That Fish Blog – Aquarium Advice and Information

Hello, Frank Indiviglio here.  Many of the 2,700 scientists involved in the Global Census of Marine Life are meeting this month (October 7-10, 2010) in London to discuss the information they have gathered over the past 10 years.  In what is surely one of the largest scientific collaborations ever undertaken, researchers studied creatures ranging from microorganisms to whales in habitats stretching from pole to pole and shoreline to ocean abyss. 

Grand Ecosystems and Grand Studies

It is impossible to overstate the importance of the world’s marine habitats and the billions of organisms that make their homes in them – from providing one half the world’s oxygen and much of humanity’s food to influencing climate the world over, their influence cannot be escaped.  Read More »

You walk into a trendy restaurant. You browse the daily specials…the featured fish of the day?  Lionfish.  This is one creative way to fight the exploding population of these fish invading Caribbean waters and rapidly expanding north along the Eastern coast. Read More »

Every SCUBA diver and beachcomber dreams at some point of finding long-lost buried treasure or unearthing some relic lost to the sea. Two Andrea Doria divers recently did just that when they unearthed the bridge bell during their first dive on the wreck. The SS Andrea Doria is a fairly recent wreck. It sunk after it collided with the Swedish ocean liner, the MS Stockholm on July 25, 1956. Even though many of the lifeboats were unuseable once the severely damaged ship started listing to one side, only 46 lives were lost on the Andrea Doria and 5 on the Stockholm. Read More »

I spend a few minutes each day looking for news and other information that might be of interest to blog readers and hobbyists. While perusing one of my favorite websites, Underwatertimes.com. While it was a slow day in respects to fish and aquarium related news, I did come across an entertaining article about a group of Florida Keys Divers who are attempting to break the Guinness Book of World Records for extreme underwater ironing.  That’s right, extreme underwater ironing. I am not sure what is more interesting, the fact that there is such a thing, or that there is a Guinness record for it.  All you need to know about the sport is on the Extreme Ironing Bureau website, “Welcome to the home of extreme ironing – the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt”.  Man, I thought fish geeks were a weird bunch.

I love being on and in the water, diving, snorkling, and watching what goes on down there with fish and other reef inhabitants, but I’ve never come across anyone pressing their laundry! This got me to wondering what other weird underwater activities have I missed out on, and all I can say is WOW.  Here’s some of what I found:

Underwater Hairdressing –  David Rae recently set the Guinness record for underwater hairdressing, cutting 33 peoples hair in one hour, in 3 meters of water.

Underwater Juggling – Hannes “kann es” Neumann from Hannover, Germany owns the record for underwater juggling, in 2009 Hannes juggled underwater for 49 minutes, 53 seconds.

Underwater Tic-Tac-Toe –  Divers in Melbourne, Australia set out to break the record for consecutive hours of underwater tic-tac-toe playing of 24 hours.  The goal of the diving crew was to play for 36 hours strait.

Underwater Hockey – who needs ice to play hockey?  Yes it is serious, very, very serious.  For more information click here.

Underwater Pumpkin Carving – right here in our neck of the woods, the York Divers held an underwater pumpkin carving contest in 2009 to celebrate thanksgiving.

Underwater Mail Service – the tiny South Pacific Island paradise of Vanuatu, has what they claim to be the only underwater post office.  Located 9 feet 10 inches underwater, patrons can snorkel or scuba dive to the fiberglass hut on the seafloor to purchase and mail waterproof postcards!

Maybe people have a bit too much time on their hands…Thank God for the internet, so they can share their fun with us.

Until next blog,

Dave

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest and most diverse coral reef in the world. The aquarium industry over the past few years has seen a growing list of fish and corals that have been made available from the Barrier Reef, and they’ve been some amazing specimens. The last thing anyone wants is anything damaging the pristine natural wonder, especially something so devastating as to restrict collection of fish and corals from selected areas again. Read More »