Luxe Beat Magazine has published our most recent Third Age Expeditions column about octopus called, “Realm of the Giant Pacific Octopus.”

Three Hearts, Nine Brains, & Blue Blood?

Giant Pacific octopus are about 90 percent soft-bodied muscle except for two small plates anchoring their heads, together with a beak used to grasp and bite prey They possess three hearts and nine brains. Two smaller hearts pump their blue blood to the gills, while a larger third heart circulates blood to the rest of the body. One central brain controls their nervous system and there is a large ganglion of nerve cells at the base of each of their eight arms, which act like independent brains that work both independently and together to coordinate movement. Their blue blood contains a copper-rich protein called hemocyanin which is more efficient than hemoglobin in cold ocean environments and improves oxygen flow.

Here is a link to the story: here

Luxe Beat Magazine has published our latest column, “The President and the Lady: World’s Greatest Diveable Intact Shipwreck?”  You can read it: Here

The Fog of War

Bathed in a shroud of dim pale blue light the silent steel hulk looms up from the shadowy depths. An enormous ship at 654 feet the SS President Coolidge, an American luxury ocean liner when she was launched in built in 1931, is equivalent in length to two- and one-half football fields when placed end to end. Like every shipwreck, the Coolidge has a glorious story to tell about a time long ago, in a place far, far away. The tale of how this metal hulk sank into a watery grave was written during the tides of war more than a half century ago.

Our story “What is a nudibranch? Meet the “high fashion models” of the ocean depths” was published online at Canadian Geographic yesterday!

Where we live

In British Columbia, where we live, nudibranchs inhabit the emerald depths in such high concentrations, the province is considered Canada’s hotspot for the creatures. Since our work as underwater photographers requires us to have more than a passing acquaintance with nudibranchs, we photograph as many species as we can.

Nudibranch basics

“There are two distinct types of nudibranchs: aeolids and dorids. Aeolids absorb oxygen through their skin and have a series of horn-like projections, called cerata, on their heads and backs that allow them to take in more oxygen. Dorids, the most common type of nudibranch, breathe through a tuft of external feathery gills that they can retract into their body for protection if needed. Nudibranch gills come in many shapes and sizes and are used for breathing, digestion, and defence. While in other parts of the world the average length for nudibranchs is about two centimetres, British Columbia’s nudibranchs are giants by comparison, generally reaching 15 to 30 centimetres in length.”

For more, go here: https://www.canadiangeographic.ca/article/what-nudibranch-meet-high-fashion-models-ocean-depths