Save Our Seas Foundation

09/22/2026

Besides their sheer size, whale sharks are instantly recognisable by their intricate pattern of spots and stripes. Thought to serve as a form of camouflage, these markings are also unique to each individual — making them as useful for identification as a human fingerprint.

📷: Jonathan R. Green

Whale sharks and remoras? The ocean’s odd couple. Remoras are large, slender suckerfish, built for a life attached to something bigger — and in latching onto the ocean’s largest fish, they gain shelter and protection. But that’s not all; they also benefit from a constant food supply, picking up plankton as the whale shark filter-feeds, and clearing the shark of parasites and dead skin. This service to the shark is invaluable, the basis of their symbiotic relationship.

📷: Jake Wilton

While whale sharks are commonly seen filter-feeding by swimming forward with their mouths agape, ram feeding isn’t their only technique. They are also capable of suction feeding — remaining stationary within a productive prey patch and rhythmically pumping plankton-rich water across their gills.

📷: Acacia Johnson | © Save Our Seas Foundation

Ecotourism draws people into the world of the creatures they encounter — and those encounters call for responsible, ethical best practice. In Madagascar, where whale shark tourism is booming, SOSF project leader Stella Diamant has designed a code of conduct to improve interactions between tourists, boats and sharks, while positively impacting the livelihoods of local communities.

📷: Guy Stevens

09/22/2026

For nearly 20 years, Liesel Benjamin has watched over Muizenberg’s waters as a Shark Spotters Shark Spotter. Her story traces how the job, the ocean and public attitudes towards sharks have changed, and why she believes education remains key to protecting them.

At night, I was dreaming about sharks, neh. I was so nervous!” says Benjamin during a conversation in the temporary container offices at Muizenberg.   The glass doors brought in the current mood of the ocean, which once was only a few steps away for our beach spotters. Now, their view featured co...

09/21/2026

Wonder what a morning on the Bernam River looks like for Muhammad Irsyad Pishal?
By 6:00 a.m., hundreds of Critically Endangered Ranong guitarfish can be landed at a single jetty in Malaysia. Most will never reach a market. Instead, they are sorted as ‘trash fish’ and sent to become fishmeal.

It is 6:00 a.m. at the crack of dawn as my team and I, usually consisting of three to four persons, wake up and prepare for a day covered in fish juice. With eyelids heavy, and some of my teammates still groggy under the dark of night, we make our way down to the extensive […]

09/19/2026

Today is International Coastal Cleanup Day, an initiative dedicated to protecting our oceans. Worldwide, people are coming together to remove marine litter from beaches, rivers, lakes, and waterways.

Which of the 'Top 5 Beach Finds' did you find the most of on your cleanup today?

Illustrations by Kelsey Manners Dickson | © Save Our Seas Foundation

09/18/2026

It's the day after World Manta Day and the day before International Coastal Cleanup Day — so we're sharing a new study that speaks to both.
Led by researchers at our D'Arros Research Centre, the study found 12 types of microplastics in the secluded waters where reef manta rays feed daily. This raises urgent questions about the impact of this silent threat on the ocean's gentlest giants.

A new study, led by researchers based at the Save Our Seas Foundation D’Arros Research Centre (SOSF-DRC), has found 12 types of microplastic in the secluded waters where reef manta rays feed daily, raising questions about the impact of this silent threat to the ocean’s gentlest of giants.   For...

09/18/2026

A new study revealed that despite international policy changes, bans on shark finning have had no statistically significant impact on global trade flows. While the “null result” offers no simple victory for marine conservation, publishing the findings provides a critical reality check for environmental policy, and the need for enforcement at every scale.

There has been no significant change in global trade flows highlighting gaps in current regulations and enforcement

09/18/2026

"Just how I like it, straight from the belt."

Comic by Moha Arimura

09/17/2026

Happy World Manta Day!
Today we celebrate these enigmatic creatures, who swoop and glide with effortless grace from our reefs to our open oceans.

🎥: Simon Hilbourne | © Manta Trust
🎥: Henriette Grimmel | © Save Our Seas Foundation
🎥: Michael Scholl | © Save Our Seas Foundation

09/17/2026

A deep-sea catshark caught off Kerala’s coast has now been identified as a new species, highlighting the need for a better understanding of deep-sea biodiversity.

A deep-sea catshark caught off Kerala’s coast has now been identified as a new species, highlighting the need for better understanding of deep-sea biodiversity. In 2022, a team of scientists sifting through the bycatch of deep-sea shrimp trawlers came across a black, slender-bodied fish with an an...

09/17/2026

In this episode of World of Sharks, we travel to Cameroon with Ghofrane Labyedh, who shares her findings and stories from this coastline and the key lessons she's learned along the way. Her work here in 'miniature Africa' has helped uncover the diversity of sharks and rays found along Cameroon’s coastline and, crucially, put local fishers at the centre of their conservation.

Listen here:
https://saveourseas.com/worldofsharks/podcast/caring-for-cameroons-sharks-rays-and-people

📷: Hugues Karismatik