Four pieces of news crossed your editor’s desktop recently, all of which are of interest to members and friends of the Marin Scuba Club.
1) Rare footage of a Great White Shark in the Mediterranean: One was spotted on June 7, many miles offshore between Tunisia and Sicily. Conservationists said that they hoped the sighting might encourage governments to create marine protected areas in these waters. Watch the video on BBC TV.
2) A White Abalone has been seen in the Channel Islands: Researchers aboard a NOAA vessel saw a critically endangered live white ab near Santa Cruz Island, the first in five years, providing a major boost to ongoing captive-breeding and recovery efforts. Read what some are calling “a needle in a haystack”.
3) French Polynesia has established the world’s largest MPA: Tainui Atea will cover the entirety of the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), almost 5 million square kilometers (more than 1.9
4) This creature was dubbed the “Sasquatch” of the sea: Thanks to Sean O’Day for sharing this story in National Geographic on June 8, published and photographed by our friend and past MSC presenter, Patrick Webster. “When over 99 percent of California’s sunflower sea stars mysteriously wasted away 10 years ago, an already stressed ecosystem unraveled.
“Sunflower sea stars—Pycnopodia helianthoides—may look like a purely decorative feature of the ocean floor, but they’re voracious predators.
million square miles) and will restrict extractive practices like deep-sea mining and bottom-trawling. Find out more.
As adults, they can grow up to 24 arms, span three feet wide, and move three feet per minute. They are superlative, and alien—one of the largest and arguably most ravenous sea stars in the world.
These crucial members of the ecosystem became almost mythological, earning them the affectionate term “seasquatch” among many professional and amateur scientific sleuths.
Finally, after years of faithful searching, a hidden “seasquatch” lair was discovered last June. Read more.
