After a five-year study of catches in Indonesian fish markets, twenty new species of sharks and rays have been discovered. Fourteen species have not yet been described in scientific journals, and the remaining six include the Bali Catshark and Jimbaran Shovelnose Ray.

The study involved sampling over twenty-two different trips across eleven ports in Indonesia, and was designed to help improve the management of shark species in the area. With the number of Wetpixel members traveling to this popular destination in recent months, a few may have inadvertently photographed some of these new species.

Underwater photography housing and accessories manufacturer Aquatica has announced a new optical glass lens for its macro ports.

The BK-7 mineral glass lens has anti-reflection and scratch resistant coatings, will be offered standard starting March 2007, and can be purchased alone to replace the old macro port lens for approximately USD$89.

The press release provides additional details and contact information.

Mirko Zanni is a Swiss-born photographer who’s been diving since 1989. Though he was always interested in photography, it was several years before Zanni began shooting underwater.

Despite his relative late start, in 2006, his book Water Vision was awarded the coveted International Prize for Book of Underwater Images at the 33rd World Festival of Underwater Pictures in Antibes. Joining the ranks of Tony Wu and William Tan (2001), and Andrea and Antonella Ferrari (2004), Zanni is one of only a handful of people to have achieved this recognition. Clearly, therefore, you’d expect Water Vision to be good. In my opinion, Water Vision isn’t all that good. Rather, it’s phenomenal.

Absolutely phenomenal… (continue reading for more)

Wetpixel sponsor Marine Camera Distributors has provided photos of a new Nexus dome port designed specifically for the new Tokina 10-17mm zoom fisheye lens.

The 4.75” diameter coated glass dome DP1017-10, estimated to sell for USD$690, matches the 180° to 100° angle of coverage of the lens, and is ”another in the line of lens specific ports” offered by Nexus.

Continue reading to view the photos…

Jason Heller of DivePhotoGuide.com had the opportunity to travel to Illinois, USA for the 2007 Our World Underwater dive show.

As the presenter for the Wetpixel and DivePhotoGuide International Photo & Video Competition, Jason mingled with well-known divers and company representatives prior to the announcement of the winning photos.

Continue to Jason’s coverage for a summary of the event, and be sure to discuss the results and congratulate some of the winners in the ongoing OWU ‘07 competition thread in the forums…

A local Dominican Republic society against animal cruelty (SODOPRECA) is gathering signatures in support of a petition to the president of Dominican Republic and the Environmental Minister. This petition is requesting that the government approve a ban on the import of dolphins into the country.

In a related Press Release issued on January 18, 2007, Richard O’Barry, a marine mammal specialist with the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition, referring to the capture of twelve dolphins while the rest of the pod was butchered, stated ”This was one of the most violent dolphin captures that I have ever witnessed in my 45 years of working with dolphins.”

To request to be added to the petition, send an email to:
Marcos A, Polanco, Director Ejecutivo de SODOPRECA, .

An underwater photograph of Mastigias sp. jellyfish in Jellyfish Lake, Palau, taken by Wetpixel Editor Eric Cheng, is a winner in the Wilderness Photography category of this year’s National Geographic Traveller and Photo District News’s World in Focus professional photography contest.

The winning images are scheduled to be featured in the February 2007 edition of Photo District News, and will also be displayed in November at the World in Focus Gallery at PhotoPlus Expo in New York.

Be sure to check out Eric’s and other winning images in the World in Focus 2007 gallery.

Canon today announced the 10fps EOS-1D Mark III, the ”world’s fastest digital SLR.” With a new 10.1 megapixel, 1.3x crop CMOS sensor, the camera is the first Canon dSLR to possess a Live View 3” LCD and Digic III. The Integrated Cleaning System first released in the Digital Rebel XTi is also present.

”The EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR is the product of a “reset to zero” design process; absolutely everything was re-evaluated,” and new features include ‘highlight tone priority,’ to extend the dynamic range of highlights by a stop (exciting for underwater photographers), and ‘silent drive mode,’ for reducing shutter noise.

The camera is predicted to be available in April 2007 and sell for USD$3999.

Daniel Emerson, former Product Director of K2 Sports, has been chosen to succeed co-founder Barrett Heywood as the CEO of Light & Motion, and will also join the Board of Directors.

Mr. Emerson says ”I am thrilled to be joining the Light & Motion team. It is rare to find such a talented team in a company of this size. Light and Motion is well positioned to become the market leader in high performance bike lights and intelligently designed, ergonomic underwater video and photo tools.”

Continue reading for the entire press release…

Amphibico has announced effective immediately that they are shipping the new Dive Buddy EVO HD SE7 (Special Edition) housing for the Sony HDR-HC5 and HDR-HC7. Besides the usual electronic controls, this “special edition” housing incorporates a 3.5” color lcd monitor back. This monitor back, first announced at DEMA for the Dive Buddy EVO HD SE,has a resolution of 480x234 and is PAL/NTSC autoswitching. It runs on 4 AA batteries. The housing is priced at US$2395 and is available right now.