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Tuscan Archipelago

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Blue spiny starfish Coscinasterias tenuispina Stella marina variabile_intotheblue.it-2025-04-12-20h38m23s818
10
01:48

Stella marina variabile

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...
Andrea Cirivasi
24
0
Reproduction – Peltodoris atromaculata – Riproduzione – www.intotheblue.it -UOVA-EGGS-2025-03-23-19h12m14s485
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
23
0
Branched sponge Spugna alberello Spugna ramificata Axinella-2025-03-14-21h06m12s463
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
24
0
Immersione tra le gorgonie-2025-03-08-21h19m37s582
16
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
50
0
Zero visibility – Basket star-2025-03-01-16h01m34s711
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
27
0
Marine goldfish – Anthias anthias – Castagnola rossa-2025-02-22-15h46m44s117
11
22:25

Marine goldfish - Anthias anthias

This article and this video are dedicated to the Marine goldfisg (Chromis chromis), companion and guardian of our dives over 40 meters deep. This fish belonging to the Serranidae family (the same as the Mediterranean Brown Grouper) 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
48
0
T_Leopard-spotted goby Thorogobius ephippiatus Ghiozzo leopardo-2025-01-26-17h32m44s059
11
04:52

Leopard-spotted goby

Leopard gobi, Thorogobius ephippiatus, is a shy and timid fish and is considered a rare species for divers to encounter. We find it quite often in coralligenous seabeds that vary from 38 to 42 meters deep as in this case. It is probably considered rare because it lives in ravines and holes that are quite inaccessible to cameras and therefore it is very difficult to see. ...
Andrea Cirivasi
38
0
Biodiversity – Biodiversità – www.intotheblue.it-2025-01-11-15h39m18s489
15
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
41
0
Mediterranean Red Starfish Echinaster sepositus Stella marina rossa-2025-01-03-14h27m38s775
14
03:30

Mediterranean 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
48
0
Relitto – Melania – Wreck – www.intotheblue.it-2024-12-22-17h23m36s762
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
46
0
White Gorgonian – Gorgonia bianca – Gorgonia verrucosa – Eunicella verrucosa – www.intotheblue.it-2024-10-11-16h24m18s596
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
68
0
T_Moray eel Murena helena Murena mediterranea-2024-10-27-14h13m59s062
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
72
0
Salp – Taliaceo salpa – www.intotheblue.it-2024-06-24-15h06m30s451
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
72
0
Ascidia mentula – www.intotheblue.it-2024-05-20-14h48m31s665
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
86
0
Ostrea cochlear and Astrospartus mediterraneus – Ostrica Neopycnodonte cochlear e Astrospartus mediterraneus – Neopycnodonte cochlear – www.intotheblue.it-2024-05-20-19h12m46s984
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
73
0
Dorid nudibranch – Doride dipinto – Felimare picta – www.intotheblue.it-2024-02-08-11h48m18s079
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
76
0
Melon sea urchin – Riccio Melone – Echinus melo – www.intotheblue.it-2024-05-21-11h50m55s944
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
123
0
Basket star in appointment to reproduce – Stelle Gorgone in procreazione – Astrospartus mediterraneus – www.intotheblue.it-2024-05-22-14h14m12s619
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
111
0
Mediterranean lobster Palinurus elephas Aragosta med-2024-05-19-21h03m38s001
13
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
163
0
diving point – punto d’immersione – www.intotheblue.it-2024-02-02-14h48m55s113
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
174
0
Giant Barrel jellyfish – Polmone di mare gigante – Rhizostoma pulmo – www.intotheblue.it-2024-03-15-22h14m33s424
10
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
264
0
Falso corallo nero Savalia savaglia T-2023-12-08-14h07m08s056
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
390
0
Sand steenbras or Striped seabream – Mormora o Marmora – Lithognathus mormyrus – www.intotheblue.it-2023-05-19-15h00m56s938
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
242
0
Black seabream Tanuta Cantaro Spondyliosoma cantharus-2023-12-01-13h37m53s959T
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
327
0
Variable spiny starfish Coscinasteris s082
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
253
0
Giant triton – Charonia tritonis – Tritone mediterraneo-2023-11-01-15h01m21s141
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
324
0
T_Luria sea snail – Luria lurida – Ciprea Mediterranea-2023-08-22-16h41m46s397
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
291
0
T_Pelagia noctiluca Medusa viola-2023-08-13-610
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
289
0
T_Leerfish Lichia amia Leccia amia-2023-07-23-12h56m04s530
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
210
0
Spiny starfish Stella marina spinosa-2023-07-17-17h28m41s252
15
06:50

Spiny starfish Martasteria

Martasteria or Thorny starfish (Marthasterias glacialis Linnaeus, 1758) is one of the most common starfish in the Mediterranean Sea, it is an echinoderm of the Asteriidae family. In this video we see it lying on a cliff that varies from 41 to 49 meters deep, rich in red Gorgonians of the Paramuricea clavata species and the classic yellow sponges of the Verongia species, therefore a guaranteed show of colors at the expense, however, of the visibility of the water about two or three meters. ...
netartstudio
185
0
Pompano Trachinotus ovatus Leccia stella-2023-07-11-19h17m28s508
12
18:35

Pompano - Trachinotus ovatus

The Pompano, Trachinotus ovatus, is a bony sea fish belonging to the Carangidae family. In the video we see a specimen trying to capture anchovies, Engraulis encrasicolus, with rapid and lightning attacks. Distribution and habitat It is widespread throughout the Mediterranean Sea and in the eastern Atlantic Ocean between the English Channel and tropical Africa. It has very rarely been found as far north as Sweden and Norway. In Italian waters it is very common. It is pelagic but typically coastal, ...
netartstudio
237
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T_Garfish Belone belone Aguglia intotheblue.it-2023-07-10-07h54m30s727
12
04:11

Garfish

Garfish, Belone belone is a bony sea fish belonging to the Belonidae family. It commonly lives in the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern Atlantic, in coastal areas around the Canary Islands, the Azores, Madeira and Cape Verde, as well as in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Garfish is a pelagic species, i.e. it lives mostly in the open sea and usually in the Mediterranean it approaches the coast from the end of August until October. ...
netartstudio
212
0
T_Cylinder anemone Cerianthus membranaceus Anemone-2023-07-02-09h45m23s019
12
04:52

Cylinder anemone

Cylindrical or Cylinder anemone, Cerianthus membranaceus, (anemone cilindrico), is one of the species of deep sea anemones typical of the Mediterranean Sea. Autochthonous to the Mediterranean Sea, it can also be found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, on sandy or muddy bottoms from a few meters up to 40 meters deep, even if in this dive we are on a rock and sand bottom that varies from 45 to 48 meters deep. ...
netartstudio
144
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T_Red scorpionfish – Scorpaena scrofa – Scorfano rosso – www.intotheblue.it-2023-06-26-14h50m24s850
21
05:50

Red scorpionfish

In this beautiful dive we met many specimens of Red scorpionfish, Scorpaena scrofa, and these that we see in the video are particularly large, almost a meter long. This species is typical of the Mediterranean Sea and we have met them at a depth of 52/53 meters in what would be their ideal habitat, i.e. the typical coralline seabed full of holes and ravines where Gorgonians and sponges thrive on which they settle perch waiting to launch some ambush to fish like the red damselfish.
netartstudio
236
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Glass Ctenophore Bolinopsis vitrea Ctenoforo di vetro intotheblue.it-2023-06-05-22h10m23s926
15
05:09

Wanderers of the sea - Glass Ctenophore

Also this summer we met one of the many "wanderers of the sea" that is one of those species such as tunicate jellyfish and ctenophores that let themselves be carried away by the currents, reducing their movements to a minimum. We are talking about the Glass Ctenophore - Bolinopsis vitrea - which we have already filmed some time ago, this specimen seems quite old but as soon as touched it showed us the splendid reflections of bioluminescence that the ctenophores activate when they are stimulated. ...
netartstudio
306
0
Moray eel Murena helena Murena Mediterranea www.intotheblue.it-2023-05-27-14h45m16s174
12
09:49

Moray

Moray Eel is often identified as an aggressive and dangerous fish but as we can see from this video it is anything but an "evil titan of the seas". We are on a rocky and coral seabed typical of the Mediterranean Sea at about 46/48 meters deep, where we often meet the Mediterranean moray Moray eel, Muraena helena, and in this case it is seen in the typical diurnal pose, i.e. with the head and a small part of the body outside its den while it rests from the nocturnal raids in search of food but always vigilant in controlling its own territory. ...
netartstudio
283
0
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