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ARKive dives deeper for digital imagery

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Monday 19th October 2009

ARKive is calling on the global diving community to help in the ongoing search for films and photographs of the world’s most endangered ocean species.

With many hundreds of the world’s marine animals and plants now threatened with extinction, ARKive is looking to the world’s divers to help in their oceanic quest to audio-visually profile as many of these as possible, enabling ARKive users to dive beneath the waves, explore the bottom of the sea, and come face to face with some of the rarest and most amazing creatures imaginable, without even getting wet.

How many people have actually seen a pyjama shark, and does it have stripes? Does the spotted hand-fish really have hands? And what on Earth is a speckled carpet shark, a cardinal fish and a leafy seadragon? ARKive brings these fascinating creatures to a wider audience, creating a powerful educational resource and conservation tool in the fight to save the planet’s threatened biodiversity.

Professional shark photographer and regular ARKive contributor Andy Murch says, "Many of my shark images have been used in conservation campaigns to help push through legislation aiming to protect animals at risk. It's hard to raise support for an animal that has no face in the media and good images can make a huge difference."

Award-winning photographer and ARKive media donor Tom Peschak says, "There is a purpose behind every picture that I take, and more often than not that purpose is to introduce an endangered marine species or a critically threatened marine habitat to the wider world... I want my images to educate, inspire, mesmerise and create an appreciation for the fragile marine realm and, in a small way, contribute to safeguarding the world’s oceans for future generations."

The ARKive team is searching for a huge variety of marine imagery, from the mightiest great white shark down to the tiniest pygmy seahorse. If you are a diver and have images from your underwater adventures, then ARKive would like to hear from you.

Email ARKive's media research team at arkive@wildscreen.org.uk, or upload to www.flickr.com/groups/arkive using the tag 'marine'.

Thanks to the contributions of divers and underwater photographers, a wide variety of threatened marine species already appear on ARKive, including:

Whale shark (Rhincodon typus)

image: Whale shark © Andy Murch / Elasmodiver.com

Despite being the largest fish in the world, the life history of the whale shark is still poorly understood. Under threat due to its high value in international trade, particularly for shark-fin soup, this species is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN.

Green turtle (Chelonia mydas)

image: Green turtle © Masa Ushioda / SeaPics.com

The green turtle is one of the largest and most widespread of all marine turtles, but is listed as Endangered by the IUCN as a result of overharvesting for its meat and eggs, as well as habitat degradation, pollution, fisheries by-catch, and the loss of nesting habitat.

Pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus bargibanti)

image: Pygmy seahorse © B. Jones & M. Shimlock / www.nhpa.co.uk

Undoubtedly one of the most well camouflaged species in the oceans, the pygmy seahorse can be extremely difficult to spot amongst the corals it inhabits. Very little is known about this unusual species, leading to its listing as Data Deficient by the IUCN.

Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi)

image: Hawaiian monk seal © Michael Pitts / naturepl.com

Despite considerable conservation efforts, the Critically Endangered hawaiian monk seal is sadly undergoing a steep population decline, and is under threat from a variety of sources, including human disturbance, entanglement in marine debris, and food limitation. Without urgent help, the species is in real danger of extinction in the near future.

Southern giant clam (Tridacna derasa)

image: Southern giant clam © Georgette Douwma / naturepl.com

The beautiful southern giant clam is one of the largest of the giant clams. Listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, it has been hunted extensively for food and for the aquarium trade, but the species is now being bred commercially, which may potentially reduce pressure on the wild population.

Visit MyARKive to see a selection of images and videos in the Threatened Marine Species scrapbook.