Fisherman

Fisher man by Saravut Whanset

Legzira Beach

Legzira Beach ( southern Morocco ) taken at sunset.

Svartifoss

Photograph by Giacomo Ciangottini

Svartifoss (Black Fall) is surrounded by the dark lava columns that gave rise to its name. The hexagonal columns were formed inside a lava flow that cooled extremely slowly, giving rise to crystallization. 

Skaftafell National Park, Iceland.

Underwater Colour Art

Water + paint = art! :)

Amazing Geysers

A geyser is a spring characterized by intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by a vapour phase (steam). The word geyser comes from Geysir, the name of an erupting spring at Haukadalur, Iceland; that name, in turn, comes from the Icelandic verb geysa, "to gush", the verb itself from Old Norse.

All Water In The Single Sphere

This picture shows the size of a sphere that would contain all of Earth's water in comparison to the size of the Earth. The blue sphere sitting on the United States, reaching from about Salt Lake City, Utah to Topeka, Kansas, has a diameter of about 860 miles (about 1,385 kilometers) , with a volume of about 332,500,000 cubic miles (1,386,000,000 cubic kilometers). The sphere includes all the water in the oceans, seas, ice caps, lakes and rivers as well as groundwater, atmospheric water, and even the water in you, your dog, and your tomato plant.

The Rio Tinto or Rusty River

 The Río Tinto is a river in southwestern Spain that originates in the Sierra Morena mountains of Andalusia. Since ancient times, a site along the river has been mined for copper, silver, gold, and other minerals.As a result of the mining, Río Tinto is notable for being very acidic (pH 2) and its deep reddish hue is due to iron dissolved in the water. Acid mine drainage from the mines leads to severe environmental problems due to the heavy metal concentrations in the river.

Beautiful Big Waves

Raging sea, big, crushing waves, amazing power of nature! 

Giant Squid, Once A Myth, Today A Reality

The giant squid (genus: Architeuthis) is a deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae, represented by as many as eight species. Giant squid can grow to a tremendous size (see Deep-sea gigantism): recent estimates put the maximum size at 13 metres (43 ft) for females and 10 metres (33 ft) for males from caudal fin to the tip of the two long tentacles (second only to the colossal squid at an estimated 14 metres (46 ft), one of the largest living organisms). The mantle is about 2 metres (6.6 ft) long (more for females, less for males), and the length of the squid excluding its tentacles is about 5 metres (16 ft). There have been claims of specimens measuring 20 metres (66 ft) or more, but no giant squid of such size has been scientifically documented.

The first photographs of a live giant squid in its natural habitat were taken on September 30, 2004, by Tsunemi Kubodera (National Science Museum of Japan) and Kyoichi Mori (Ogasawara Whale Watching Association). Their teams had worked together for nearly two years to accomplish this. They used a five-ton fishing boat and only two crew members. The images were created on their third trip to a known sperm whale hunting ground 970 kilometres (600 mi) south of Tokyo, where they had dropped a 900-metre (3,000 ft) line baited with squid and shrimp. The line also held a camera and a flash. After over 20 tries that day, an 8-metre (26 ft) giant squid attacked the lure and snagged its tentacle. The camera took over 500 photos before the squid managed to break free after four hours. The squid's 5.5-metre (18 ft) tentacle remained attached to the lure. Later DNA tests confirmed the animal as a giant squid.

In Melbourne museum 

The existence of the ‘colossal squid’ has been suspected for many decades, since arms from the creature have occasionally been recovered from the stomachs of sperm whales. But it wasn’t until an actual specimen was caught near Antarctica (picture above) that the reality of this new type of squid was brought home to scientists.

The specimen is larger than any previously seen giant squid, and it is only a young one, just two-thirds grown.

This squid has one of the largest beaks known of any squid, and seems to have more muscles attached to its tentacles. It also has unique swivelling hooks on the clubs at the ends of its tentacles. All of these things make it a very deadly predator.

It seems there are sea monsters after all!

The Swamp

A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp forests and "transitional" or shrub swamps. The water of a swamp may be fresh water, brackish water or seawater.

In North America, swamps are usually regarded as including a large amount of woody vegetation, but elsewhere this may not necessarily apply, such as in African swamps dominated by papyrus. By contrast, a marsh in North America is a wetland without woody vegetation, or elsewhere, a wetland without woody vegetation which is shallower and has less open water surface than a swamp. A mire (or quagmire) is a low-lying wetland of deep, soft soil or mud that sinks underfoot with large algae covering the water's surface.