The Coral Triangle & sea nomads

Changing times for the world’s center of marine biodiversity and the communities who depend on and harvest the sea’s resources.

“Photojournalist James Morgan is working with WWF, and spent eight months getting to know the Bajau Laut community – who for centuries have lived at sea, but are now being encouraged to settle on land and join the monetary economy. Hear from him – and see how the Bajau are having to adapt.”

An interesting short story in pictures with audio on how the sea-harvesting techniques of the Bajau Laut community are changing from traditional diving to the use of improvised explosives and potassium cyanide – devastating vast areas of coral reefs in *the* most pristine marine ecosystem on the planet…

Full report from BBC News HERE.

Photojournalism by James Morgan

The Coral Triangle

Spanning eastern Indonesia, parts of Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands (see the map), the Coral Triangle is the global center of marine biodiversity and one of the world’s top priorities for marine conservation.

This extraordinary expanse of ocean covers an area of 2.3 million square miles (5.7 million km2), the equivalent to half of the entire United States. It is home to over 600 reef-building coral species, or 75% of all species known to science, and more than 3,000 species of reef fish. Over 150 million people live within the Coral Triangle, of which an estimated 2.25 million fishers are dependant on marine resources for their livelihoods. Applying the latest science, The Nature Conservancy is working with a range of partners to protect the coastal and marine ecosystems of this vast area by addressing key threats, such as over-fishing, destructive fishing, and mass coral bleaching.

Source: Coral Triangle Center

Saltwater Crocodiles surf Ocean Currents

With the exception of a Great White, or possibly an Oceanic White-tip (on a bad day), nothing terrifies me more than the prospect of meeting a 20ft (6m) Saltwater ‘Estuarine’ Crocodile out in the open Ocean. And apparently that’s not as unlikely as I would have hoped for!

Despite being poor swimmers, researchers have discovered that the saltwater crocodile (also known as estuarine) commonly travels long distances over open oceans by riding ocean currents. The discovery, published in Journal of Animal Ecology, solves an unknown mystery of why saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) are found across vast distance in the Pacific, yet have not diverged into different species.

Researchers tracked 27 adult saltwater crocodiles for one year using tags and sonar transmitters. The tagging showed that crocodile individuals, both male and female, regularly traveled more than 50 kilometers from their local rivers into the open sea. One crocodile traveled 590 kilometers in 25 days; another traveled 411 kilometers in 20 days.

The saltwater crocodile’s range extends from India to Fiji and from southern China to northern Australia. They are the world’s largest crocodile species.

From Mongabay.com

Oh man, bring out the cello….

Having read this article I decided to read-up on where in the world precisely I might have a chance of bumping in to (or more like becoming a light snack of) one of these huge ocean-going beasts. Here’s what I found:

perhaps not so surprising that they frequent the region of the planet with the largest bio-diversity – and even less surprising that my number 1 must-see diving destination (planned for 2012) is PNG and is a veritable hot spot for the buggers! Great

Indonesia mimic octopus imitates toxic flatfish for defense

How about this for an impersonation… Watch video of the Indonesian Mimic Octopus impersonating a toxic flatfish – sometimes the best form of defense really is to attack!

The Indonesian mimic octopus has the extraordinary ability to pass itself off as many of the toxic fishes or sea snakes that share its habitat.

Instead of blending into the background, the animal impersonator often uses a daredevil strategy of making itself more conspicuous to predators. Scientists believe the behaviour evolved to scare other animals.

By flattening its head and arms, using a bold brown and white colour display and adopting an undulating swimming technique T. mimicus can fool predators that it is, in fact, a poisonous flatfish rather than a tasty meal.

From the BBC. Watch full video HERE.

Beauty of Komodo Island hides a deadly current

Five divers, including three Britons, have gone missing while exploring the Nusa Tenggara archipelago off the coast of Indonesia.

The seas around Indonesia’s Nusa Tenggara archipelago are among the most unpredictable and dangerous in the tropics.

This is the area where the Indian and Pacific Oceans meet, where cold water wells up from the abyss, creating a mosaic of tidal races and whirlpools. There is little boat traffic, save for local subsistence fishermen and the occasional ferry. For a lost diver drifting at the surface, it is a vast and hostile environment.

Divers visit these islands because all that roiling water brings nutrients that power one of the world’s richest eco-systems. Komodo Island (famous for the endemic giant lizards known as Komodo dragons) sits at the heart of the archipelago, and has some of the best dives in South East Asia.

From the timesonline: Read more

In Octopus’s Garden, Sex Is Sleuthy

Marine biologists studying wild octopuses have found a kinky and violent society of jealous murders, gender subterfuge and once-in-a-lifetime sex.

The new study by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, who journeyed off the coast of Indonesia found that wild octopuses are far from the shy, unromantic loners their captive brethren appear to be.

The scientists watched the Abdopus aculeatus octopus, which are the size of an orange, for several weeks and published their findings recently in the journal Marine Biology.

They witnessed picky, macho males carefully select a mate, then guard their newly domesticated digs so jealously that they would occasionally use their 8- to 10-inch tentacles to strangle a romantic rival to death.

From Discovery News: Read more