My Blog List & Endangered Animals slide show

The very latest posting from Chai'sMarine Life Blog (at http://chaitt.blogspot.com/) can now be seen near the bottom of this blog (under My Blog List). At the very bottom of this blog, below My Blog List, is a slide show on endangered animals.

Akumal sea life blog

The blog found at http://akumalsealife.blogspot.com/ discusses "Marine and Coastal Conservation along the Mexican Caribbean and beyond. News and discussions about the marine conservation work of Centro Ecológico Akumal, other Caribbean conservation programs, and other marine topics." The amazing thing is that (under Other blogs on ocean conservation) it mentions this blog i.e. " Steve's Scuba Site showcases a well-balanced mixture of scuba-diving stories, ocean conservation announcements and updates, and educational tidbits. You will find many links that will guide you to even more ocean information around the Web." It also mentions Chai's Marine Life Blog i.e. "Chai's Marine Life Blog catalogs the underwater discoveries of a student and all-around underwater enthusiast. Practically the moment Tsun-Thai Chai got an underwater camera, a new blog was born." These very same details (for Steve & Chai) have also featured in material from Marine Photo Bank (see http://www.marinephotobank.org/resources/documents/MPBbulletinfebruary2009.pdf and http://chaitt.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-02-17T07%3A55%3A00%2B09%3A00&max-results=1). The Akumal sea life blog says that " Centro Ecológico Akumal and the tourists who come to visit Akumal in order to remain healthy. Although coral appears to be dead rock it is very much alive and, as all life, it is fragile but also very resilient. As long as people behave properly while visiting the reef it will be able to live strong and healthy. On this site you will find information about the Mesoamerican Reef System and tips on behavior to help make sure the reef is alive and growing." According to the web page found at http://locogringo.com/akumal/, Akumal is south of Cancun on the Mexican Caribbean coastline of the Yucatan peninsula. It is on the mainland near Cozemel Island - see map at http://www.locogringo.com/maps/riviera-maya-coast.html.

Crabs killed by recent hot spells

Recent hot weather spells in SA caused the death of crabs on Adelaide's metropolitan beaches. Whilst many land-based creatures were struggling with the heat, crabs were reportedly being "boiled to death" in the water because of a lack of oxygen in the shallow water. I found many dead crabs on my local beaches (Semaphore/Largs) over the first two weekends in February. One can only wonder if many crabs survived the heat.

Large octopuses at The Bluff, Victor Harbor

Large octopuses were seen at The Bluff at Victor Harbor in January. Thierry Laperousaz at the SA Museum suggested that they were maori octopus.

These two images were taken by Heather Bird and Steve Reynolds.

Blue-ringed octopus with eggs and newly hatched baby

Here are some of Ray Trezise's photos of Take a close look
at the one which shows a baby octopus by the mother with eggs. Click on the photo to view an enlargement.

More of Ray Trezise's underwater photos

I've now added some more of Ray Trezise's underwater photos at http://picasaweb.google.com.au/stevereynolds600/RayTreziseSUnderwaterPhotos. I've also made them larger for better viewing.

Valentine's Day release for amorous octopus

Hopefully, everyone had a good Valentine's Day. A common (sydney?) octopus in New Zealand was released back into the wild on Valentine's Day in the hope it will find a mate . Footage of the amorous octopus and its release can be viewed at http://www.abcscience.net.au/news/video/2009/02/14/2491507.htm . And how many babies do octopus have? Octuplets : )

(Photo taken by David Muirhead, as featured in MLSSA’s 2005 Calendar of South Australian Marine Life, month of November.)