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La Tanuta , Spondyliosoma cantharus, chiamata anche in Italia anche Cantaro è un pesce appartenente alla famiglia degli sparidi, come i più comuni saraghi, salpe e orate. Solitamente incontriamo questo pesce sulle secche in mare aperto ed a profondità dai 10 a 100 metri. In questo video la vediamo vicina alla costa e ad un fondale roccioso di circa 4/5 metri. Questo pesce di solito è piuttosto schivo e diffidente e tende a fuggire alla presenza del subacqueo; questa Tanuta invece si è lasciata avvicinare e filmare ad una distanza di poco più di un metro. ...
Anemone cilindrico Cerianthus membranaceus
Cerianthus membranaceus, the cylinder anemone or coloured tube anemone, is aspecies of large, tube-dwelling anemone in the family Cerenthidae. It is native to the Mediterranean Sea and adjoining parts of the northeastern Atlantic Ocean.
Picasso triggerfish Rhinecanthus aculeatus
The Lagoon triggerfish (Rhinecanthus aculeatus), also known as the blackbar Triggerfish, the Picasso triggerfish, or the Picassofish, is a triggerfish, up to 30 cm in length, found on reefs in the Indo-Pacific region. This species has been studied in a range of research contexts, from locomotion to color vision research. Lagoon triggerfish live in the reefs and sandy areas of coral reefs, where they eat just about anything that comes along, mostly including invertebrates and reef algae.
Polpo e Dattero di mare Lithophaga lithophaga
Sea Date, Lithophaga lithophaga, grows and lives inside the rocks, so it is practically impossible to see and film it unless the rock where it is found is shattered, an obviously illegal practice, prohibited by the regulations of all Mediterranean countries. Consequently, fishing is also prohibited and those who practice it are finally punished with severe and heavy sanctions, unless it is our usual friend the common octopus, Octopus vulgaris, who does it.
Spiny Oysters Spondylus gaederopus
Spondylus gaederopus is a species of marine bivalve mollusc, a thorny oyster in the family Spondylidae. This species is endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. Spondylus gaederopus attaches itself to the substrate with its lower valve, which is usually white, while the upper valve is usually purple. Specimens that are all white, or all purple do, however, exist.
Variable spiny starfish
The Variable spiny starfish (Coscinasterias tenuispina) is called this because instead of the classic five arms it usually has seven. It is therefore an exception regarding the classic five-ray symmetry of echinoderms. Furthermore, as can be seen in this specimen, three of the seven arms are very small and are therefore slowly growing back. ...
Bogues that devour a Barrel jellyfish
Boops boops commonly called the bogue, is a species of seabream native to the eastern Atlantic. Its common name in most languages refers to its large ("bug") eyes. The species is found off the coasts of Europe, Africa, the Azores and the Canary Islands, from Norway to Angola, and in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. It avoids brackish waters such as the Baltic Sea. A demeral and semi-pelagic, it can generally be found at a depth of 100 m, and infrequently down to 350 m.
Cigar jellyfish Olindias phosphorica
Olindias phosphorica, or Cigar jellyfish, is a species of hydrozoan from the central and eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean sea is a predominantly warm body of water, thus Olindias phosphorica is a warm-water Jellyfish. Global warming has facilitated the proliferation of the species throughout the Mediterranean sea.
Giant triton
Meeting Giant triton - Charonia tritonis - always arouses a strong emotion, both because it is the largest mollusk in the Mediterranean Sea and because it is increasingly rare. Fortunately here on intotheblue.it we have published several videos of this splendid shell so despite all the alarms we give about the health of our sea, when we encounter the Triton the hope that the sea can really regenerate itself returns to be present. ...
Clown Triggerfish Balistoides conspicillum
The Clown Triggerfish (Balistoides conspicillum), also known as the Bigspotted Triggerfish, is a demersal marine fish belonging to the family Balistidae, or commonly called triggerfish. The Clown Triggerfish is a fish which grows up to 50 cm. Its body has a stocky appearance, oval shape and compressed laterally. The head is large and represents approximately one third of the body length. The mouth is small, terminal and has strong teeth. The Clown Triggerfish is widely distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical waters of the Indian Ocean and in the western Pacific Ocean.
Wide-eyed flounder
In summer the beaches are populated with swimmers and tourists who enjoy the warm, crystal-clear waters but you just need to put on a simple mask and a snorkel to see that fish and marine species are also quite active in this period. If we are also equipped with a simple camera it is easy to film that marine life that practically lives in symbiosis with ours. ...
Hermit crab in Phalium glaucum shell
The Pagurus belongs to the Paguridae family. Hermit crabs are crustaceans with a curved and soft abdomen. It lives in empty shells of gastropods on which it sometimes attacks sponges or poisonous actinias to camouflage and defend itself. In case of danger it can withdraw completely inside the shell. The end of the tail of the hermit crab is suitable for strongly grasping the shell it always carries with it. When it grows and the size of the shell is no longer suitable is search for a new shell to protect yourself. In the video we see a hermit crab that has taken possession of the shell of the sea snail Phalium glaucum, a marine gastropod mollusc of the Cassidae family
Unknow species
This video was taken last Saturday (14/10/2023) during an inshore dive at about 15 meters deep. I mention the precise date because during the canonical 3 minutes of decompression at a depth of 3 meters hanging from the chain of one of the "safe water" signaling buoys, about 200 meters from the rocky and jagged coast, I decide to check the temperature of the water and the computer measured 25°C. ...
Piero Foscari ship wreck
September 10, 2023 marked the eightieth year since the sinking of the Piero Foscari ship on September 10, 1943 in Castiglioncello near Livorno (Italy). In this video I show you what remains of the wreck completely destroyed during the last war. Furthermore, after 80 years the sea has caused further deterioration of the structure. The wreck is located at a depth of between 15 and 16 metres.
Indian Triggerfish Melichthys indicus
The Indian Triggerfish (Melichthys indicus), also known as the black-finned Triggerfish, has a brown body and black fins with white lines at the base of the dossal and anal fins. It is found across the Indian Ocean. They can grow up to 25 cm. long. The Indian triggerfish usually feeds on hard-shelled mollusks and echinoderms, but some feed on algae and zooplankton.
Encounters under the boat - Amberjack Seriola dumerilii
During navigation it sometimes happens that we stop for various needs, take stock of the ship, check the GPS, look at conspicuous points on the ground to detect the position, or simply to rest and swim. And sometimes we happen to find fish that strangely take shelter under our hull. In this case we are about 7/8 miles from the coast, therefore practically in the open sea, while with the engine off we were trying to check the seabed with the sounder to look for a new dive point.
Spanish Mediterranean Dancer
In this video we can see a wonderful example of Spanish Mediterranean Dancer or Depilatory Sea Hare. It is a nudibranch mollusk, Aplysia depilans, that lives in the Mediterranean seabed at a depth ranging from 1 meter up to 10 meters. We met her in apnea in a rocky bottom around 2 meters. Elegant in its movements it seems to fly in the water with grace that would be the envy of a flamenco dancer.
Barrel jellyfish Rhizostoma pulmo
Jellyfish are always fascinating! whether they are dangerous or completely harmless like the Barrel jellyfish (Rhizostoma pulmo). Every time we find this jellyfish and publish the film on intotheblue.it (and on the YouTube channel) we register a lot of visits and receive many emails from curious people, simple enthusiasts, divers and marine biologists. So we are happy to publish this video even if it is not exactly recent, in fact made in 2022. ...
Beadlet anemone
Beadlet anemone - Actinia equina - is one of the most common species of anemone or actinia in the Mediterranean Sea. It lives in the intertidal zone. The intertidal zone, also known as the shoreline, is the area above the water level at low tide and underwater at high tide. Simply put it is the area within the tidal range. ...
Emperor Angelfish Pomacanthus imperator
The Emperor Angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator) is a species of marine angelfish. It is a reef-associated fish, native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from Red Sea to Hawai and the Austral Islands. This species is generally associated with stable populations and faces no major threats of extinction. It is a favorite of photographers, artists, and aquarists because of its unique, brilliant pattern of coloration.
Calyx nicaeensis Goblet Sponge
I met this Calyx nicaeensis, Goblet Sponge, during a dive in the reefs of the Secche di Vada near Livorno. The name owes it to its characteristic goblet shape. According to some experts, this sponge has become extremely rare in the Mediterranean because it requires very stable water temperature and biological conditions: small variations are enough to decree its disappearance. We all know by now that climate change has a heavy impact on biological life, but few seem to realize that it also affects the deep sea.
Red Squirrelfish
We met the Red Squirrelfish (Sargocentron rubrum) in the sea of Cyprus while snorkelling among the rocks of the island. We did not expect to have this meeting in the Mediterranean because it is a tropical fish present in all tropical seas and in particular in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The reason for this sighting, as indeed for other tropical species now present in the Mediterranean, we owe it to the climatic warming of the sea, which creates favorable conditions, and to the Lessepsian migration: that is, to the entry and stabilization of animal and tropical species from the Channel of Suez.
Mnemiopsis leidyi invasion
And also this summer we found ourselves faced with the now regular invasion of the Sea walnut, Mnemiopsis leidyi (warty comb jelly or sea walnut). This phenomenon is becoming more and more frequent throughout the summers, and it is now clear that the main cause of these invasions is the increase in sea temperature. ...
European conger
Common conger is a bony sea fish belonging to the Congridae family. Here we see it in its lair at a depth of about 52 metres, on a muddy seabed at the base of a beautiful vertical wall, even a few meters high, of rock and coral. As we see, the wall is colonized by many Mediterranean organisms such as sponges, corals and gorgonians, full of caves and ravines where these fish seek shelter during the day and food during the night. ...
Protula tubularia
Protula tubularia is a sedentary Mediterranean polychaete also present on the two sides of the Atlantic and in other seas. The vermiform body is protected by a solid calcareous tube, up to 1 cm broad, which the animal builds around, after having chosen for fixing itself a ridge where the currents rich in plankton pass. From the tube in which it moves, which is the house chosen for life, two elegant gill crowns come out ...
Bluefish
Bluefish is the "predator" in fact it feeds exclusively on other fish and cephalopods. Its favorite preys are mullets even if in this video we see it hunting in a few meters of depth, trying to capture salemas present in numerous specimens in a herd. As always, the encounter is lightning-fast and lasts only a few seconds, in fact the Serras do not let themselves be distracted when they are hunting and it is extremely difficult to get close. By slowing down and enlarging the video we managed to extrapolate some images of this splendid fish. ...
Blue Mediterranean chromis
Also in this summer, as indeed in all the months of July and August in the Mediterranean Sea, we can witness what we have always considered a spectacle of nature and of the "Mare Nostrum". That is the birth of the Chromis chromis or as we often say of the blue Mediterranean chromis. These little fish are truly to be admired thanks to their intense electric blue. ...
Luria sea snail
Meeting Luria lurida is becoming more and more difficult, then finding the shell with the mollusc inside alive is practically a very rare event. In the video we obviously see the Cyprean shell without the animal but given the sheen of the shell this mollusk was probably recently eaten by some predator, probably the usual octopus. ...
Paramuricea clavata - Red gorgonian - Reproduction
In this dive of August 15, 2023 we filmed an event that has not yet been documented much in our Mediterranean Sea. This is the reproduction of the red Gorgonian (Paramuricea clavata). Like every year in summer, this beautiful coral reproduces with the synchronized emission of male and female gametes released by the polyps which open by extruding thin semi-transparent filaments exceptionally long up to 5 cm. ...
Purple jellyfish
Given today's many views on an article from a while ago: Purple Luminous Jellyfish - Pelagia noctiluca, we're publishing today's meeting with the infamous Purple Jellyfish. On other occasions we were able to get closer to the jellyfish and film it much closer. As you can see today it wasn't really the case since our jellyfish had completely outward stinging tentacles, and as you can see in the video dangerously almost a meter long. ...
Red starfish
Finding a starfish is one of the first experiences a diver can have, especially the Red starfish - Echinaster sepositus - one of the many species among the most common in the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the first encounters, but even the most experienced divers always find this species of echinoderm fascinating. However, when they meet, some precautions must be taken to avoid causing damage to these splendid starfish. Surely picking them up with some care, handling them and forcibly removing them from the substrate on which they are located can lead to damage ...
Squid eggs
In these two different dives at a depth ranging from about 40 to 50 meters, we filmed the eggs of the European squid (Loligo vulgaris) laid in completely different ways. In the first dive we found them in what would appear to be the optimal situation, i.e. in a hole near the red Gorgonian (Paramuricea clavata), therefore certainly in an area where a constant flow of current and therefore oxygenation is guaranteed ...
Blue crab - Callinectes sapidus
Even we at intotheblue.it could not miss the infamous and by now famous this summer, Blue Crab - Callinectes sapidus - also known as Blue King Crab. We filmed it after several reports, on the stretch of coast between Vada and Rosignano Solvay, luring it with a bait to film it with the camera. This alien species has colonized the Mediterranean for at least fifty years but has spread by invading the coasts in recent years perhaps precisely because of the now inevitable warming of the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. ...
Cladocora caespitosa - Cushion coral
Cladocora caespitosa, Cushion coral Madrepora, is the typical madrepora of the Mediterranean and is also considered the most important endemic bioconstructor coral of the Mediterranean Sea. It forms colonies often isolated, but sometimes capable of forming aggregations. Low densities are recorded in the Adriatic (populations are slightly declining), while in other areas the species is in great expansion ...
Mediterranean barracuda and European barracuda
European barracuda, Sphyraena sphyraena (Linnaeus, 1758), also known as the European barracuda, is the endemic species of the Mediterranean Sea. Mediterranean barracuda, Sphyraena viridensis, commonly known as yellow-mouthed barracuda, is instead the alien species, that is, the one that was limited to a restricted basin of the eastern Atlantic (Cape Verde, the Canary Islands and the Azores) ...
Leerfish or Garrick - Lichia amia
We had been trying for a long time to film Leerfish or Garrick - Lichia amia - one of the most beautiful and most elusive Carangidae endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. It is a pelagic species but, like all carangids, Leerfish usually approaches the coast at the beginning of June, disappears, returns at the end of August until October. In the video we met her during the final phase of a storm, when the large carangids of the Mediterranean (Learfish and Amberjack) approach the coasts in search of food, this is why their elusive nature allows them to be spotted by divers only for a few moments and then disappears into the blue. ...
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