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A Tiger shark shocked divers when it made a lunge for one of their cameras during an underwater expedition in the Bahamas.

After posing for several snaps the shark decided enough was enough and grabbed the equipment in its jaws. It then swam off before dropping the cam several metres away on the sea bed.

Photographer Karin Brussaard, from the Netherlands, captured all the action on camera.

She said: “There were about six or seven tiger sharks down there and we couldn’t believe our luck.

“We were having a great time photographing them all until one diver swam towards one of them trying to get a better shot.

“The shark suddenly seemed to get angry and snatched the camera right out of his hands.

“I couldn’t believe it. It swam away with it and we all just looked on in amazement.

“Luckily it d...

The Sun’s rays can “burn” whales’ skin, just like they can damage human skin, according to a team of researchers.

The scientists studied more than 150 whales in the Gulf of California.

By taking photographs and skin samples, the US and Mexico-based team found the whales had blisters that were caused by sun damage.

The report in the Royal Society journal, Proceedings B, concluded that darker skinned whales showed fewer signs of sun damage.

The team was interested in the effects of increasing levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation on wildlife.

Laura Martinez-Levasseur, from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Queen Mary, University of London, led the study.

She explained that whales were a good model for this because “they need to come to the surface to breathe air, to socialise and to...

Ocean acidification, a potentially disastrous consequence of global warming, is threatening the early life cycle of coral reefs near Florida and throughout the Caribbean, according to a new study published Monday.

While other research has looked at how the world’s increasingly acidic oceans affect adult coral, this is the first one to document its impact on coral’s early life stages.

Coral reefs don’t just make pretty screen savers

Daniel Carlock, a Santa Monica aerospace engineer, prayed to God not to let him die after he was abandoned floating in the ocean 12 miles off Long Beach by leaders of a scuba diving excursion. After nearly five hours, surrounded by thick fog, “I had this feeling my spirit was getting ready to vacate my body,” he recalled.

On Friday, a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury awarded Carlock $1.68 million in damages in his five-year legal battle against Venice-based Ocean Adventures Dive Co. and Long Beach-based Sundiver Charters.

The jury heard testimony that Carlock, who was 45 at the time of the 2004 incident, had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and developed skin cancer from exposure.

“It has been an ordeal,” he said as he celebrated at a Newport Beach restaurant with his wife, An...

Scientists have taken skin and tissue samples from the 33 pilot whales which died off the coast of County Donegal.

Environmentalists are trying to establish how the whales beached on Rutland Island near Burtonport.

It’s thought they were the same group spotted in the Outer Hebrides at the end of October.

Dr Simon Berrow of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group said it was one of the biggest mass deaths of whales in Irish history.

He is concerned that Royal Navy sonar equipment could have played a role.

“Thirty or 40 pilot whales were spotted off the Outer Hebrides at South Uist last week,” he said.

“It looked like they were going to strand. It was bad weather. They were not seen again.”

Dr Berrow said the Royal Navy had been in the area off South Uist and had moved away.

Campaigners were conc...

The Icelandic company that resumed full-fledged whale meat exports to Japan this year has shipped more than 600 tons of finback whale meat to the Asian country and the annual total could reach the level seen in the early 1990s, sources close to the matter said Saturday.

The company, Hvalur, exported 631 tons of finback whale meat to Japan in the first nine months of this year, according to the sources and Icelandic government data.

In Japan, roughly 4,000 tons of mainly minke whale meat, caught in

Aboard Mission Blue, oceanographer Greg Stone tells the story of how he helped the Republic of Kiribati create an enormous protected area in the middle of the Pacific — protecting fish, sealife and the island nation itself.

Greg Stone was a key driver in the establishment of the Phoenix Island Protected Area in the island nation of Kiribati.

The second-largest marine protected area in the world — and one of the most pristine — PIPA is a laboratory for exploring and monitoring the recovery of coral reefs from bleaching events.

Greg Stone began his career as an ocean scientist, pioneering research in Antarctica on marine mammals and ice ecology where he mastered the art of diving into icebergs.

Today he is well-known for his leadership in the effort to create the world’s second-largest mar...

One in three loggerhead turtles in the Adriatic Sea has plastic in its intestine, according to researchers studying the impact of debris on marine life.

The shallow waters of the Adriatic are important feeding grounds for the turtles as they develop into adults.

But the sea-floor is one of the most polluted in Europe.

The team studied the bodies of dead sea turtles that had been stranded or accidentally caught by fishing vessels.

The impacts of debris on marine creatures are not entirely clear. But scientists have found that animals ranging from invertebrates to large mammals consume plastic waste and are concerned that it could damage their health.

For a turtle, just a few grams of debris can be fatal if it obstructs the gut.

The researchers from the University of Zagreb found that more t...

Discus fish are surprisingly attentive parents, scientists have found.

The colourful little creatures are known to feed their offspring with a nutritious mucus on their skin.

Now a study has suggested that the tropical fish actually wean their fry, “encouraging” them to forage for themselves, and that when it comes to looking after their young, discus fish have more in common with mammals.

Researchers describe their behaviour in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

This nurturing in discus fish is a well recognised behaviour, but this is the first time it has been studied in detail.

Intensive caring

Mr Jonathan Buckley from the University of Plymouth, UK, was a member of the team that carried out the study.

Along with his supervisor, Dr Katherine Sloman, and colleagues in Brazil, he found...

Luminous cells from jellyfish can be used to diagnose cancers deep inside the body, scientists have said.

The process uses the green fluorescent protein (GFP) enabling jellyfish to glow in the dark.

Researchers in North Yorkshire found it can be targeted at cancer cells allowing them to be spotted using a special camera.

A team from the Yorkshire Cancer Research Laboratory at York University has developed the procedure.

The team’s leader, Professor Norman Maitland, believes it will revolutionise the way some cancers are diagnosed.

He said: “Cancers deep within the body are difficult to spot at an early stage, and early diagnosis is critical for the successful treatment of any form of cancer.

“What we have developed is a process which involves inserting proteins derived from luminous jelly...