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Editorial archive · 39 dispatches

Marine life

Species profiles and field notes.

§ I · Marine life

Species profiles and field notes.

01

Hammerhead Sharks: The Schooling Phenomenon

Scalloped hammerheads gather in schools of hundreds at a handful of remote seamounts worldwide. This is where to find them and what drives this extraordinary ag...

Apr 12, 2026 2 min read
02

Shark Finning: Understanding the Crisis

Shark finning has reduced global shark populations by 71% since 1970. This is what's driving it, what the ecological consequences are, and where the law and the...

Apr 11, 2026 2 min read
03

Sea turtles: the reef regulars

Green, hawksbill, loggerhead, leatherback. How to tell them apart underwater and where each species is most common.

Apr 10, 2026 1 min read
04

Anemonefish and Clownfish: Symbiosis in Action

The relationship between anemonefish and their host anemone is one of biology's most elegant mutualisms. The real story is stranger than the films suggest.

Apr 8, 2026 2 min read
05

Reef sharks: the ones you'll actually see

Grey reef, whitetip, blacktip, Caribbean reef. The four reef sharks divers encounter most and where to find them.

Apr 7, 2026 1 min read
06

Seahorses: the hardest find in macro diving

Pygmy seahorses are the size of a grain of rice. Finding one without a guide is nearly impossible — which is exactly why the effort matters.

Apr 6, 2026 1 min read
07

Hammerhead sharks: the offshore schooling mystery

Why do scalloped hammerheads school at specific seamounts and specific times? Nobody really knows, but divers can still witness it.

Apr 5, 2026 1 min read
08

Whale sharks: the gentle giant

The largest fish in the ocean feeds on the smallest. Where and when to dive with whale sharks, and how to behave when you find one.

Apr 1, 2026 1 min read
09

Coral Bleaching: The Climate Crisis Underwater

Mass bleaching events are becoming annual events on reefs that used to recover between them. Here is what bleaching is, why it matters, and what the trajectory...

Mar 31, 2026 3 min read
10

Understanding Coral Bleaching: What Divers Need to Know

Coral bleaching is increasing in frequency and severity. This is what it is, why it happens, and what divers can do about it.

Mar 30, 2026 3 min read
11

Triggerfish: Intelligent and Territorial

Triggerfish lock themselves into crevices with a spine mechanism, guard nest sites aggressively, and are considered among the most intelligent reef fish. They a...

Mar 29, 2026 2 min read
12

Manta rays: cleaning stations and feeding frenzies

Reef mantas versus oceanic mantas, and how cleaning stations let divers predict where they'll be on any given morning.

Mar 29, 2026 1 min read
13

Mola mola: the sunfish of Nusa Penida

The ocean sunfish is the heaviest bony fish in the world and it behaves nothing like you'd expect a fish to behave.

Mar 29, 2026 1 min read
14

The Sardine Run: South Africa's Greatest Underwater Spectacle

Every June, billions of sardines migrate up the KwaZulu-Natal coast, triggering a feeding frenzy of sharks, dolphins, gannets, and whales that is one of the gre...

Mar 21, 2026 2 min read
15

Nudibranchs: The Rainbow of the Reef

More than 3,000 species, colours that seem impossible for biology to produce, and a biology stranger than any other reef animal. Nudibranchs are the gateway dru...

Mar 20, 2026 2 min read
16

The State of Coral Reefs: 2026 Report

Coral reefs have experienced multiple mass bleaching events since 2016. What the science shows about the current state of the world's reefs — and what the reali...

Mar 20, 2026 2 min read
17

Manta Rays: Acrobats of the Reef

Manta rays are the largest rays in the ocean — and among the most intelligent fish. Barrel rolls, cleaning stations, and feeding frenzies: where to find them an...

Mar 20, 2026 2 min read
18

Nudibranchs: the macro obsession

Why experienced divers end up staring at tiny sea slugs. A primer on the slow, strange world of macro diving.

Mar 18, 2026 1 min read
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