a month and a half. I will be travelling on a budget and don't have a great deal of time but would love to spend time diving some of the fantastic places available. Is it possible to see hammerheads without going on a long and expensive trip to Cocos Island (although of course this looks amazing it isn't really a viable option for me)? Thanks for any advise.
Tom Beaumont, via our Facebook forum
Post your suggestions on our Facebook wall, or email news@scubatravel.co.uk and we'll pass your comments on.
We recently noticed that some people were automatically posting our SCUBA News on their Twitter feeds. At first we were a bit cross about this: it would be nice to be asked first. But on thinking about it, why not? We're pleased that people like our selection of news so much that they want to distribute it. And so we thought SCUBA News readers might also like to do the same, and gain more followers for your Twitter accounts. New research1 suggests that sharing informational content attracts followers with an effect that is thirty times higher than those who just share information about themselves. So if you would like to share our SCUBA and marine environment news and gain more Twitter followers, this is how to do it.
We make our news available as an RSS feed: http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/scuba.xml. With this, third party programs can post new items to Twitter at regular intervals. We like Twitterfeed.com, which is a free service. Create an account there then choose to Create a Feed. Enter http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/scuba.xml as the feed url. If you wish you can choose to post only a section of news: for example only news about Thailand or Sharks. Go to Advanced Settings and tick "Filter your posts by using keywords to auto-approve new posts". Now type a list of words about which you want to post. Click the Continue to Step 2 button then select Twitter in the Available Services list.
Further Reading:
How to get more followers on Twitter.
1Hutto, C. J., Sarita Yardi, and Eric Gilbert. "A Longitudinal Study of Follow Predictors on Twitter." (2013).
This charming little fish, with the expressive face, generally looks as if it is either smiling or puzzled. Unusually small for a blenny, you can see them in temperate waters peering out from crevices in reefs or wrecks.
A large mouth, eyes set high on the head and its tufted tentacles above each eye give the Tompot a comical appearance. A much smaller fringed tentacle is positioned on the nostril beneath each eye.
Like all blennies, Tompots lack the buoyancy of a swim bladder and look more like they are wriggling than swimming.
Tompot blennies are curious fish and may come out to take a closer look at a diver. Some even let themselves be stroked. If you dive the same site regularly, you may see the same Tompot in its hole on each visit.
Sharp teeth means they eat a variety of animals, including sea anemones which are usually left alone by predators.
Tomport blennies live down to around 20 m in north-west Europe from Denmark and Scotland to Portugal and in the Meditteranean Sea. They have also been recorded in the Israeli part of the Mediterranean Sea and in Greece. They are, though, absent from the North Sea.
Further Reading:
Great British Marine Animals, by Paul Naylor.
Bailly, N. (2013). Parablennius gattorugine (Linnaeus, 1758). In: Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. (2013) FishBase. Accessed through: Costello, M.J.; Bouchet, P.; Boxshall, G.; Arvantidis, C.; Appeltans, W. (2013) European Register of Marine Species
You can display this news, in real-time, on your web site - for more details see http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/newsfeed.html or grab http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/scuba.xml
Britons Kidnapped on route to Sharm El-Sheikh
Two British ex-pats travelling from Cairo to Sharm were kidnapped by Bedoiun tribesmen, only to be released just hours later. The kidnappers were reported to be demanding the release of four prisoners held in Alexandria on charges of arms smuggling. The British Foreign office warns against all travel outside the main Sinai resorts and the road between them.
What is an endangered marine fish worth? Nothing in Canada
Cost, and not threat status, governs the listing of imperiled fishes in Canada. In fact, if it costs anything at all to protect marine fish then they won't be be listed under the Species at Risk Act. That's the finding of new research published in the Marine Policy Journal.
Pacific's Palau looks at commercial fishing ban
Palau's president has proposed banning all commercial fishing in the Pacific nation's waters to create one of the world's largest marine reserves, covering an area roughly the size of France.
Divers Help Get Cites Protection for Sharks and Rays
An outpouring of support from the scuba diving community for critical CITES protections. Five species of highly traded sharks, both manta rays and one species of sawfish were listed under CITES at the conclusion of CoP16 held this month in Bangkok, Thailand. Delegates from 170 countries considered 70 proposals affecting more than 300 species, including eight of some of the most vulnerable sharks and manta rays.
Large Numbers of Napolean Wrasse Still Traded
The napolean (humphead or maori) wrasse, a very large tropical reef fish, is still suffering from illegal and unreported international trade despite being listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Crown-of-Thorns Starfish Alert in Red Sea
The Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA) is calling for divers at Careless Reef to report sightings of the Crown-of-Thorns starfish.
Ghostly underwater art gallery breathes new life to sunken ship
Diving 27 meters underwater, the light turns a deep, hazy blue. Emerging from the darkness, three ballerinas in white tutus stretch their legs on the deck of a sunken military ship.
Sprawling Resort to Suffocate Reef Island
A massive tourism and marina development approved today by the Federal Government will put the unique environment of Great Keppel Island at risk, say the Australian Greens.
Seabird diets provide early warning of fishery declines
The proportions of sardines and anchovies in the diet of pelicans, gulls and terns in spring, can signal the need to reduce fishing efforts in the ensuing season and prevent a fisheries collapse.
Divers for Sharks
Business professionals join campaign to restrict international trade on endangered shark and ray species
Taxpayers' money keeps Japan's whaling fleet afloat
Public funds subsidise Japan's whaling industry to the tune of $8.9 million, even though only 11 per cent of citizens support it
World's giant squid are one big happy family
It's a small world after all for giant squid. The first genetic study of global squid populations shows that the mysterious animals are very similar to each other, even though they live so far apart. The finding suggests that their young are dispersed thousands of kilometres by powerful global currents.
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Jill Studholme
SCUBA News
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