Tuscan Archipelago

10

01:41

Astrospartus mediterraneus

I made you can see the Basket Star it with the almost complete opening of the arms because even though it was made during the day, I was at a depth of over 70 meters where the light is very attenuated. Beautiful and elegant, when it is open, it seems to see a refined female embroidery lying on the Red Gorgonia enhancing the beauty of the images presented to the diver...

Fanino Cirivasi

February 11, 2026

11

0

10

02:35

Ghost Fishing Nets

The "ghost fishing nets" are a real problem for the entire marine ecosystem because they are made of nylon. A material that is not biodegradable: it can only be recycled following particular treatments and therefore creates significant pollution in the sea. Furthermore, as we have already said, it continues its fishing activity and therefore the killing of marine animals for many years.

Fanino Cirivasi

January 25, 2026

20

0

8

48:10

Return to the Missing Island

Diving on this reef halfway between Livorno and Gorgona Island is always fascinating and an adventure. In reality, we're about 8 nautical miles from Gorgona Island and about 10 nautical miles from Livorno. We're practically in the middle of the sea! ...

Andrea Cirivasi

December 23, 2025

34

0

16

18:42

Dolphins Encounter

Encountering dolphins in our seas is fairly easy, but it's one thing to spot them while sailing or see them leaping in the distance, and quite another to find them "playing under the boat", almost touching them. For us, August 15th has become a regular event. The video really was actually taken on August 16th, about 7-8 miles off the Livorno coast ...

Andrea Cirivasi

August 17, 2025

59

0

14

03:05

Golden anemone Condylactis aurantiaca

Golden anemone, Condylactis aurantiaca, or sand anemone, is one of the most beautiful anemones endemic to the Mediterranean Sea, both for the colorful arms and the large size it can sometimes reach. On this dive in early August 2025, we are exploring rocky and coralligenous walls ranging from a depth of 36 to a maximum of 42 meters ...

Andrea Cirivasi

August 10, 2025

73

0

15

11:06

European spider crab - Maja squinado

European spider crab, Maja squinado (spiny spider crab, or spinous spider crab). This crustacean of the Majidae family was very common about thirty years ago, and specimens like the one we see in the video were very easy to find in the intertidal tidal pools, provided they had plenty of rocks to hide in and algae to grow on their backs to camouflage them from predators. ...

Andrea Cirivasi

July 14, 2025

132

0

16

07:00

Blue damselfish

Even in this summer of 2025, like every summer, we witness the birth and growth of the Black Damselfish, Chromis chromis, the only one of its kind Pomacentridi - Pomacentridae - in the Mediterranean Sea. In these sequences we see it in its shining electric blue livery, when the little fish are still small, a few weeks after the hatching ...

Andrea Cirivasi

July 1, 2025

54

0

10

01:48

Blue spiny starfish

Coscinasterias tenuispina, Variable starfish or Spiny starfish is an echinoderm very common in the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the most common starfish in the "Mare nostrum" and I would also say one of the most fascinating. Usually Echinoderms (sea urchins and starfish) have a pentaray symmetry. This species is indeed variable! ...

Andrea Cirivasi

April 12, 2025

105

0

10

21:33

Peltodoris atromaculata Reproduction

When we explore our underwater reefs we are often amazed by the number of species that we find in a few square meters and as in this case even in a few square centimeters. We have said it many times that biodiversity makes a habitat and an ecosystem more stable, solid and long-lasting. Often we fail to realize the quantity of different species that live next to each other and obviously it is almost impossible to know and recognize them all.

Andrea Cirivasi

March 23, 2025

95

0

14

07:41

Tree Sponge or Branched Sponge - Axinella polypoides

In this dive on a seabed of about 40-42 meters deep we encountered the Tree Sponge or Branched Sponge, Axinella polypoides, a sponge typical of the Mediterranean Sea that develops vertically often with various branches almost like a coral. Branched sponge Spugna alberello Spugna ramificata Axinella intotheblue.it ...

Andrea Cirivasi

March 14, 2025

78

0

18

24:30

Diving among gorgonians II

Diving in this reef completely covered with branches of red Gorgonia up to two meters high is always fascinating. Despite the poor visibility our torches manage to bring out all the colors of the underwater world. They range from the scarlet red of the Paramuricea clavata, to the yellow of the countless sponges and the arazoanthus axinellae, the sea daisy, to the red of the Corallium rubrum and the red scorpionfish. The pale pink ...

Andrea Cirivasi

March 8, 2025

104

0

13

19:05

Zero visibility - Basket star - Astrospartus mediterraneus

When we dive at depths greater than 40 meters and far from the coast, about 7.5 nautical miles, it is difficult to make predictions about sea conditions such as currents, presence of fish and marine organisms but above all visibility on the bottom. If weather forecasts are now reliable and safe over 24/48 hours, it is practically impossible to predict what will be found on the bottom once immersed.

Andrea Cirivasi

March 1, 2025

80

0

12

22:25

Marine goldfish - Anthias anthias

This article and this video are dedicated to the Marine goldfish (Chromis chromis), companion and guardian of our dives over 40 meters deep is lives on coralligenous seabeds and begins to be present from 30 meters deep onwards. However, it can be found up to 200 meters and in our scuba dives it is practically omnipresent.

Andrea Cirivasi

February 22, 2025

102

0

12

04:52

Ghiozzo leopardo

Il Ghiozzo leopardo, Thorogobius ephippiatus, è un pesce schivo e timido ed è considerata una specie rara da incontrare per i subacquei. Noi lo troviamo abbastanza spesso nei fondali di coralligeno che variano da 38 ai 42 metri di profondità come in questo caso. Probabilmente viene considerato raro perché vive in anfratti e buche abbastanza inaccessibili alle telecamere e quindi è proprio difficile da vedere.. ...

Andrea Cirivasi

January 26, 2025

125

0

21

13:24

Biodiversity

We are on an isolated patch of rock and coralligenous about 7.5 miles from the coast; the seabed varies from 49 to 52 meters, the area to explore has a surface area of ​​about a couple of basketball courts (about 600 square meters X 2). All around a sea of ​​mud and a mixture of mud/sand separates us from the main submerged reef 400/500 meters away, always on the bathymetric of 50 meters.

Andrea Cirivasi

January 11, 2025

92

0

14

03:30

Red Starfish

The red starfish in this video - Echinaster sepositus - was filmed on a seabed of about 5 meters deep while free-diving, in the waters of the beautiful "Secche di Vada". We often visit these areas near the lighthouse for various reasons: the exceptional transparency of the water, the shallow depth, the presence of Posidonia oceanica that despite the frequent anchoring of boats seems to thrive and the distance from the chaotic and crowded coast in summer.

Andrea Cirivasi

January 4, 2025

117

0

21

11:39

Melania wreck

Even in this now forgotten summer of 2024 we returned to freedive on the Melania wreck. We often freedive on this wreck since the depth is not prohibitive even for the less trained. The wreck lies on a seabed of maximum 11-12 meters to rise to 9, considering the top of the bow perhaps even 6 meters deep.. ...

Andrea Cirivasi

December 22, 2024

90

0

13

03:51

White Gorgonian

White Gorgonian, Eunicella verrucosa, or broad sea fan, pink sea fan, warty gorgonian, is a species of colonia Gorgonian "soft coral" in the family Gorgoniidae. It is native to the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean and the western Mediterranean Sea.

Fanino Cirivasi

December 6, 2024

167

0

14

08:58

Muraena helena

Mediterranean moray eel (Muraena helena Linnaeus, 1758) is a marine fish belonging to the Muraenidae family. In this video we see it on a rather bare corralligious seabed at a depth of about 40-42 meters. As always when we dive to film the various marine species, even if we don't want to, we are forced to document the conditions of our seabed and the health of our Mediterranean Sea ...

Andrea Cirivasi

October 27, 2024

163

0

19

02:25

Salp

During a decompression stop the surface sea current carried with it numerous transparent marine organisms. They were various Ctenophores that I managed to identify. What you are seeing in the video is a salp. A salp is a barrel-shaped, planktonic tunicate in the family Salpidae. It moves by contracting, thereby pumping water through its gelatinous body, one of the most efficient examples of jet propulsion in the animal kingdom.

Fanino Cirivasi

October 1, 2024

116

0

13

02:09

Ascidia mentula

Ascidia mentula is a species of solitary tunicate. It is found in the north east Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea. It occurs round the coasts of Britain but is seldom seen on the east coast of England or Scotland. Ascidia mentula has a tough leathery envelope or tunic composed partly of cellulose. The translucent tunic encloses a fluid-filled body with irregular bulges and two unmistakable siphons.

Fanino Cirivasi

September 23, 2024

209

0

20

03:17

Ostrea Neopycnodonte cochlear

Neopycnodonte cochlear is a species of marine bivalve molluscs belonging to the family Gryphaeidae.This species can be found in the North Atlantic Ocean (Azores) and in the Mediterranean Sea. The peculiarity we want to point out is that it is a small oyster that plays the same role as corals. That is, it forms aggregations as they grow and multiply, create agglomerations of more or less large dimensions comparable to corals.

Fanino Cirivasi

August 21, 2024

117

0

16

02:44

Dorid nudibranch Felimare picta

Felimare picta is a species of colourful sea slug or dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk i the family Chromodorididae. The color of the body is variable and goes from blue to purple, yellow or green, with irregular yellow spots. It can reach up to 20 centimeters in length.

Fanino Cirivasi

August 9, 2024

138

0

16

02:38

Melon sea Urchin

Melon sea Urchin, Echinus melo, is a species of sea urchin in the family Echinidae. This species grows up to 17 cm in diameter. It is spherical or slightly cone-shaped, and the colour of the test is mainly pinkish, yellowish, or greenish-yellow, and banded with white and pale brown, giving it a segmented appearance. The long primary spines are few in number and olive green with pale tips.

Fanino Cirivasi

August 4, 2024

309

0

19

08:11

Basket star in appointment to reproduce

In many years of scuba diving I have never encountered so many Basket star all at once. Surely there are precise reasons to justify this concentration. The reasons can be various, the most logical ones lead me to think that it is an appointment to reproduce and that in these rocks there are optimal conditions, of currents and plankton, for their life and feeding. This beautiful video, made in a single dive between Livorno and the island of Gorgona, is the demonstration of what has been stated.

Fanino Cirivasi

June 2, 2024

132

0

21

12:21

Mediterranean lobster

Lobsters are increasingly rare. There are many reasons: a larval life that lasts about 20 years, overfishing, the change of one's habitat due to the usual causes, warming of the waters, tropicalization of the Mediterranean Sea, etc. etc. In this isolated patch at about 52/54 meters deep we found them and some, as can be seen from the video, even large ones.

Andrea Cirivasi

May 19, 2024

225

0

20

31:18

Diving near Gorgona island

We planned this scuba dive in the area between Livorno and Gorgona Island. We are over 12 nautical miles from Livorno and about 6 miles from Gorgona. In this area the seabed rises from over 100 meters deep to 48 metres. It is an area that we know well in the part between 48 and 54 meters deep, but the sea always reserves unexpected surprises: in fact from the echo sounder we saw that there are reef at depths of 60, 70 meters and more.

Fanino Cirivasi

April 4, 2024

190

0

20

07:38

Giant Barrel jellyfish

Barrel jellyfish is a very beautiful jellyfish! and this one in the video is really big, probably the diameter exceeds 50/55 cm, as can be seen from the proportions of the undersigned's hand. It is one of the classic jellyfish of the Mediterranean Sea, perhaps the most common to encounter. Here on intotheblue.it we have published it numerous times.

Andrea Cirivasi

March 15, 2024

393

0

20

26:36

New future colony of Savalia savaglia

During this immersion in a completely populated area of the colony of red Gorgonia (Paramuricea clavata), we discovered also some "rami" of False coral black, the very rare Savalia savaglia. Abbiamo documentato spesso questo beautiful coral giallo chiamato Falso corallo nero su fondali di circa 78 / 80 meters fine almost to 90 meters deep.

Andrea Cirivasi

December 8, 2023

474

0

19

05:36

Sand steenbras

The Sand Steenbras (Lithognathus Mormoryus) belongs to the class Osteichthyes, subclass Actinopterygii, order Perciformes, suborder Percoidei, family Sparidae. It is a beautiful elegant silver-colored fish with six very dark and highlighted vertical bands and an equal number of narrower and less evident bands, the body is long and compressed laterally, the profile is high and rounded. The lips are fleshy and the teeth are arranged in different rows; it can reach a length of 30 cm.

Fanino Cirivasi

December 6, 2023

264

0

13

03:14

Black seabream

Black seabream, Spondyliosoma cantharus, also called Cantaro in Italy, is a fish belonging to the Sparidae family, like the more common bream, and sea bream. We usually encounter this fish on the shallows in the open sea and at depths of 10 to 100 meters. In this video we see it close to the coast and a rocky seabed of about 4/5 metres. This fish is usually quite shy and wary and tends to flee from the presence of the diver; this Tanuta, on the other hand, allowed herself to be approached and filmed at a distance of just over one metre.. ...

netartstudio

December 1, 2023

372

0

19

03:12

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. ...

netartstudio

November 10, 2023

273

0

27

04:22

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. ...

Andrea Cirivasi

November 1, 2023

394

0

15

02:14

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. ...

Admin

August 22, 2023

435

0

10

02:30

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. ...

Admin

August 13, 2023

400

0

27

03:40

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. ...

netartstudio

July 23, 2023

327

0