Follow the success of last year with more than 100,000 visitors and 150 exhibitors, the Thailand Travel and Dive Expo will be held again this year from 15 to 18 May at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok.

As always, there will be attractive prizes to be won. Among the highlights announced so far: Scubapro/ Uwatec will give away a top-of-the-line regulator “MK25/S600″ and a new dive computer “Galileo Terra” as lucky draws. Also, Beuchat Thailand has prepared a regulator, BCD and some accessories to be prizes for this year’s underwater photo competition.

More updates to follow as information is announced.

Most divers in Asia are familiar with mantis shrimp, especially the colourful and comical rainbow mantis shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus) regularly spotted on reefs throughout the region.

Already considered amazing for their ability to spear, stab or pulverize prey at blindingly rapid speed (plus a whole host of other unusual talents), some mantis shrimp, or stomatopods as they’re known, also have the unique capability of being able to see circular polarized light (CPL).

CPL differs from linear polarized light (which is the type of light your Oakleys or Ray Bans create to pamper your eyes), as photons travel in parallel, rotating wavelengths instead of up-and-down wavelengths.

No other organism on earth can see this form of light…at least as far as anyone knows.

What practical purpose does this serve? No one’s certain, but it’s very cool nonetheless. Read more here.

Westchester County in the state of New York in the US is considering passing legislation to ban the sale of shark fin soup. As far as we know, this is the first such piece of legislation to be considered anywhere.

While the bulk of shark fin consumption is obviously in Asia, this is a symbolically significant step, and could lead to other jurisdictions considering similar protection for sharks.

Please consider providing constructive feedback in support of the legislation by:

1. Writing to
Legislator William E. Burton
Chair Legislation Committee

and cc:ing
Legislator Thomas Abinanti
Chair Environment & Energy Committee

and sending your correspondence via email to: Louise Gantress, or

2. Signing an online letter posted at Shark Savers.

Captain Craig De Wit of MV Golden Dawn in PNG was nice enough to visit our office in Bangkok recently to say hello. (Actually, he needed help getting a new gadget to work, and no one else cared.)

We were, in turn, nice enough to take him out to dinner, and also to introduce him to Khun Plub from our Dive Diary column, since he told us he was a big fan of hers. (Actually, we were being nice just because we’d like to go on his boat.)

Much to his surprise (but necessarily to ours), Plub wasn’t quite sure where PNG was, so the first part of the evening was spent trying to help Plub figure out why Craig had an Aussie accent when he was from an entirely different country.

“All’s well that ends well”, as the saying goes. Craig got his gadget fixed and Plub now knows where PNG is. Amazing how much we can accomplish in one evening, isn’t it?

FiNS Associate Editor Tony Wu has just posted a story about his recent trip to swim with adorable Australian sea lions in Western Australia. Read more here. 

What’s better than hot, passionate sex on a tropical beach? Reading the latest issue of FiNS of course (not really, but we needed some way to get your attention).

Grab your copy of our second issue of the year to read about Saipan’s angelic eagle rays, the wonders of Komodo, and a Top 10 list of must-see critters in the Lembeh Strait.

We’ve also got a unique Lenscape column from contributor Ethan Daniels showcasing thought-provoking images made possible by today’s digital technology, tips about local diving if you find yourself in Manila, and fascinating facts about shrimp and dragonets for all you critter-spotters out there.

Our ever-popular Gadget Guru applies his mental faculties (seriously?) to figuring out how best to de-fog masks, and in our concluding instalment of Dive Diary, we introduce Plub (much to her dismay) to our (many) dogs, doggy shampoo and a hose (not much diving involved, but a lot of water, and a substantial bit of fun…for us).

All this and more awaits, so stop thinking about the beach and grab your copy immediately here or via our Podcast.

Following our recent post about the unusual frogfish photographed in Ambon Bay by Maluku Divers, we’ve received interesting feedback from a number of people.

Among the suggestions early on was the possibility that the UFRO (Unidentified FROgfish) could be a Antennatus linearis, which was first described in 2001 by Randall and Holcom. This potential ID was partially based on the lack of a visible esca (the frogfish’s bait).

After more people around the world weighed in, we began to consider another possibility… Read more…

FiNS Magazine Associate Editors Andrea and Antonella Ferrari have just released a new book titled The Art of Underwater Photography, showcasing first-rate underwater images from the Ferraris and contributors around the world, as well as setting out the Ferrari’s personal philosophy of the art behind creating outstanding marine images. Read Dr. Alex Mustard’s in-depth review of the new book at Wetpixel.

Constable publishing in the United Kingdom has recently released a new hardback book titled Reefs Revealed, featuring images and text by marine biologist Alexander Mustard. 

Best known to FiNS Magazine readers for his Talking Megapixels column, Alex has painstakingly put together a beautiful collection of over 150 images spanning the coral reefs of the world, including photographs from the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Southeast Asian waters, and the Caribbean. Moreover, reflecting his background as a marine biologist, Alex’s incisive text explains the value of reefs and explores many of the intricate relationships to be found in this unique and precarious environment. 

Testament to the quality of the book is the fact that Reefs Revealed received the prestigious Prix Mondial Du Livre D’ Image Sous-Marine (World Prize for Underwater Photo Books) at the 2007 Festival Mondial de L’Image Sous-Marine in Antibes, France, following in the footsteps of FiNS Magazine contributors Tony Wu, Andrea and Antonella Ferrari, and Mirko Zanni. 

Reefs Revealed measures 310 x 245mm and is available through through Amazon and Amazon UK. Order a copy for yourself, and send one to a friend!

Check out this video of a very large, rare, six-gill shark (most sharks have five gills) taken by researchers in a submarine 1000 metres down in Hawaiian waters. Almost as interesting as the shark is the excited chatter of the researchers.