Undercurrent Online Update
for Subscribers

For Subscriber David Denson Whiteside (with username 'dwhitesi' exp: 2024-08-20', at dwhite95815@hotmail.com )
September 15, 2016
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We are all too familiar about the problems engendered by the shark finning industry and the harm it does to the whole food chain of the ocean. Knowing that, you’d be stupid to want to eat shark fin. Well, there’s more truth in that than you might think. New research shows that eating shark can contribute to the onset of Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases. Read the full story in in the October issue of Undercurrent. If this doesn’t make people want to stop eating shark, nothing will. It might well make you crazy!

It’s common practice to pair up solitary divers but have you ever been paired with a diver you didn’t know, who dived deeper than you liked? Incautiously entered an overhead environment? Interacted with the marine life in a hazardous or unacceptable way? Ascended much too quickly for you liking? We’ve all been there at some time. Tell us about it! BenDEditor@undercurrent.org. Don’t forget to tell us your town and State too.

Under the ice, divers with sharks, free-swimming ribbon eels, amorous frogfish, amusing cephalopods and reasons to thank the President; you’ll see all this and more at www.facebook.com/Undercurrent.org

Researchers from Pennsylvania State University and the US Naval Research Laboratory have used a protein from squid tentacles to create self-healing fabric, while different teams of researchers have recently identified interesting self-assembly proteins in the ring teeth of squid. Say goodbye to the days of needle and thread to repair garments. In future they might have the ability to heal themselves with a splash of water and some squid protein.

Do you give your regulator dust cap a blast of air to dry it after a dive? That’s no better at removing water than using a towel, and it is exponentially noisier and can be harmful to the well being of a person standing nearby, by startling them. Furthermore, that blast may actually drive seawater droplets into the uncovered first-stage of a regulator -- now you have to service it -- or dislodge the O-ring of the tank. Using a towel can save you from scrambling around your dive boat, looking for that missing little circle of neoprene.

They are the lifeblood of Undercurrent. The newsletter was first started after its founder had a disappointing trip and realized that there was no source of truly unbiased information. Send us reviews of the dive operators, liveaboards, and resorts you’ve dived this year by filling out our online form at www.undercurrent.org/members/UCnow/SubRRTopMA.php. You can also follow the link “File a Report” on the left side of our homepage at www.undercurrent.org or after logging in, follow the “Reader Report” link in the top navigation bar. You see, our readers rely on honest reports from their fellow subscribers, just as I suspect you do. So, we'd very much appreciate hearing about your last dive trip, getting it up on the website, and including it in the next Chapbook (available online early December free for subscribers).

They carry their feathery gills on their backs, but have you ever wondered where they get their bright colors? It’s their food. One species, the red sponge dorid, is bright red and probably gets its pigment from the red sponges it eats. This has the added benefit of giving the nudibranch some amazing camouflage when it’s crawling on its spongy food.

Yes, we know our website has been cumbersome to navigate, but improvements are unfolding. We've created a cleaner, smaller navigation-bar to help simplify and speed up your searching and navigating, and our "navbar" more readily conforms to your viewing, whether on your home computer, tablet, or mobile phone. We are in the process of making the entire website easier to view/navigate on mobile phones/tablets, and we're cleaning up a lot of busy pages. It has taken far more time to make these design and technical improvements than one might imagine, and since we don't accept advertising, it has taken a while for our little nonprofit to set aside the money. Our site remains a work in progress, so if you find problems please contact our genial webmaster, Dave Eagleray, at feedback@undercurrent.org. Dave this month has limited availability, but he'll get back to you as quickly as he can.

Diving with great whites off Mexico . . . An Indonesia liveaboard and-land based operation . . . A little known Honduras resort . . . The next hot destination . . . When bad weather forces cancelation of your pre-paid dives . . . How hammerheads reduce their transport costs . . . Bad news about biodegradable plastic . . . Are reef sharks over-valued and is it safe to feed them for the benefit of divers? . . . Equipment failure or diver mismanagement? . . . and much, much more.

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
Contact Ben

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