Blog
Dive stories, marine life and the practical side of diving, written by a diver for divers.
Peacock Mantis Shrimp: The Fastest Punch in the Ocean
You shine a torch over a patch of coral rubble and two stalked, brightly colored eyes swivel independently to track your motion…
How to Photograph a Fish So It Can Be Identified
Eight habits that put the clues an identifier needs into the frame, from shooting side-on to why colour can't be trusted…
Nudibranch vs. Sea Slug: How to Spot the Difference Underwater
You spot a vibrant burst of neon blue and yellow crawling across a sponge, with a pair of delicate, feather-like tentacles…
What to Write in Your Dive Log (and Why It's Worth It)
What to record after every dive: the essentials, the useful extras, and why a dive log helps with buoyancy, trips, courses and…
Pufferfish: Why You Should Never Make One Puff Up
A puffed-up pufferfish makes a great photo and costs the fish hours of recovery. How the puff works, the poison inside, a puffer…
Moray Eels: What the Open Mouth Really Means
The wide-open mouth of a moray eel is not a threat: it is how the animal breathes. Why morays look the way they do, how they…
Night Diving: What Comes Out After Dark
After dark the reef changes shift: corals open, parrotfish sleep in mucus, morays and lionfish go hunting. Who to look for at…
Juvenile Fish: When the Young Look Like a Different Species
A dark fish with white rings that grows into a yellow-and-blue angelfish, a batfish that drifts like a dead leaf: young reef…
How the AI Fish Identifier Works (and When It Is Wrong)
What happens to your photo inside ScubaSnap, what the confidence score really means, and six reasons the AI can get a fish…
Clownfish: Why Nemo’s Dad Would Have Become His Mum
Clownfish live in an animal that stings everything else, change sex from male to female, and keep themselves small on purpose…
Cleaning Stations: How to Watch the Reef’s Car Wash
Big fish queue up to have small cleaners pick off their parasites. How cleaning stations work, why cleaners sometimes cheat, and…
Lionfish, Stonefish and Scorpionfish: The Reef’s Venomous Spines
One is the showiest fish on the reef, one looks like a rock and one walks on its fins. All carry venom in their spines. How to…