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Eel-tailed catfish

We spotted this eel-tailed catfish (Tandanus tandanus) in Lake Parramatta today. It is native to eastern Australia, also known as dewfish, freshwater catfish, jewfish, or tandan. As you can tell, we were lucky to see much of anything…

Tandanus tandanus in Lake Parramatta

Eel-tailed catfish (tandanus tandanus) checking out the BlueROV2

Posted by Undersearov on Wednesday, October 16, 2019
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AUV “Boaty McBoatface” Explores Poles

The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) “Boaty McBoatface” started its explorations in 2017 in the Arctic, exploring the Flichner Ice Shelf, measuring temperature, salinity and turbulence or mixing.

Full article at: BBC 13mar18

More recently, “Boaty McBoatface” headed to the Southern Ocean, collecting data that show Antarctic winds are linked to increasing ocean temperatures. Quite unexpected…

Video about the Southern Ocean excursion is available at: CNN.com 18jun19

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Natural underwater slinky

We don’t use the phrase “Just when I thought I had seen it all” because stories like this one are being shared around the globe:

Divers just found a giant natural slinky on the Great Barrier Reef

This tube-like structure measures over 2.4 metres (8 feet) in length was identified byJames Cook University’s Dr Blake Spady as the egg tube of the Diamondback Squid. The squid, which itself is around 2 metres in length, can lay over 40,000 eggs in one ‘slinky’. Sadly, she dies afterwards.

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Seahorse at Balmoral

Sea horses are surprisingly good at camouflaging themselves and are often hard to spot at first. We saw this one on the net of the Balmoral pool in Sydney:

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Remove fishing line from T200

We occasionally find fishing line wrapped around a thruster after a dive. Here are a few quick steps to removing it so you don’t burn out a motor.
If you need to access thrusters 1, 2, 3, or 4, start by removing the fairing covering the mounting bolts. Thrusters 5 and 6 can be accessed without this step.
Remove the four stainless hex bolts holding the thruster to the ROV frame.
Remove the four stainless screws holding the thruster nozzle. If the fishing line doesn’t come away easily at this point, continue disassembling.
Remove the two hex bolts holding the thruster nose cone in place.
Carefully turn the propeller until you see the grub screw holding the propeller and shaft to the motor. Loosen the grub screw with small hex wrench.
Gently pull the propeller shaft assembly away from the motor windings. You will feel resistance from the magnets
Gently unwind the fishing line from around the motor shaft.

Reassemble your T200 and ROV by following these steps in reverse.