Issue #30 of Underwater Photography magazine is available for download from their website.  This month’s issue has reviews of the Subal and Sealux housings for the very popular D200, as well as a very nice article about photographing sharks in movement by Wetpixel’s own Dr. Alex Mustard (and much more!).

As part of Scuba Diving Magazine’s Scuba InTenCity Tour 2006, Wetpixel’s Eric Cheng and James Wiseman (and many others!) will be giving short seminars on underwater digital photography in cities across the United States.  Eric will be speaking at the Dolphin Scuba Center in Sacramento, CA, on May 6, 2006, and James will be in Plano, TX, on April 29.

Celebrating its 25th year, the annual California Beach Dive Photo Competition (CBDPC) is held every spring in Monterey, California by the Northern California Underwater Photographic Society (NCUPS). This is a one-day competition (ODC) where all photos must be taken from beach dives along the Monterey coastline (APMBTFBDATMC). Entries are accepted in both film and digital formats.  Dates this year are June 10-11, 2006.

Wetpixel was down for much of this morning and early afternoon due to stray copepods in the system. We apologize to those of you who missed your morning fix!  We’re back up now and are trying to track down those elusive ‘pods…

Our very own Leslie Harris (Wetpixel moderator) has just had an entirely new genus named after her through a newly described critter called Leslibetaeus coibita.  Leslie traveled to Panama to collect the cute little guys and has some nice photos of them.  There is a paper available on Zootaxa. We’re SO proud of her hard work and enthusiasm.

And we thought that the only critters she had an interest in were worms!

We’ve just received photos of the new Nexus Canon 1Ds Mk II housing from our sponsor (and Nexus distributor), Marine Camera Distributors.

It has an adjustable viewer optic that is easily rotated to adjust to your needs. ... The dry weight of the housing is 6lbs. which is very light. With the camera, battery and housing the weight is 9.25 lbs...

Sometimes, new products get buried in expo reports.  At ADEX, I handled Seacam’s new strobe and Nikon D200 underwater housing. While I was taking pictures of the products, Harald said, “I don’t even have photos of these, yet!  It seems North America always gets them first.”

If you’re interested in seeing the new Seacam D200 housing or strobe, check out the gear page of the ADEX report. 

A research conducted by Manta Pacific Research Foundation and the University of Hawaii has concluded that populations of Manta Rays along the Hawaiian Islands are vulnerable. This research led to a legislation that has just passed at Hawaii’s Committee on Water, Land, and Ocean Resources.

The Resolution calls for the establishment of a working group to protect the batoidea order, including manta rays, from poaching and fishing in Hawaiian waters. Specifically, it directs the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) with researching and pursuing all possible means of protecting manta rays, and drafting proposed administrative rules to prevent poaching, fishing, or killing manta rays.

Ultralight has built a new part that attaches to the neck section beneath the ball of any ULCS base adapter or arm segment, forming an excellent way to mount accessory focus lights.

This new part, called AC-NB (accessory neck ball), comes as two parts that encircle the neck of every other ULCS parts.  The base ball is adjustable, allowing 360 degree movement of the spotting light adapter.

Some of you may have noticed that POTW #128 didn’t go online as expected earlier this week.  It’s online now, so go on over and submit your best images taken at night!

We’ve been getting some fantastic POTW entries.  Remember: the POTW contest doesn’t work unless you vote each week. Winners receive a free Ikelite PC light!