Wildlife film maker and innovator Pawel Achtel has shared his thoughts about his recent experiences filming for this forthcoming 3D IMAX film, Sea of Love. He illustrates the dedication patience and background knowledge necessary to wait in the right place, at the right time to capture coral spawning. He then contrasts this to the hurly burly of capturing footage of the breeding fish aggregations in the wild currents of Palau.
A recent major report, Status and Trends of Caribbean Coral Reefs, from the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was published pointing to overfishing as the culprit of Caribbean coral reef decline. The report included data that spanned Caribbean coral reef data from over 40 years and was analyzed by 90 experts over the course of 3 years.
Filmmaker Frazier Nivens has posted some super cool beautiful footage of comb jellyfish (Ctenophora) and Pleurobrachia, which will be part of his to be released “Aliens of the Sea” episode of Oceans X.
Dr Simon Thorrold, an ocean ecologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and a team have published a paper in the journal Nature Communications showing the results from tagging 15 Chilean devil rays (Mobula tarapacana) with special satellite tags. The findings include the amazing fact that they dive to depths of up to 1,848m (6,063 ft). (Image from Shutterstock)
Photographer Karen Glaser has been photographing the springs and swamps of Florida for decades. Through artist-in-residencies award programs through organizations like Big Cypress National Preserve and the Everglades National Park, Glaser has gained access to endangered fresh water springs and swamps in southern Florida.
Matthew Ferraro, an experienced and accomplished filmmaker with over 15 years in film production, is the Director of Photography for the Mission 31 project, and will be providing the Wetpixel community with “live” reports from the Aquarius habitat throughout the next 30 days.
Alex Benedik of globaldivemedia has produced a film documenting the life in Lake Baikal. The lake, situated in Siberia, Russia is “at 1642 meters the deepest and with more than 25 million years, the oldest, freshwater lake on Earth.”
Last week we interviewed photographer Benjamin Von Wong about his recent underwater photo shoot in Bali on a shipwreck. He gave us some great insight, and here are even more specifics about his most popular photo series ever.
[Ron Lagerlof]9http://vimeo.com/ronlagerlof) has shared some footage that he has shot for stock with Mammoth HD that has been shot in full 6K resolution on the RED EPIC Dragon. The video features giant Pacific mantas rays (Manta birostris) with clarion angelfish (Holacanthus clarionensis) cleaners. The footage was captured at The Canyon, Isla San Benedicto, Mexico.
The BBC reports that researchers are calling for the protection of the marine environment around the mid-Pacific Pitcairn Islands. An international team of scientists have stated that the waters around the islands have “unique global value that is irreplaceable”, and that of the fish species found, about half were endemic. (Image from Shutterstock).