Australia

Toyota Land Cruiser
1978 Toyota Land Cruiser

1978 Toyota Land Cruiser sets new underwater record

Comprising a skilled team of engineers, professional divers, and automobile enthusiasts, this collective recently orchestrated an extraordinary endeavor. They navigated a vintage Land Cruiser 4.3 miles beneath the waters of Darwin, an Australian city, setting a new bar for both the longest and deepest underwater journey.

This historic achievement, as reported by ABC News Australia, saw the vehicle reaching an astounding depth of 98 feet beneath the harbor's surface. This feat demanded more than a mere snorkel to achieve.

Great Barrier Reef at the Whitsunday Islands, Australia.
Great Barrier Reef at the Whitsunday Islands, Australia.

Great Barrier Reef narrowly escapes UNESCO World Heritage downgrade

Australia's Great Barrier Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1981, narrowly avoided a downgrade to the "in danger" status during a recent meeting of the World Heritage Committee. The decision was made despite the repeated warnings by experts about the escalating impact of climate change on the world's largest coral reef system.

Whitsunday Islands, Great Barrier Reef.
Whitsunday Islands, Great Barrier Reef.

Great Barrier Reef has sort of chlamydia

The discovery of chlamydia-like bacteria in corals of the Great Barrier Reef could help scientists understand the coral microbiome and its impact on coral reef health.

Corals are associated with a variety of bacteria, which occur in the surface mucus layer, gastrovascular cavity, skeleton and tissues where they play a critical role in protecting corals against pathogens, cycling nutrients, and producing vitamins and essential amino acids. 

The coastal freighter MV Blythe Star capsized off the coast of south-west Tasmania in October 1973.
The coastal freighter MV Blythe Star capsized off the coast of south-west Tasmania in October 1973.

Blythe Star shipwreck found off Tasmanian coast, ending 50-year mystery

The 44-metre motor vessel (MV) Blythe Star was a coastal freighter that disappeared off Tasmania nearly 50 years ago. On the 13 October 1973 while making a routine trip from Hobart to King Island, the ship began developing a list to the starboard before taking on water and capsizing.

The new species of catshark has shiny white irises, which is unusual of a deep-sea species
The new species of catshark has shiny white irises, which is unusual of a deep-sea species

New shark species discovered off Australia

Most sharks give birth to live young, but a few species, known as oviparous sharks, lay eggs. The new species could be identified because researchers noticed something interesting about its egg cases, pouches that attach to a surface in the ocean and hold onto a fertilized shark eggs as it develops.

Ribbon weed, Posidonia australis, meadow in Shark Bay, Western Australia
Ribbon weed, Posidonia australis, meadow in Shark Bay, Western Australia

Single seagrass plant stretches 180km

Large, perennial, seagrass meadows of the Poseidon’s ribbon weed and the wire weed (Amphibolis antarctica) dominate much of the marine ecosystem in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Shark Bay, Australia.

Two years ago, scientists discovered some of the seagrass there was a clone of a Poseidon’s ribbon weed (Posidonia australis) that had 40 chromosomes instead of the typical 20. They think half those chromosomes may come from the ribbon weed and half from an unknown species.

Great White Shark  Photo:  Elias Levy
Great White Shark

Great white shark swims more than 10,000km in 150 days

Researchers from the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Primary Industries (DPI) and Deakin University fitted an adult male shark with a pop-up satellite tag and tracked it for more than five months.

After being tagged, the shark swam more than 20km out to sea, then headed north to Queensland. 

It roamed between 80 and 280km offshore between Agnes Water and the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, before heading to the cooler waters in southern NSW, Victoria and Tasmania. 

A deep-sea batfish
A deep-sea batfish

New species discovered off Western Australia

While on a mission to map the volcanic geography of Cocos (Keeling) Islands Marine Park off Western Australia, researchers aboard the vessel Investigator also surveyed the deep-sea life in the Indian Ocean Territories.

In doing so, they came face-to-face with many fascinating, and some previously unknown, species.

Besides filming videos of the vast marine life amidst the summits of seamounts, the team also collected specimens from depths as deep as five kilometres below the surface.

We have discovered an amazing number of potentially new species living in this remote marine park

Dr Tim O’Hara, Chief Scientist of the expedition and Senior Curator, Marine Inveterbrates at Museums Victoria Research Institute

During the expedition, the researchers had been sharing their discoveries with more than 850 school students and community members in Australia through real-time livestreaming.

The expedition was a collaboration between Museums Victoria Research Institute and CSIRO, in partnership with Bush Blitz, Parks Australia, Australian Museum Research Institute and the Western Australian Museum.

Corals on Flynn Reef, part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef
Corals on Flynn Reef, part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef

Temperature and habitat changes have impacted Australia's reef fishes

For more than a decade, some researchers in Australia have been monitoring coral reefs in the vicinity to see how rising ocean temperatures affect both the tropical and temperate reef fish communities.

The findings of their study was published in the Current Biology journal.

According to lead author Rick Stuart-Smith, a marine ecologist at the University of Tasmania, the team had focused on reef fishes as reefs provided many benefits to people and the fishes there helped maintain the natural ecological function of the reefs.

SeaLife Appoints New Australia Distributor

Underwater Australasia Pty Ltd, also known simply as underwater.com.au, has been appointed as the exclusive distributor for Australia for SeaLife’s underwater imaging and diving products effective February 1st 2022.

Underwater.com.au has been active in the underwater industry for over 20 years and specializes in the import and sale of underwater niche products.