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Horrifying Shark Attack in Jamaica
Scuba Club Cozumel Has Closed
Bull Rays Mutilated for Their Wings
Many New Species Discovered Off Chile
Sharks Eat Sharks
Perpetrator Identified
A Planned Resting Place for the SS United States
Cleaner Wrasse Can Measure Up for a Fight
Searchers Needed Rescuing
Undercurrent Is More Than Its Newsletter

Horrifying Shark Attack in Jamaica.   September 20, 2024

A 16-year-old schoolboy, Jahmari Reid, died while spearfishing alone near the town of Falmouth on August 26. His decapitated body, with a leg missing, was discovered the following day. Divers reported seeing a large tiger shark nearby, and local fishermen unsuccessfully tried to shoot it. According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, just three unprovoked shark attacks have been reported there since records began.

Scuba Club Cozumel Has Closed.   September 20, 2024

Founded in the 1980s, Scuba Club Cozumel has been at the heart of the island's diving community. Sadly, it permanently closed on August 31. A favorite with many visiting divers, it was located at the seafront, and offered a pool and restaurant, both with views of the Caribbean. The owners have retired and are looking for a buyer.

Bull Rays Mutilated for Their Wings.   September 20, 2024

The Sydney, Australia, diving community was in shock after two huge bull rays were discovered dead, their wings cut off. These rays, accustomed to being fed by people and well known to divers at Chowder Bay, apparently were lured with chicken before being hooked, dragged ashore, mutilated, and thrown back into the sea to die. The largest ray was more than 10 feet across, weighed around 550 pounds, and was thought to be at least 20 years old. Chowder Bay jetty is a popular fishing area as well as a dive site.

Many New Species Discovered Off Chile.   September 20, 2024

A team of oceanographers led by the Palo Alto-based Schmidt Ocean Institute has discovered 100 new species across 10 seamounts during an expedition to the Nazca Ridge, 900 miles off the coast of Chile. One seamount, over two miles tall, supports a thriving ecosystem and features a coral garden the size of three tennis courts with rockfish, brittle stars, and king crabs. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ObbKo8iD08

Sharks Eat Sharks.  September 20, 2024

When marine fisheries biologists in North Carolina attached a satellite tag to a pregnant porbeagle shark off Cape Cod in October 2020, they didn't expect to capture information about large sharks hunting one another. The tag revealed that the poor porbeagle had spent time in another shark's stomach. For four days in March 2021, the tag registered a constant 71.6°F despite being at a depth ranging from 492 to 1,968 feet before the tag floated up and was recovered. Now, in a paper published in Frontiers in Marine Science, the researchers said they may have identified two suspects -- a great white shark and a shortfin mako shark -- in this scientific murder mystery, changing the way researchers think about how large sharks interact. (CNN)

Perpetrator Identified.  September 20, 2024

In November 2023, we reported that Florida residents saw smalltooth sawfish and at least 80 other species swimming in circles before finally dying. At least 54 sawfish were found dead. Researchers have concluded that the fish died from exposure to multiple toxins, possibly from dinoflagellates, a microscopic algae. Typically, these dinoflagellates live on seagrass and larger algae on the seafloor. But some unknown driver -- possibly a heat wave, a storm, or a mix of events -- caused the dinoflagellates to leave their hosts and float upward where they may have been ingested. (National Geographic)

A Planned Resting Place for the SS United States.   September 20, 2024

That once-glorious trans-Atlantic ocean liner, the SS United States, which held the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing between London and New York, will be getting a new life as an artificial reef. Florida's Okaloosa County has bought the hulk, which was once capable of transporting 14,000 troops for 10,000 miles without refueling, and plans to sink it upright off the Florida panhandle as an artificial reef that will help reduce coastal erosion, provide a habitat for marine life, and make a spectacular dive site, rivaling that of the USS Oriskany, off the west panhandle.

Cleaner Wrasse Can Measure Up for a Fight.  September 20, 2024

Few marine animals have been proven to be self-aware, but scientists from Japan's Osaka Metropolitan University found that a cleaner wrasse checked its body size in the mirror they provided before deciding whether to attack another fish. They selected 15 cleaner fish, seven of which had access to a mirror inside an aquarium, while the rest were used as controls. Cleaner wrasse previously exposed to mirrors were less aggressive toward larger and same-sized fish in the photos but were more hostile toward the smaller fish. The scientists have hypothesized that the fish may have assessed their body size to decide whether to behave aggressively toward the intimidating larger fish.

Searchers Needed Rescuing.  September 20, 2024

What started as a good deed -- a diver volunteering to remove a line from a wreck -- ended in tragedy. After he went missing diving near a shipwreck in Lake Michigan, rescuers searching for him had a close call when the Kenosha County Fire and Rescue Association's boat sank with eight people on board, who were rescued by boats nearby. The missing diver, Patrick Kelly, was found dead on September 10.

Undercurrent Is More Than Its Newsletter.  September 20, 2024

Your independent Readers' Reports are the lifeblood of Undercurrent. They are essential reading for anyone booking a dive trip and are an opportunity to tell everyone about the trip you experienced. You can tell both the good and the bad and everything in between. Unedited and unmoderated, your reports will brief other subscribers about dive resorts you've visited and liveaboards you have taken. Don't hold back. Over 11,000 entries have now become essential reading for traveling divers. You can post photos too. It's easy to post a report of your last dive trip. And your fellow divers will be thankful. File your report at www.undercurrent.org/SubRR, and we will also include it in this year's Chapbook, which will be sent to readers in early December.

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
BenDDavison@undercurrent.org

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Note: Undercurrent is a registered 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization donating funds to help preserve coral reefs. Our travel writers never announce their purpose, are unknown to the destination, and receive no complimentary services or compensation from the dive operators or resort.

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