Scuba Diving364 Videos

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. ...

Submerged marine life

Under the surface of the sea an exuberant life is "hidden" that develops in three dimensions, full of countless beings so different from each other where the competition for life sometimes becomes dramatic but always finds a delicate balance of coexistence. The interest in observation leads us to appreciate a wonderful aquatic life, both animal and plant, present at all depths.

Blue Sponge

Phorbas tenacior, Blue sponge is one of the first organisms to colonize new wrecks or any submerged vertical surface not yet colonized by marine organisms. In this video we see it on a wreck about 30 meters deep. Probably this wreck is quite recent, perhaps sunk between the first and second world wars, has several colonies of sponges including the blue encrusting sponge, which seems to prefer vertical walls away from direct sunlight. Obviously we also see it next to other species of sponges of the genus Tedania and Verongia but if we look at the part of the prow the presence of Phorbas tenacior ...

Neptunes' lace Reteporella grimaldii

Reteporella grimaldii is a species of bryozoans  in the family Reteporidae.  It is composed of a colony of small animals that form a limestone substrate which takes the form of a refined lace. Hence the name of sea lace. The animals that compose it live on organic particles, plankton, filtering the water carried by the current. The Reteporella can take on different colors based on the species and the environmental conditions in which it lives. We have little information on the environment in which it lives but we can say with certainty, based on our direct experience, that it is possible to meet it from 10 meters up to 100 meters deep. The video we show you was shot in the Mediterranea Sea at 56 meters deep.

Yellow gorgonian - Eunicella Cavolinii

We met Yellow gorgonian, Eunicella Cavolinii (Gorgonia gialla) on a seabed of about 42 meters deep and as we can see from the images these colonies of yellow gorgonian are almost completely covered by marine mucilage. Due to the heating of the waters, the phenomenon of mucilage is now constant and these gorgonians are the first to suffer its effects ...

Astrospartus mediterraneus & Paramuricea clavata

In this amazing dive among Paramuricea clavata, red Gorgonian, we met numerous Gorgon starfish, Basket star or Astrospartus mediterraneus. We are on a rocky bottom between 49 and 52 meters deep, where we have encountered various species of fish and marine species such as sponges, red scorpionfish, Anthias anthias, red mullet, coocko wrasse and more. ...

Aplysia depilans - Sea hare

We publish another encounter with the Sea hare, Aplysia depilans, this time which took place on a depth of about 42/45 meters. We are on a not very high rock wall about 4/5 miles from the coast where, due to the now increasingly present mucillage, animals and marine organisms seem to have disappeared. ...

Mediterranean coral reef

The Savalia savaglia, commonly known as gold coral, is a species colonial in the family Parazoanthidae. This organism is commonly called "false black coral". It owes its name to its ability to produce a dark-colored horny skeleton, usually blackish. The colonies are generally settled on pre-existing gorgonians skeletons and can grow with ramifications that far exceed one meter in length. The polyps of this coral have six tentacles which is why the species is part of Hexacorallia group. They are bright yellow or whitish, and very large and showy (2-3 cm high), similar to those of Parazoanthus axinellae. Sprout very well from the tissue that lines the skeleton (coenenchyme) and have available alternates, showing smooth tentacles. The polyps do not fall as those of other species but can retract and close in on themselves.

Galathea - Galathea squamifera

We are in one of the many underwater caves of the Mediterranean Sea where the colors of the red coral, Corallium rubrum and Yellow cluster anemone, Parazoanthus-axinellae, explode in a splendid show that we can only find in caves. However, the caves are also the ideal habitat for many species of crustaceans such as the Galathea, Galathea squamifera, and the cave crab, Herbstia condyliata. ...

Unknown marine organism

During a scuba dive in a beautiful Mediterranean coral reef of Savalia savaglia and Paramuricea clavata, at a depth between 72 and 76 meters, I met this unknown marine organism for the first time. Curiosity prompted me to carry out a series of searches to understand precisely what I was dealing with. Research has not yielded a satisfactory answer. The questions I asked myself were many. Based on my experience of many years of scuba diving it could be an animal belonging to the phylum Prorifera.

Pecten jacobaeus - Mediterranean scallop

We all know or have seen at least once the scallop (Mediterranean scallop) Pecten jacobaeus shell, since it is often collected for its beauty or used as a vessel or container. This bivalve mollusc is rather sought after for the goodness of its meat and, as can be seen from the film, not only by man but above all by the Octopus (Octopus vulgaris) of which it is greedy like almost all molluscs. ...

False coral Myriapora truncata

Myriapora truncata, also known by its common name false coral is a species from the genus Myriapora. The species was originally described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1766. Myriapora truncata is a common species on rocky environments from the water surface to a depth of 60 meter, where it forms calcareous colonies. It has a bright red colour which earned it its common name of "False coral". Studies suggest that M. truncata seem well able to withstand the levels of ocean acidification predicted in the next 200 years. Myriapora truncata is the source of 4 polyketide-derived metabolites.

Charonia tritonis - Giant triton

We are on some isolated rocks at a depth of 40/46 meters, where we have found two beautiful specimens of Charonia tritonis, Giant mediterranean triton.  This is the mollusk and consequently the largest shell in the Mediterranean Sea. In this dive we met two of them, we filmed the first one casually on the wall we were exploring, we realized watching the footage that we passed by without seeing it. The second was inside a hole from which we moved it to try to film it better. ...

Diving on Silvio's Wreck

Silvio wreck is now reduced to very bad conditions due to the time that has passed but, above all, due to the fishing boats that cause continuous hooks with their trawl nets and then, in an attempt to recover them, cause further damage to the structure of the tug; the wreck is in fact almost completely surrounded by fishing nets. As you can see from the video, the seabed on which it is located is a muddy seabed and a few movements by the diver are enough to lift the mud and make visibility poor; therefore considerable experience is required to avoid accidents and dive in complete safety.

European conger

Conger (European conger - Conger conger) is one of the first marine species of the Mediterranean Sea that colonizes wrecks and we met it right among the plates of one of the many wrecks on which we often dive. It is a nocturnal predator species that lives in caves and ravines during the day and then hunts on the seabed during the night. ...

Spiny dye-murex

Bolinus brandaris (originally called Murex brandaris by Linnaeus and also Haustellum brandaris), and commonly known as the purple dye murex or the spiny dye-murex, is a species of medium-sized predatory sea snail, an edible marine gastropod mollusk in the Muricidae family, the murex snails or the rock snails. This species is known in the fossil record from the Pilocene (age range: from 3.6 to 2.588 million years ago). Fossil shells of this species have been found in Cyprus, Spain and Italy. It was used by the Phoenicians in ancient times to extract imperial Tyrian purple dye.

Dotted sea slug - Peltodoris atromaculata

In this dive we met one of the many nudibranchs (sea snails) that populate our sea, Peltodoris atromaculata - Dotted sea slug very similar to the Jorunna funebris (Dotted nudibranch), also called Sea cow or Leopard snail. Peltodoris atromaculata Dotted sea slug Vacchetta di mare intotheblue.it ...

Maldive Anemonefish

Amphiprion nigripes (Maldive Anemonefish or blackfinned anemonefish), is a marinefish belonging to the family Pomacentridae, which includes clownfishes and damselfishes. The Maldive anemonefish is a small fish which grows up to 11 cm as a female and 8 cm as a male. It is oval-bodied and laterally compressed.

Striped red mullet - Triglia di scoglio

In this dive we met the Red mullet - Mullus surmuletus - in one of the many typical Mediterranean seabeds. As always, when we dive we try to film and document the marine species that populate our seas but also the conditions in which our sea is found. ...

White gorgonian - Eunicella singularis

White gorgonian Eunicella singularis, is a gorgonian typical of the Mediterranean Sea, grows on rocky, muddy and detrital bottoms and often colonizes bottoms that have undergone stress caused by the change in water temperatures or damage caused by trawling, replacing the other species ...

Raccoon Butterflyfish

The Raccoon Butterflyfish (Chaetodon lunula), also known as the crescent-masked butterflyfish, lunule butterflyfish, halfmoon butterflyfish, moon butterflyfish, raccoon butterfly, raccoon, raccoon coralfish, and redstriped butterflyfish, is a species of marine ray-finned, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae. It is found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Pencil urchin - Stylocidaris affinis

Pencil urchin is certainly one of the most curious and most characteristic species of Mediterranean urchins. Its common name derives from the shape of its thorns which resemble a classic pencil or "Lapis" as we say in Tuscany. However, these thorns are quite fragile as they are funny ...

Leopard-spotted goby - Thorogobius ephippiatus

In these two dives we met the Leopard Goby (Thorogobius ephippiatus) a sea fish belonging to the Gobidae family. In the first we are on a 45 meter seabed made up of coral reefs that rise from a sandy bottom, in the second we are on a patch full of gorgonians but isolated in a bottom of mud and debris at a depth of about 52/53 meters ...

Spiny Starfish - Tank Star

The Martasteria or Spiny Starfish, Marthasterias glacialis, is an echinoderm of the Asteriidae family common in the Mediterranean Sea. Also called a Tank star, due to the characteristic plates bristling with thorns that distinguish it from other starfish, it has a regular shape with five arms. The body is characterized by spines of variable color: white, gray, brown, red, blue. It appears to be the largest species in the Mediterranean, capable of reaching even 85 centimeters in diameter.

Picarel - Spicara smaris

Spicara smaris in italian Zerro, are those little fish that practically always accompany us in our dives to which we often do not give too much importance since we always hope to find more important species to film and photograph. ...

The struggle for life

This video made in the Maldives shows us an octopus as it comes out of its den to go hunting for food. While out he is attacked by a redtoothed triggerfish and thent has to give up his lunch and immediately take shelter in an emergency shelter to try to save himself. The video is interesting because it highlights the struggle for life that occurs every day in nature and where the predator must necessarily be careful to prevent becoming the prey of another animal.

Yellow and orange Parazoanthus axinellae: two different species?

We are talking about the case of the Parazoanthus axinellae in Calafuria's reef near Livorno, the very common Yellow cluster anemone omnipresent in the coral bottoms of the whole Mediterranean Sea, all of us divers appreciate its presence and the yellow color ...

Mediterranean feather star - Antedon Mediterranea

Antedon Mediterranea - Mediterranean feather star - is one of the most filmed animal by underwater photographers, certanly for the colors of this splendid owl but above all for the scarce mobility and morphological characteristics of the ten tentacles of the starfish remeber the most famous feathered starfish of tropical seas. ...

Common northern comb jelly - Bolinopsis infundibulum

In this collage of videos made in two different dives a few days apart but always in the same stretch of sea we filmed one of the many species of ctenophores that inhabit our Mediterranean Sea, from some research it seems to be the Bolinopsis infundibulum or tentacled Ctenophore.  ...

Discovering new wrecks

The discovery of an unknown wreck is certainly one of the most beautiful emotions a diver can experience. However, it is an increasingly rare event now, the wrecks that can be visited with scuba loaded with compressed air are now practically all known in the various areas of the Mediterranean Sea, ...

Eggs of european Squid

The European squid or common squid (Loligo vulgaris) is a large squid belonging to the family Loliginidae. It occurs abundantly in coastal waters from the North Sea to at least the west coast of Africa. This species lives from sea level to depths of 500 m. Its mantle is up to 40 cm long. The species is extensively exploited by commercial fisheries.

Striped red Mullet

The striped red mullet or surmullet (Mullus surmuletus) is a species of goatfish found in the Mediterranean Sea, eastern North Atlantic Ocean, and the Black Sea. They can be found in water as shallow as 5 metres or as deep as 409 metres depending upon the portion of their range that they are in. This species can reach a length of 40 centimetres. Toxic when not cooked. Though most are only around 25 centimetres. The greatest recorded weight for this species is 1 kilogram. This is a commercially important species and is also sought after as a game fish.

Leptogorgia sarmentosa Gorgonian

Leptogorgia sarmentosa Gorgonian is quite common in the Mediterranean Sea, we often meet it during our dives, but not in the area where we explored in this video. On this seabed there are not many gorgonians, despite being the classic coralligenous bottom there is very common the red coral, Corallium rubrum ...

Trumpetfishes

The trumpetfishes are three species of highly specialized, tubular-elongated marine fishes in the genus Aulostomus, of the monogeneric family Aulostomidae. The trumpetfishes are members of the order Syngnathiformes, together with the seahorses and the similarly built, closely related cornetfishes.

Salpa maxima

Salpa maxima also arrived in the upper Tyrrhenian Sea or lower Ligurian Sea, that is, in the waters of Livorno and the province where we often dive. It is a Tunicate; at first sight it looks like a cross between a fish and a jellyfish but it is neither, it is actually a transparent invertebrate belonging to the order of the Salpidae subphylum Tunicata, coming from the deepest oceans and very rare in the Mediterranean....

Sea sponge Tedania anhelans

Tedania anhelans is a sea sponge that has an arborescent shape with colors that vary from transparent to light gray or dark gray depending on the conditions and depths of the environment in which it lives and personally I also add based on age: more pale in the juvenile phase or darker in the mature phase. It is present throughout the Mediterranean Sea at a depth ranging from 10 to over 100 meters on hard substrates, in rocky walls but also, as in our case, on Gorgonians and fishing nets abandoned for several years. In fact, the Tedania sponge reproduces very easily.