The spider crab is Ireland’s largest crab and can be found pretty much everywhere. Here on the wreck of the SS Manchester Merchant, this guy was happy to pose for me amid the twisted metal, the starfish, the blennies, and the pollock. It all ended when I got a little too close, and he shuffled […]
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This lobster, hiding in the debris of the SS Manchester Merchant, was not coming out to play, no matter how long I lay there and waited. The space was too confined to get any closer with the strobes attached to my camera, so I decided to fold them back, sacrificing light for access. As I […]
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We were deep, very deep, perhaps 35 metres down or more. A brooding grey sky above meant that very little light had made its way to us here. Colour had been left behind, languishing in the surface shallows. To say there was no colour at all wouldn’t be quite true. All around us was a […]
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As I break the surface at the end of another amazing dive beneath the waters of Bray Head I’m comforted by the sight of the approaching boat with a competent coxswain at the helm. Getting back into the boat is a real team effort. The first diver removes their gear piece by piece, handing each […]
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I still find myself thinking I’m back in South Australia whenever I come across the European spiny lobster (Palinurus elephas), which looks almost identical to the southern rock lobster (Jasus edwardsii). Here in Ireland, this beautiful creature is mostly ignored by the fishing industry in favour of the much sought-after European lobster (Homarus gammarus). From […]
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