April 2004

What follows is an overview of recent sightings and experiences, first hand from the SDU crew…

Things have been buzzing in the SDU camp for the last couple of weeks. The team just successfully completed another Scientific Expedition. Everyone involved had a fantastic time. Highlights of the week included the ever popular diving with Cape fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus), which is hilarious fun, and the sightings of three different types of dolphin. Common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), inshore Bottlenosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and their off-shore relatives, also classed as Bottlenosed dolphin, just larger, were all spotted.

The group who joined us for the Expedition were Italians with a mixed background. Two of the group were curators/collectors for aquariums, several were students of Marine Biology, and others were divers and shark enthusiasts. We had a great week with: Primo Micarelli, Danilo Rezzolla, Sara Spinetti, Emanuella Lioia, Francesca Faro, Andrea Reviglio, Giacomo Bandini, Denis Michilini, Sebastiano Giardina, Jacopo Corso Cresti, Gianni Tozzimi and Laurent Marchot!

Also, this week, an as yet unidentified species of cephalopod was found floating and apparently disorientated at the surface behind Dyer Island. The species was around 1m in length and unfamiliar to everyone, so the crew contacted the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town for identification. The aquarium said they were interested in having the specimen. The crew easily captured the animal as it floated next to the boat. It put up minimal resistance, but did spread its arms in the shape of a Manta ray, and released a jet of ink. The crew placed the animal in a large container on the boat, where it actually laid a large bunch of white eggs. Later, a cephalopod researcher identified the species over the telephone as a Diamond squid (Thysanotheuthis rhombus). The aquarium later said that they could not keep the animal itself but would like the eggs. The crew released the animal again. Upon further study, it became clear that the animal was in fact not a Diamond squid at all, and it appears in none of the commonly used identification books. No species has been assigned to this specimen as yet. Between the time of first sight and the time of release, the cephalopod had changed colour several times, displaying red, purple, blue, orange, striped and patterned and even white. Colour change, shape change and ink jets are all typical escape responses of cephalopods, and can be seen in most species of squid, octopus and cuttlefish.

Finally, Shark Diving Unlimited was pleased to welcome Prince Harry of the British Royal family, and his party, on board Barracuda. Prince Harry, on holiday from the UK, joined the team for what turned out to be a fantastic day’s shark diving. The sharks were great that day, ranging in size from about 2.5m to just under four meters. One shark was particularly comfortable around the cage and gave the divers a real close encounter! Unfortunately, we were not permitted to photograph the young prince, so you will just have to believe us!