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The theme for World Ocean Day this year is "The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods." The idea behind this day is to look at how human actions impact life beneath the waves, and how this, in turn, affects the lives and livelihoods of the billions of people that depend on the ocean's resources. We see the effects of this every day at the Two Oceans Aquarium, where we share a precinct with a working commercial harbour, eco-tourism businesses, and wildlife like ocean sunfish, dolphins and seabirds - and we get to see the results of the interactions of these systems. It's a delicate balance!

Many tiny turtle hatchlings become stranded on the Western Cape's coastline each year - only a few months old, these are hatchlings that begin life on the beaches of northern KwaZulu-Natal. Whether it's due to swallowing plastic and getting infected, being attacked by a predator or simply bad luck, these hatchlings are the ones that, for whatever reason, get ejected from the warm Agulhas Current and struggle to survive in the cold Cape waters.

Jellies are pretty alien, right? Well, our resident jellyfish expert Krish Lewis is here to answer all your burning questions about these weird animals, and how we care for, breed, clone and study them at the Two Oceans Aquarium in an exciting online Q&A, with host Kirshia Govender, on 23 June 2021.

Last week, we bid farewell to a Two Oceans Aquarium legend, Iain Robertson, the long-time PADI scuba instructor here at the Aquarium, as he has retired. Many of us, and certainly many of you, have fond memories of taking our first breaths underwater under the cheerful care and instruction of Iain. A generation of scuba divers has you to thank Iain - we'll miss you!Iain's relationship with the Aquarium began long ago, when Iain became a behind-the-scenes volunteer and diver soon after the Aquarium opened to the public for the first time, more than two decades ago. It wasn't long before Iain's Scuba School became a popular fixture here, with hundreds of people completing their PADI Open Water courses with Iain, and even more experiencing the underwater world for the first time thanks to Iain. Iain has been a professional PADI instructor for a long time, in fact, he's one of South Africa's longest active instructors, and we are certain that the underwater community will still be hearing from this legend.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially if you're a growing and healing sea turtle! Food is one of the biggest expenses in our turtle rehabilitation centre, but it's an expense that's well worth it when we see a previously lethargic animal perk up, or a tiny hatchling grow to ten times its size by the time of its release back into the ocean. Let's see what goes into the breakfast preparation for these precious animals!

Parents with young children know that the shiny exhibits, lights sparkling off of fast-swimming fish, and the "unique" smell of penguins can be quite distracting for a child - can you imagine what the Aquarium must be like for a dog? Turns out, this sensory wonderland is the perfect place to train search and rescue dogs, which need to be ready to face any distraction!Recently, the K9 Search & Rescue Association of the Western Cape made use of the Two Oceans Aquarium for some after-hours dog training!

Followers of the Two Oceans Aquarium's social media accounts have almost certainly see video clips of our rockhopper penguins waddling about the Aquarium, wearing bring pink and blue "socks". You may be wondering, why?

Every sea turtle at the Two Oceans Aquarium is a rescue that is on the path of recovery. The goal is always to release these precious, endangered animals back into the wild as quickly as possible, but "quickly" is relative - sometimes healing can take years! For long-term residents of the I&J Ocean Exhibit, like Bob and Harry, it's easy to forget that these animals are actually undergoing constant care - so let's take a look at the progress of these two remarkable turtles, Harry and Bob.

Crabs belong to a group of animals called "decapods", literally ten-legged crustaceans which include other ocean dwellers like shrimp, prawns, crayfish and lobsters. Because of the diversity of the decapods, the word "crab" is often used to describe animals that have a similar appearance but are not closely related (similar to the situation with eels). True crabs, belonging to the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" - yup we don't get it either) - a family with more than 7 000 species! That means crabs have a greater species diversity than us mammals do.

We're all been there. You get up in the middle of the night to pee and stub your toes on literally everything. Fish might not have toes, but navigating in darkness is still a challenge they need to deal with.Despite the apparent difficulties of living in darkness, life flourishes in the ocean’s shadows. Fish that dwell in the caves, under ledges and behind rocks are no less wonderous than the bright and colourful species that roam the reefs by day. But to survive the daylight, and thrive at night, small nocturnal fish need some special adaptations...

Visitors to the Seapoint Promenade over the past few weeks may have noticed a new addition - a mural featuring our very own legend, Bob the green sea turtle, at the Pavilion Rotary Park. What you might not know is that the creator of this design is none other than our resident creative genius, Graphic Designer Jessica Sloan, who came up with the artwork after being approached by the Waterfront Rotaract, who went on to make it a reality!

Sharks might seem mysterious, but that's because they are hiding a secret identity - they are Ocean Superheroes. For 450 million years, sharks have kept the oceans thriving and healthy. During this time, other organisms from seagrass to snails, have adapted to thrive in an ecosystem that includes sharks. However, because of their undeserved bad reputation, people seem to turn a blind eye to the hundreds of millions of sharks that are killed by humans every year. it doesn't matter whether you're a shark lover or a shark hater, you are almost certainly dependent on a healthy biosphere and economy - and sharks are hugely important in protecting it. Let's find out how.