Lion Fish

Pretty much everything about the venomous lionfish its red and white zebra stripes, long, showy pectoral fins, and generally cantankerous demeanor says: Don't touch!

                              

The venom of the lionfish, delivered via an array of up to 18 needle-like dorsal fins, is purely defensive. It relies on camouflage and lightning-fast reflexes to capture prey, mainly fish and shrimp. A sting from a lionfish is extremely painful to humans and can cause nausea and breathing difficulties, but is rarely fatal. Lionfish, also called turkey fish, dragon fish and scorpion fish, are native to the reefs and rocky crevices of the Indo-Pacific, although they've found their way to warm ocean habitats worldwide. The largest of lionfish can grow to about 15 inches (0.4 meters) in length, but the average is closer to 1 foot (0.3 meters). Lionfish are popular in some parts of the world as food, but are far more prized in the aquarium trade. Their population numbers are healthy and their distribution is growing, causing some concerned in the United States, where some feel the success of this non-indigenous species presents human and environmental dangers. This fish are slow-moving and conspicuous, so they must rely on their unusual coloration and fins to discourage their predators from eating them. Lionfish are now one of the top predators in many coral reef environments of the Caribbean and the Atlantic. Lionfish consume over 50 species of fish including some economically and ecologically important species.They are active hunters who ambush their prey by using their outstretched, fan-like pectoral fins to slowly pursue and "corner" them.

                                                        ENTERING IN MEXICO

After passing through the Atlantic and the Caribbean, especially the Mesoamerican reef, the first specimen of this species was observed in Mexico in 2009, on the island of Cozumel, southeast of the country, in the state of Quintana Roo. One of the main proposals to mitigate the negative impacts of this species is consuming it as a premium product because their meat is 100% free of toxin and is rich in protein. By eating lionfish, you contribute to  the conservation of marine resources.
Phantom Divers filmed a video showing a very simple way to build a lionfish container. It is in spanish, but we would like to share it with you! We hope you like it!

                                                               

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Coexisting with Bull Sharks in the Mexican Caribbean

In Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, it is possible to observe Bull Sharks through diving and to be close to this shark, which swims in shallow waters and close to the people.

It was in 1975, when the Hollywood movie "Jaws" directed by Steven Spielberg, whose success resulted in many myths that revolve around the specie that inspired this film: the Bull Shark.
Its size is medium, large and robust body (its name is due to these features), and has long pectoral fins; although it has been classified by experts as an aggressive species, the risk of being attacked by one of them is very low. That's why in our country in the area of Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, it is possible to observe it through the dive, by expert guides.
Although we do not know why these sharks come to the waters of the Caribbean Sea, the Bull Shark appears from December to March. The season can vary depending on the current, climate and food.
All specimens are females and most of them arrive pregnant, according to Jorge Loria, one of the pioneers in this activity that has been performed for 17 years in Playa del Carmen, and which has become an opportunity to see up close the behavior of Bull Sharks in their natural environment.

CERTIFIED DIVERS

To practice this extreme activity, tourists should be certified divers with at least 30 dives in their log books.
We must also comply with a dress code that doesn´t drag their attention. It consists of carrying a full black wetsuit and carry no bright objects such as jewelry or bracelets.
Most people feel scared before diving, he says, but in reality, besides knowing breath control, equalization techniques and have no air consumption problems (asthma), no further security action is needed more than the desire to know the behavior of this animal.
Already in the bottom of the sea, 22 to 24 meters deep, visitors are placed  in a line, lying on their stomachs and close together to avoid blocking the visibility of others. 
The intention is that they can observe how one of the two guides distributes pieces of bait for sharks to come and eat, all within five meters from the group.
This activity lasts around 25 minutes, during which people can appreciate Bull Sharks, inches away. Underwater, this awesome shark which can grow up to three meters, is admired white and imposing.

A SENSE OF PEACE

Most who do this activity for the first time, finish with a sense of peace, contrary to how they felt at the very beginning, says Jorge. Furthermore, it has become an incentive to reflect on shark conservation and join the cause to support its protection since 90 percent of the species in the world has disappeared.
Today, Playa del Carmen is specializing as one of the best places to dive with sharks (in Bahamas, which is first, the activity generates an economic impact of $ 80 million).
Jorge added that the amount of bait offered to them is very small, so they are not altering their feeding practices.
To learn more about the species, Jorge and his team created Saving Our Sharks NPO, in which they work through field support as placing underwater receivers, biopsies (which UNAM analyzes), placing them marks to understand their movement patterns, satellite and awareness actions. 
Before diving please read more about these animals. Since all Bull Sharks are pregnant females, the goal is to determine where they give birth to their babies and protect them.

Bull Shark swims in shallow water, even in freshwater rivers and very close to people, at which incidents occur, when they confuse their food with humans. Besides not trying to touch them (only the specialized guides are allowed), you should know that humans are not part of their diet.
In the world, nearly a hundred million sharks disappear every year, because their meat and fins are sold as exotic food; "We are a danger to them and not them for us," explains the expert. Attack sharks is attacking the balance of the entire marine ecosystem.
The idea of these dives was born in order to show tourists that the bull shark only attacks if it feels threatened or provoked, but currently it´s even protected.
So, besides diving with Bull Sharks, you will get more knowledge about this misunderstood species, and above all, you will know that they are not the aggressive creatures that Hollywood films were commissioned to make us believe.

EL FINANCIERO

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Don't let a Shark take away your sleep

Published in the newspaper Por Esto! in Yucatan and Quintana Roo. June 27, 2014.

By Juan José Morales

To all those who every time they enter the sea looking in all directions fearing to see the fin of a shark quickly approaching, certainly will be interested in the 2013 statistics released by the Record Identification Attribute Table - or RIAT - that keeps the Florida Museum of Natural History.

In total, 125 cases last year, which can be called shark attacks on humans, were documented. But of those, only 72 were considered unprovoked, that means that they occurred in the natural environment without the animal being somehow provoked by the person. Of the remaining 53 cases, 28 were classified as provoked, they ocurred after the shark was harpooned, taken out of a fishing net or disengage the hook when someone tried to hold it; while being fed by tourists, and in similar situations . The rest falls into several categories: attacks in confined waters like aquariums or different types of ponds, drowned corpses, etc.
Most of the attacks - 34 in total, which means almost half - occurred in inland waters of the United States, another 13 in Hawaii, which is also part of the United States, 10 in Australia, five in South Africa, three in the Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, two in Jamaica and the other in different places, with only one case at a time.
That figure of 72 non provoked attacks is down below the 81 that occurred in 2012, and the ones recorded in the two years preceding the latter. However, overall global number has been increasing so steadily, though slowly, for over a century, from 1900 to date. But this should not cause alarm. First, because the increase is minimal, and secondly because it is natural considering that the global population has more than quadrupled during that period, from 1 650 million in 1900 to 7200 million today.
And there is not only more human beings -and therefore more potential victims of a shark attack - but also more and more people are pushed into the sea, for recreation or work. A hundred years ago, only a small segment of the population could afford traveling to the beach and bathe in the sea, now is accessible to almost everyone. And not to mention the amount of people now doing dive practices and waterspouts that remain unknown a century ago, such as sailing table or scuba diving.
But above all, what has occurred in recent times, it´s more and better statistical record. Thanks to international cooperation between research institutes and authorities in different countries, as well as faster and more efficient communications, nowadays you can tell of incidents with sharks occurring anywhere in the world, even in isolated and remote locations such as small islands of the Indian Ocean or the Pacific.
So therefore there is no need to fear sharks. They are not killer beasts that prowl in the vicinity of the beaches in search of unsuspecting bathers, and likely to end in the jaws of some of them are insignificant. It is much more likely to die struck by lightning or victim of an allergic reaction from insect bites.

Comments: kixpachoch@yahoo.com.mx

Cenote Muyal-Ha: a trip to the underworld.

By Di Fragoso

Photo by Luis Andrade

Like if it came out of a horror story , the first 30 feet dive in cenote Muyal-Ha brings you incredible passages between mist and petrified trees from a site that seemed forgotten, lonely, hidden, colored with strange green tones and dark corners; with a sediment, that if you dare to sink your hand, transgress with the feeling that there is something on the other side ready to grab your hand and pull you into another dimension. The halocline distorts your vision for a while, but once it´s over, everything is clear again (great relief in such an alien world!).

Photo by Luis Andrade

Once this tour in the depths of Muyal-Ha ends, we are ready for the second dive (about 8 ft deep), ready for a flight by its higher ceilings of impressive caverns and caves, where the sense of the passage of time is overwhelming when you see the bones of an animal that once breathed fresh air right there, where now you depend on an oxygen tank to survive. The layers of the earth reveals a little more the guts of your world, your planet , at least what you have managed to penetrate. Its imposing stalactites go beyond what you could ask for at this time, total peace and redemption fill your mind and body…life is perfect , the universe is pure magic.

Come and dive in Muyal -Ha, Phantom Divers is the only one who can take you there!

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Here and now! Whale Sharks have arrived!

Finally it´s again that time of the year when the majestic Whale Sharks return to the warm waters of the Mexican Caribbean . Despite their huge size of 50 ft length and 20 tons of weight, they come searching for their tiny but substantial food, plankton. Some people describe them as "20 tons of peace", a wise and wonderful adjective for the largest and most docile animal in the ocean.
Whale Sharks do not travel alone, thousands of tourists from around the world come together with their arrival in order to snorkel with them, admire their slow and graceful movements and peculiar skin of spots and stripes.
Don´t miss the opportunity to live this experience , you do not need to be an expert swimmer neither be a lover of extreme sports, is a simple but fascinating adventure! You just need snorkel equipment and Phantom Divers!

See you soon!

For more information please visit 

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Face-off in Antarctica

Sometimes it can be very surprising when wild animals, that we think are deadly predators, act in a caring, kind way with us, humans, who mostly are the principal reason of the suffering or even the extinction of several species. This happens with sharks, we kill several sharks due for fun or commerce and mostly because we think they simple presence is a danger, when actually, the only attacks reported by sharks have been by confusion or human threatening.

The National Geographic photographer, Paul Nicklen, went to Antarctica to photograph one of the top predators in the world, the leopard seal. And what happened next, can simply amaze anyone. Once he was face to face with this vicious predator and terrified by it, the animal dropped the penguin it had in the mouth, came closer to Paul and opened her mouth right away to his head and camera and took them "Her head is twice as wide as a grizzly bear's head. Just huge". Then she got a live penguin and started trying to feed him with it, when the penguin got away, she would do the same thing over and over again. Paul said she might notice in that moment that he was this useless and weak predator that can starve to dead and became quit panicked. So the seal started bringing him weak penguins and partially dead penguins pushing them into his camera, maybe thinking that it was his mouth. At some point she started bringing him some parts of the little animals. The next three days he went by to photograph her she acted the same way, feeding him so he didn't starve.

"So, here I came to Antarctica, to photograph this potentially vicious animal, to have this predator, this top predator in Antarctica, take care of me, and nature me, and feed me for four days straight.

What´s going on in Australia?

After the death of a surfer from a shark attack in November 2013 , the government of Western Australia has created and approved a plan to prevent such accidents and make local beaches safer for summer vacationers.
The plan is to reduce the population of white and tiger shark, capturing and killing those that measure more than 3 meters and delve into two defined areas near the beach of Perth.
This measure has outraged thousands of people who have spoken out against the authorities, because despite the lack of scientific evidence that killing sharks will reduce the risk of attacks on swimmers, has been given the green light to licensed fishermen to carry out the plan which will last until April 30 of this year.

How can you help prevent the slaughter of sharks?

Access http://www.marineconservation.org.au/petitions.php/9/save-wa-sharks-stop-the-cull to sign the petition against this plan, make a donation to fund the pressure to Australian government or join the mailing list to receive updates on this campaign.

The deadliest weapon is the indifference, take action!

Did you know that...?

The small republic of Maldives in 2009 conducted the first underwater Ministral meeting , the cabinet of the island, located in the Indian Ocean, was taking diving lessons in preparation to celebrate this underwater meeting where a document calling for a reduction in the emission of polluting gases into the atmosphere will be signed.

About ten ministers dove inside and placed around a table in a form of a horseshoe, all accompanied by their instructors. Then symbolically adopted a resolution calling for global action to achieve a reduction of CO2 emissions .

Underwater, the government signed a document calling on all nations to reduce their carbon emissions. Organizers of the conference say they want to highlight the risks of increased carbon in the atmosphere and encourage world leaders to commit to reduce carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million.

About 80% of the archipelago of the Maldives is less than one meter above sea level and is extremely vulnerable to any rise in sea level due to global warming melting polar ice caps.

The scyphomedusa Deepstaria

The scyphomedusa Deepstaria is certainly odd, with its bag-like appearance, and bell that can open more than a meter wide. Speculation on the identity of a mystery blob of has become a YouTube sensation, sparking heated and entertaining debates over its identity. That video of Deepstaria reticulum (described by Larson, et al., in 1988) looks especially unusual because the medusa is being blown around by the thrusters of the Remotely Operated Vehicle, and eventually turns completely inside-out. In this video, we showed some more natural-looking specimens of Deepstaria reticulum and Deepstaria enigmatica, along with other related species from the deep sea.