By Rosemary E. Lunn and Gunild Symes

Barb was an avid technical and wreck diver, underwater photographer and instructor, having learned to dive in Anchorage, Alaska, in 1979. She was PADI Master Instructor and held instructor ratings with DAN, IANTD and NAUI. She became a NAUI Wreck and Archaeology Instructor to explore wrecks and an IANTD Trimix diver to photograph giant gorgonian sea fans at 200 feet.

Whereas the beaks of the common needlefish were needle-sized and shaped, this one's mouth was similarly pointed, but 15 cm long and lined with large, sharp, interlocking teeth. As I crumbled some bits of food for the ever present lagoon fish, it accelerated forward to take a morsel and the small fish shot away, creating a dazzling, submarine firework exploding in silence. When it opened its pointed mouth to take a morsel it revealed a throat nearly the same diameter as its body--it was well equipped to catch and swallow large prey. It had two parallel scars on its right side.

Over the years, new species have been found and existing species have been moved to other genera while other species are new. Thus, our colleague Christian Skauge writes that the Flabellina family has now gone "extinct" in Norway because the species therein have now been reclassified and put into other genera.

Instead of wearing earplugs at a rock concert, imagine you could simply tune a dial inside your ears to lower the volume and protect your hearing. In a new report published in Integrative Zoology, researchers have discovered four whale species and dolphins can do just that. This could potentially shield the animals from navy sonar and oil drilling, linked to at least 500 marine mammal deaths since 1963.