X-Ray Mag

Australia

Visitors met with a diversity of exhibitors at the Australia International Dive Expo 2019. These included dive centers, operators and resorts, dive travel agencies, dive equipment manufacturers, dive training agencies, tourism agencies, and a variety of other businesses and organizations in the dive industry.

Australia International Dive Expo 2020 exhibitor registration is now open

3 years ago By My Minion

Now housed in a new space on Level 4 of the exhibition center, AIDE has a new setup and ambience over the five-day event, including a dive education program with presentations and forums on scientific diving, ocean rescue, dive medicine and women in underwater photography. With over 60,000 divers and boaters visiting the boat show every year, exhibitors enjoy extensive exposure, with ample opportunities to interact with visitors, making sales and reaching new audiences.

The crown-of-thorns starfish can sometimes be hard to spot using traditional survey methods.

New test to detect crown-of-thorns starfish

3 years ago By Annie Won

Outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS) are bad news for coral reefs, so it is essential that they are detected and dealt with as soon as possible.

But detecting an outbreak in its early stages is not easy. What’s more, they sometimes hide under coral plates, while the younger ones can be as small as just a few millimetres.

To counter this, the researchers at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) developed a new test to detect the presence of the starfish on coral reefs.

UNSW researcher Dr Catharina Vendl holding the telescopic pole she used to collect samples of whales' blow in Hervey Bay, Queensland, in 2017.

Migrating humpback whales have poor health on return journey

3 years ago By Annie Won

Every summer, East Australian humpback whales migrate from the feeding grounds in Antarctica to their breeding grounds in the Great Barrier Reef. They remain there for about several months, before making their way around the southern Australian coast back to Antarctica for the winter.

Mike Ball Announces Photo Competition Winner for 2019/20

3 years ago By Matthew Meier
Photo Credit: Tanya Piejus

It was a close competition and as always a difficult one to judge but Tanya’s image captured the essence typifying the experience encountered on our minke expeditions. 

https://www.mikeball.com/photo-gallery/photo-year-competition-2019-2020/

Mike Ball Dive Expeditions run expeditions to the Coral Sea and the far northern Great Barrier Reef between Cairns and the Cape York peninsula.

Currently running 5 Night Minke Whale Expeditions.

Researchers find deep-sea coral gardens off Western Australia

4 years ago By Main minion

Widely known as a biodiversity hotspot for marine animals, Australia’s Bremer Canyon Marine Park has been found to also host rich, diverse ecosystems within the canyon’s cold waters.

This discovery was made during a scientific expedition after researchers used a deep-sea remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to collect samples of deep-sea corals, associated fauna, seawater and geological samples from the abyssal depths to the continental shelf.

Acropora hyacinthus, thought to be a single species, is potentially five different species—some with a very limited geographical range.

New coral species discovered along the Great Barrier Reef

4 years ago By Main minion

Scientists from Queensland Museum (QM), University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia completed a 21-day trip from the Capricorn Bunkers off Gladstone to Thursday Island in the Torres Strait late last year. Scientists discovered dozens of new coral species on a recent voyage along the length of the Great Barrier Reef.

“On almost every dive we were finding species that aren’t in the books"

Coral larvae being released into the water column, off Maui in 2003

Split spawning can give coral reefs a second chance

4 years ago By Sum Won

When investigating whether corals that split their spawning over multiple months are more successful at spreading their offspring across different reefs, researchers discovered that split spawning can indeed improve the coral reef's resilience.

The findings of the study was published in the Nature Communications journal recently.

AIMS' Dr Cherie Motti, beside a tank housing a Pacific triton sea snail.
AIMS' Dr Cherie Motti, beside a tank housing a Pacific triton sea snail.

Great Barrier Reef's saviour—a giant snail?

6 years ago By Sum Won

A giant sea snail may turn out to be another line of defense against the destructive crown-of-thorn starfish that is currently plaguing Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

Called the Pacific triton sea snail (Charonia tritonis), it can grow up to about 50 to 60cm and is indigenous to Australian waters. More importantly, the crown-of-thorn starfish happens to be part of its natural diet. However, the sea snail is currently endangered due to the consumer demand for their shells.

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