Ocean Arts: Paintings & Sculpture Inspired by the Sea Science: Locomotion Croatia’s Island of Vis Denmark’s GLOBAL EDITION Bubbling May 2008 Number 23 Corals Profile Pascal Bernabe Cedric Verdier Fitness for Divers Ecology Cool & Colourful Hammerhead Sharks Cornwall1 X-RAY MAG : 23 : 2008 COVER PHOTO BY STEVE JONES silver www.seacam.com MARK WEBSTER DIRECTORY X-RAY MAG is published by AquaScope Media ApS Frederiksberg, Denmark www.xray-mag.com PUBLISHER SENIOR EDITOR & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Symes Peter Symes [email protected] [email protected] contents CO-EDITORS PUBLISHER Andrey Bizyukin - Features & CREATIVE DIRECTOR Arnold Weisz - News, Features Gunild Pak Symes Michael Arvedlund - Ecology [email protected] Tony White - Photography Scott Bennett - Travel PUBLISHER Edwin Marcow - Sharks & GENERAL MANAGER HARALD APELT CORRESPONDENTS [email protected] John Collins - Ireland Enrico Cappeletti - Italy ASSOCIATE EDITORS Gary Myors - Tasmania & REPRESENTATIVES: Marcelo Mammana - Argentina Russia Editor & Rep: Svetlana Murashkina - Russia Andrey Bizyukin, Moscow Barb Roy - WA, USA [email protected] Robert Aston - CA, USA Nonoy Tan - The Philippines South East Asia Editor & Rep: Catherine GS Lim, Singapore CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE [email protected] Kurt Amsler Harald Apelt Malaysia Editor & Rep: Michael Arvelund, PhD Simon Kong, Kuala Lumpur Scott Bennett [email protected] Pascal Bernabé Not yet subscribed to Andrey Bizyukin, PhD Florida Editor & Rep: CPT Kevin Cowan X-RAY MAG? 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SUBSCRIPTION 55 61 63 78 84 87 X-RAY MAG International Edition in English is FREE UW PH OTO & VI D EO : ME R MAI D MATTE rs : SH A R K TALE S : TEC H TALK : UNIQ U E DIVE SITE : PO R TFOLIO : To subscribe, go to: www.x-ray-mag.com WO R K FLO W SU N S C R EEN FACTO rs BIT S & BITE S FITNE ss FO R DIVE rs Bubb ING REEF S OCEAN AR T S COVER PHOTO B Y Kur T AM S LE R B Y CIN D Y RO ss E D ITE D B Y PETE R SYME S B Y CE dr IC VE rd IE R B Y PETE R SYME S E D ITE D B Y GU NIL D SYME S Buoy, Sinai, Egypt by Steve Jones (CONTINUED ON PAGE 4) 3 X-RAY MAG : 23 : 2008 Amsterdam Barcelona Cape Town Copenhagen Hamburg London Miami Moscow Oslo Paris Ravenna Singapore Sharm El Shiekh Sao Paulo Warsaw Editorial Explorerswe can all be This past Saturday evening, creatures of sometimes bewil- I can explore worlds that are I made myself very comfort- dering structure and form. more diverse, more surprising able. Since childhood, I have often and more astonishing than daydreamed, or pondered, anything science fiction or vir- Equipped with a remote con- what it would be like to be a tual reality can produce—and trol, an ample supply of snacks future captain of the Starship I can do it in the real world. and soft drinks, and with a soft Enterprise or some explorer couch mounted on my back donning his sophisticated sur- Actaully, it was only last week plate, I was all kitted up for a vival suit enabling him to sur- that I found myself face to marathon viewing of science vive in an otherwise strange face with a multi-legged crea- fiction movies on TV. and hostile environment. ture with lots of antennae, composite eyes and weird In these fictitious universes, we In fiction and our fantasy, we appendages. I also saw crea- can boldly go where no one can travel anywhere at the tures that started their lifecy- has gone before, experience speed of thought, but how cles as stalks with tentacles other worlds of a different about places that lie beyond before morphing into hovering physical nature and appear- our imagination? pulsating discs with intricate ance and encounter alien patterns. And I watched an MARK WEBSTER Alien from the deep? 4 X-RAY MAG : 23 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Enjoy pure ease amorphous sausage-shaped body always find something new I haven’t Here, in our own inner space, we with odd filaments and psychedelic seen before—a creature that I had can all be explorers. We need not patterns slide across the substrate in not come across before. belong to an elite few or be exces- front of me. I was in another strange sively fit. Almost anyone who wants world where I needed special I do have a lot of fancy equip- to do so can dive—and regularly, equipment and suits to venture. ment—it comes with the territory in divers find news species. Going over this line of work—and training that past issues of this magazine is a I wasn’t light years away however. I could take me pretty deep, but per- testament to new discoveries con- was just a short drive away, outside haps the thing I fancy most is lying stantly being made and new spe- the city, and the above mentioned very relaxed in a bank of marine cies being found—also by common creatures were crustaceans, jel- grass in the shallows and just spot people like you and me. lyfish and nudibranchs. The nearby the life there. Hidden among stalks, beaches outside Copenhagen a bewildering array of macrolife is Diving is your direct access to the can’t compete with those in the taking refuge, and the top layer of last true frontier. tropics or the great green water sediment is home to weirder crea- sites in Canada or Norway, but I can tures still. — Peter Symes RAPTOR The highest performance Split Fin in its class. Mares technology and design is applied to Raptor in order to deliver the maximum X-RAY MAG is distributed or its affiliates. Unsolicited energy transfer resulting in the best thrust and effi ciency in a Split Fin. X-RAY MAG eight times per year on the manuscripts, photographs is a founding NATURE’S WING Internet. © 2004-2008 and illustrations should be member of the A short kick stroke is all you need to activate the channel effect and move with a reduced effort. Underwater X-RAY MAG. All rights emailed to: reserved. [email protected] Network www. WHALE TAIL POWER theUnderwater- Material in this publica- X-RAY MAG accepts no Seamless transmission of thrust through Network.com tion may not be repro- responsibility for unsolicited Editorial statement regarding the entire kick cycle. Demonstrated by Nature. duced or transferred materials sent to its office, News from NAUI in X-RAY ABS PLUS BUCKLES electronically in any form nor is it liable for loss or MAG: This issue of X-RAY MAG Buckles open and close with ease. without written permission damage to such materials. and others includes news and Unique, patented and user friendly. from the copyright owner. press releases from NAUI in X-RAY MAG is Visit mares.com X-RAY MAG observes a sections designated by the a member of Views and information strict privacy policy. No NAUI logo. While the page Diving Equipment design is done by X-RAY MAG expressed in articles are personal or private infor- & Marketing as an integrated part of the Association: those of the individual mation will be shared with magazine, these news stories www.dema.org author and are not nec- a third party without the are brought to you by NAUI at essarily representative of written permission of the NAUI’s discretion. views held by X-RAY MAG owner. 5 X-RAY MAG : 23 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Explaning the O Z Mystic Metallic TELA S Sheen of Fish CA S OMA T The bright, mirror-like metallic sheen of fish skin is due to a sophisti- News edited NEWS cated system of guanine by Peter Symes crystals in the skin under- & Catherine GS LIm neath the scales of fish. This silvery reflectance Throw the big acts as a form of cam- ouflage that helps protect fish from preda- ones back tors as fish swim near the water’s surface. Contrary to conventional wisdom, it is not the young fish However, the exact that should be thrown back to sea but the larger older ones.