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Photo of the Day – Who’s in my burrow?

By Lazaro Ruda, The Living Sea
A fun follow-up from recent video of a jawfish with a surprise visitor (http://vimeo.com/67434232)! While the camera was busy recording a long stream of video, I was distracted by a second eel just a couple of feet away. 
Much to my surprise, the second eel followed in the footstep of the first and attempted to enter the jawfish’s burrow. At first, the jawfish pushed the eel away with its head; the same behavior as with the first eel in the video. The eel was reluctant to give in and eventually made its way in. The jawfish retreated under the sand, too.
Within seconds all three reemerged from the burrow and stayed together enjoying the cramped space for a few minutes before both eels eventually exited again.…

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Photo of the Day ~ Goblin Shark

Technically known as Mitsukurina owstoni, the Goblin Shark is the only remaining representative of the Mitsukurinidae family of sharks, a family that originated at least 125 million years ago. Hence, goblin sharks are often referred to as living fossils.The Goblin shark has only been encountered a few times and very little is known about it. What is known is that it is a slow moving deep sea shark that lives at depths of 1200m/4000ft in seas around the world. Goblin sharks have been observed in the western Indian Ocean, western Pacific Ocean and most of the Atlantic. 
They are known for their strange specialized “catapulting” jaws, which almost looks like there is something that lives inside of the sharks mouth that explodes outward to catch prey before returning back into the mouth (video below.)…

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Video of the Day ~ Mission Blue Cocos Expedition

Surrounded by deep waters and strong currents, Cocos Island has long been admired by scuba divers for its wealth of marine life. Large pelagic species are very abundant in the cool productive waters surrounding Cocos and divers often see large schools of hammerhead sharks, dolphin, tuna, and schools of snapper. Jacques Cousteau visited Cocos several times and raved about its incredible beauty. Cocos Island was declared a National Park by the Costa Rican government in 1978 and in 1997, UNESCO designated Cocos a world heritage site. In 2002, the surrounding waters were included under that protection. Despite its status as one of the most important marine conservation sites in the world, Cocos is still under pressure from illegal poaching of sharks, tuna, and other marine species.…

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Photo of the Day ~ The Mysterious Oarfish!

Louisiana State University marine biologists have just released video shot from an ROV in 2009 showing a shimmering giant oarfish, regalecus glesne, in it’s natural habitat, 1,475 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.
Reported to be the longest bony fish alive, the giant oarfish has a ribbon-like body and has been reliably documented to grow to 25 feet in length, although specimens up to 56 feet long have been reported. These strange ribbon-like creatures live at extreme ocean depths as much as 3,280 feet below the surface, and are found worldwide in all tropical and temperate oceans.
Until now, it was believed that a swimming oarfish would ‘row’ with its pelvic fins in a circular motion, hence the common name.…

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Celebrating Pulmo Marine Park’s 18th Year!

A Mobula Ray jumps for joy celebrating not only World Oceans Week, but also the 18th Anniversary of her home, Cabo Pulmo Marine Park, located within Mission Blue’s Gulf of California Hope Spot. This jewel of the East Cape region of Baja California Sur stretches five miles from the northernmost tip, Pulmo Point to the southernmost tip, Los Frailes. Surrounded by undeveloped desert and a stunning mountain range, the pristine beaches of Cabo Pulmo Park give way to a shallow bay that cradles one of three living reefs in North America.
A shining example to the world of what marine protection can do, Cabo Pulmo remains under threat.  Development threats to Cabo Pulmo remain, so at Mission Blue, we’re keeping a close eye along with our local partners on the region. …

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Photo of the Day ~ Hairy Squat Lobster

This incredibly beautiful little creature is a Hairy Squat Lobster (Lauriea siagiani.) It lives on Giant Barrel Sponges and is remarkably colored, with an intense pink body, purple spots, and bright yellow hairs that protrude in all directions. There are always more surprises to be discovered in the ocean!
by Anna and Ned Deloach www.BlennyWatcher.com…

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Photo of the Day ~ Larval Flounder

A tiny larval Flounder. Who would ever expect it to be so exquisite?
A translucent body disguises a larval flounder to keep it safe from predators. It will lose this defense mechanism later in life. Flounder undergo several striking physical transformations during their lifetimes. Very young flounder swim upright and have an eye on each side of their face. As they age the fish begin to swim on their sides and one eye slowly migrates until both are on the body’s “top side.”
Courtesy of Reddit.…

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Photo of the Day ~ Bering Sea Canyons Hope Spot Exploration

From the 2012 Greenpeace Expedition, an exciting description of his experience exploring the Zhemchug and Pribilof Deep Canyons, from John Hocevar ~ Ed.
If you’re a SCUBA diver, you’ve probably got a favorite wall dive. It’s hard to beat the feeling of moving slowly up a steep reef, with dense marine life above and below. I’ll always remember my first deep wall dive, on a visit to Curacao as a teenager in the 80s.
My new favorite, though, involves a submarine rather than SCUBA. After a few dozen dives in Pribilof and Zhemchug Canyons, on the Bering Sea shelf break, I thought I had some idea of what to expect: gradual slope, soft sediment bottom, with coral and sponge density somewhere around 1 per square meter.…

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Photo of the Day ~ Bering Sea Hope Spot: Cold Water Corals

Bright red swiftia coral found during a Greenpeace Expedition to the Bering Sea’s Zhemchug Canyon, in Mission Blue’s new Hope Spot!
Much of the expedition was focused on studying the abundance and diversity of deep-sea coral within the canyons. The expedition revealed “significant densities of coral, higher than most places in the world,” said Robert J. Miller, a biologist conducting research for the Marine Science Institute at the University of California Santa Barbara.
Photo: Todd Warshaw/Greenpeace…

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Photo of the Day ~ Polar Bear

Polar Bear exhales upon surfacing.  The combination of disappearing Arctic sea ice due to climate change, and continued development of oil and gas in critical habitat areas spells double trouble for Arctic polar bears.
Photo (c) Jeff Rumans.…

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