The Scuttlefish

Above: A slug of some sort, or so scientists say. “It was like an underwater Easter egg hunt”, said Terry Gosliner, California Academy of Sciences principal investigator on the expedition. “It was one of the most exciting scientific dives of my 50-year career.” Photo credit: California Academy of Sciences.

Over the past several weeks, researchers from the California Academy of Sciences have been gathering unnamed specimens while on expedition in the Philippines, and this past week, they announced the discovery of 100 new species, some of which look as though they were pried from the walls of modern art museums rather than the bottom of the sea.

Divers collect curious fish specimens in the twilight zone, 150-500 feet beneath the surface. Photo credit: California Academy of Sciences.

Read more»

Above: A March 16 satellite image shows China’s recent progress on Mischief Reef. Image: CreditCenter for Strategic and International Studies, via Digital Globe

The South China Sea is one of the most heavily trafficked commercial waterways and fishing grounds in the world. Oil and natural gas were discovered in the Spratly Islands in 1968. How large those reserves may be is anyone’s guess; they remain vastly unexplored, but every southeast Asian nation within a stone’s throw away has been grappling to claim ownership in the decades since. Last year, China began a coral-smothering dredging project to create more islands – seemingly with that very idea in mind.

“We are building shelters, aids for navigation, search and rescue as well as marine meteorological forecasting services, fishery services and other administrative services,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying reported in a news briefing.

Mischief Reef, January 24, 2012 (left) and March 16, 2015 (right). Images: NYT/Center for Strategic and International Studies via Digital Globe

135 miles to the west of Palawan Island in the Philippines, China is creating an artificial island by dredging sand and burying the coral on Mischief Reef, an aptly named atoll which they laid claim to in 1995. 200 miles to the west of Mischief Reef is Fiery Cross Reef, atop which China has already established an artificial reef almost two miles long and 1,000 feet wide.

Read more»

“I want to kill those whale sharks” — Mayor Nelson Garcia, Dumanjug, Cebu, Philippines. Photo: Rappler.com

A shortage of fish in the Tañon Strait in the Philippines is somehow being blamed on whale sharks and dolphins, so during an environmental summit, the mayor of Dumanjug is requesting that fishermen take their aggression out on the mammals of the sea.

Read more»

Softies Reef, peeling left. If you lived here, this would be the view out your backdoor. (Photo: Surfer’s Journal)

Siargao Island sits 9 degrees south of the equator, worlds away from the nearest city, Cebu (a 50 minute flight), and just far enough from the path of typhoons to comfortably collect the distant, well-groomed swells. There are about 10 breaks on the island including Cloud 9, and a handful more off a pair of islands just a boat ride away. Of course you’d have to get a boat, but how could you not?

Read more»

“Five stars in the night”. Bigfin reef squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana): Photography by: Marco Maccarelli

Anilao, Philippines has some of the best diving in the world, as you can see here by the wide array of unusual critters caught on camera.

Read more»

In this photo taken Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011, Mayor Cox Elorde of Bunawan township, Agusan del Sur Province, pretends to measure a huge crocodile which was captured by residents and crocodile farm staff along a creek in Bunawan late Saturday in southern Philippines. Elorde said Monday that dozens of villagers and experts ensnared the 21-foot (6.4-meter) male crocodile along a creek in his township after a three-week hunt. It was one of the largest crocodiles to be captured alive in the Philippines in recent years. (AP Photo)

story on Yahoo News »

My initial experience with the Philippines involved being lost for 30 minutes in Manila at the age of 7 right after my family told me they sell little Chinese boys into slavery. Would I ever have been wanted to be found if the story was that they send little lost boys to orphanages on the beach?

Read more»