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Our oceans contain the greatest diversity of life on Earth. From the freezing polar regions to the warm waters of the tropics and deep sea hydrothermal vents to shallow seagrass beds, marine organisms abound. By donating to Oceanswell, you are helping us do what we do best – explore, discover, protect, educate and give the oceans a voice. No amount is too little and your support is greatly appreciated.

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📅 REMINDER!

We are still accepting applications for our Conservation Social Science course! If you are interested in applying, head to http://bit.ly/SocialScienceCourseReg.

If you have already applied, please send us an email to [email protected] with your name and email IDs.

Do you want to learn how to study the behaviours of the #whales and #dolphins around our island home? Understand how to photo-identify them and help our database grow?

Then join our field season as a #VolunteerFieldIntern at http://bit.ly/FieldInternAdvert2023!

Deadline: 2nd February 2023

Portuguese man o’ wars are best known for their venomous sting. But did you know that they are actually a colony of animals rather than a single organism? Find out more: https://www.instagram.com/p/CnxHfS7I0Jw/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Illustrated by Neha Tennekoon

Have you applied yet? If you did, please send us an email with your name and email address to [email protected] so we can reach out to you!

If you still haven’t sent in your application, apply soon at: http://bit.ly/SocialScienceCourseReg

Deadline: 27th January

We are back with our Marine Megafauna Mondays, in a new and improved format! To share the joys of the ocean with more people, our posts will now be in all three languages - English, Sinhala and Tamil!

Illustrated by: Neha Tennekoon

Have you ever seen a blue glaucus while out at sea

Have you ever seen a blue glaucus while out at sea? The blue glaucus, also known as the blue sea dragon, sea swallow or blue angel, is a species of nudibranch. It’s a pelagic creature that is sometimes found floating in the open ocean. To learn more, check out this week’s Marine Megafauna Monday!
The small but mighty blue glaucus doesn’t necessarily fear predators larger than themselves and are known to viciously attack Portuguese man o’ wars, an animal that is larger and that possesses a pretty venomous sting. The glaucus can extract this venom and store it in its finger-like appendages for later use - to scare away any predators! How incredibly crafty is that?
ඔබ කවදා හෝ දවසක බ්ලූ ග්ලව්කස්කු දැක තිබෙනවාද? නියුඩිබ්‍රාන්ච් ජීවී විශේෂයට අයත් බ්ලූ ග්ලව්කස්, නිල් මුහුදු මකරා, සී ස්වොලොව්, බ්ලූ ඒන්ජල් යන යම් වලින් ද හඳුන්වනු ලබනවා. විවෘත සාගර පද්ධතියට අයත් වන මොවුන් ඇතැම් අවස්ථාවල දී විවෘත සාගරය තුළ පාවෙමින් සිටින අවස්ථා දැකගත හැකිය. මේ පිළිබඳ වැඩි විස්තර දැනගන්න “සාගර ජීවී සඳුදා” සමඟ එකතු වෙන්න.
මෙම කුඩා එහෙත් අපූරු නිල් මුහුදු මකරුන් තමන්ගේ ශරීර ප්‍රමාණයට වඩා විශාල විලෝපික ජීවීන් හට එතරම් බියක් දක්වන්නේ නැහැ. ඉතා විෂ සහිත දළයක් ඇති, මොවුන්ට වඩා ශරීර ප්‍රමාණයෙන් විශාල ජීවියෙක් වන පෘතුගීසි මෑන් ඔෆ් වෝ(ර්) නම් ජීවීයා හට පහර දී, ඔවුන්ගේ දළයෙහි ඇති විෂ උරාගෙන ඒවා තමන්ගේ ශරීරයෙහි එක්රැස් කොට තබා ගැනීමට මෙම ජීවීයා සමත්කම් දක්වනවා. මොවුන් මෙම විෂ පසුව භාවිතා කිරීම සඳහා මෙලෙස රැස් කර තබාගන්නා බවයි සඳහන් වෙන්නෙ. ඒ හැකියාව මේ ජීවීන් සතුව පවතින සුවිශේෂීම හැකියාවක්.
கடலில் இருக்கும்போது “நீல நிற கிளாக்கஸை” நீங்கள் எப்போதாவது பார்த்திருக்கிறீர்களா? நீலக் கடல் டிராகன், கடல் விழுங்குதல் அல்லது நீல தேவதை என்றும் அழைக்கப்படும் நீல கிளாக்கஸ், “நுடிபிராஞ்ச்” வகையாகும். இது ஒரு பெலஜிக் உயிரினம், இது சில நேரங்களில் திறந்த கடலில் மிதக்கிறது. மேலும் இந்த உயிரினத்தை பற்றி அறிய, இந்த வார மரைன் மெகாபவுனா திங்கட்கிழமையைப் பார்க்கவும்!

📅 REMINDER! We are still accepting applicatio

📅 REMINDER!
We are still accepting applications for our Conservation Social Science course happening from the 20th-24th February. Take a look at our post for a brief breakdown of what we will cover. If you are interested in applying for a fully-funded position at this 5-day residential course, head to bit.ly/SocialScienceCourseReg or click on ‘Social Science Course Registration’.
If you have already applied, please send us an email to opportunities@oceanswell.org as a few of the applications we received did not have an email address.
This course is offered as part of an ongoing collaboration between Oceanswell, Ocean University of Sri Lanka, the Zoological Society of London, NOVA University Lisbon and Ashoka University, and is funded by the Bertarelli Foundation.
Apply soon so you don’t miss this amazing opportunity!
Deadline to apply: 27 January 2023
#ConservationSocialScienceCourse #ConservationSocialScience #SocialScience #SriLanka #MarineConservation

Do you want to learn how to study the behaviours o

Do you want to learn how to study the behaviours of the whales and dolphins (and other creatures we may see) around our island home? Understand how to photo-identify them and help our database grow? Work with a research team and expand your marine biology knowledge? Then apply to join us for our 2023 field season as a volunteer field intern!
We are setting sail on our 10th field season from the 16th of February to the 11th of March and we are on the lookout for 2 Sri Lankan field interns to help us conduct our field surveys and work on our photo-identification database post-field work (11th March till mid-April. If you are interested in applying for this position, head to bit.ly/FieldInternAdvert2023 or click on the link in our bio titled ‘Opportunities’ for more details.
Please share far and wide and help us get the word out!
Deadline to apply: 02 February 2023
#VolunteerFieldIntern #FieldIntern #SriLankanBlueWhaleProject #FieldSeason10 #Volunteers #ResearchOpportunities #MarineConservation #Ocean #SriLanka #Opportunities

Portuguese man o’ wars are best known for their

Portuguese man o’ wars are best known for their venomous sting. But did you know that they are actually a colony of animals rather than a single organism? Find out more in this week’s Marine Megafauna Monday!
These tropical beasts are so named because their pneumatophore, the gas filled bladder on the top of their bodies resembles a 19th century Portuguese warship. Their sting is extremely painful to humans and swimming is strongly advised against when there are large numbers of them floating in the open ocean. Even dead, washed up man o’ wars can sting so our best advice is to steer clear whenever possible!
To learn more about these beautiful but dangerous creatures, check out our Ocean Creature Feature episode on them by heading to www.oceanswell.org/ocean-creature-feature or by clicking the link in our bio titled ‘Ocean Creature Feature’.
පෘතුගීසි මෑන් ඔෆ් වෝ(ර්) ඔවුන්ගේ විෂ සහිත දළය නිසාම ඉතා ප්‍රසිද්ධියට පත් වූ ජීවියෙක්. ඔබ දන්නවාද ඔවුන් සැබැවින්ම එක් තනි ජීවියෙක් නොවන ජීවීන් කොලනියක් බව? එහෙනම් මේ සතියේ සාගර ජීවී සඳුදා තුළින් අපි හොයා බලමු පෘතුග්‍රීසි මෑන් ඔෆ් වෝ(ර්) ජීවීන් ගැන.
මෙම නිවර්තන කලාපීය ජීවීන්ගේ ශරීරයේ ඉහළ කොටසෙහි පවතින වායු පිරුණු රවුම් හැඩැති ව්‍යුහය නිසා සහ මෙම ව්‍යුහය 19 වැනි ශතවර්ෂයට අයත් පෘතුගීසි යුධ නැවක හැඩය ගන්නා නිසා මෙම ජීවීන්ට මේ නම ලැබී තිබෙනවා. ඔවුන් සතුව තිබෙන දළය ඉතා විෂ සහිත බැවින්, එය මිනිසෙකුගේ ශරීරයෙහි ස්පර්ෂ වීමෙකින් ඉතා තද වේදනාවක් හටගනු ලබනවා. මේ හේතුව නිසාම මේ ජීවීන් බහුලව දැකගත හැකි සාගර ප්‍රදේශ වල පිහිනීම නොකළ යුතු බවට තරයේ අවවාද කර තිබෙනවා. වෙරළට ගොඩගසා ඇති පෘතුගීසි මෑන් ඔෆ් වෝ(ර්) ජීවියෙකු සතුව පවා මෙම විෂ නොනැසී අන්තර්ගත වී තිබෙන නිසා, අපිත් අවවාද කරන්නෙ කිසි විටෙකත් මේ ජීවීන් ස්පර්ෂ කිරීමෙන් වැලකී ඉන්න කියලා.
ඉතිං මේ අපූරු, එහෙත් විෂ සහිත ජීවීයා ගැන තවදුරටත් විස්තර, අපගේ නිළ වෙබ් අඩවියෙහි “”Ocean Creature Feature” දිගුව (www.oceanswell.org/ocean-creature-feature) වෙත යාමෙන් ලබාගන්න පුළුවන්. එහෙම නැත්නම් මෙම ලිපියේ ශීර්ෂපාඨය මත ඇති දිගුව හරහාත් වැඩි විස්තර ලබා ගැනීමේ හැකියාව තියෙනවා.
போத்துக்கீச சொறி மீன் அவற்றின் விஷக் கடிக்கு மிகவும் பிரபலமானவை. ஆனால் அவை உண்மையில் ஒரு உயிரினத்தை விட விலங்குகளின் காலனி என்பது உங்களுக்குத் தெரியுமா? இந்த வார மரைன் மெகாபவுனா திங்கட்கிழமையில் இதை பற்றி மேலும் அறிவோம்!

We are back with our Marine Megafauna Mondays, in

We are back with our Marine Megafauna Mondays, in a new and improved format! To share the joys of the ocean with more people, our posts will now be in all three languages - English, Sinhala and Tamil!!
Our first Marine Megafauna Monday species for 2023, is the largetooth sawfish, one of the three species of sawfish found in Sri Lankan waters. This species and its relatives - narrow and green sawfish - were first recorded a century ago, but their numbers have since declined. Sawfish can be easily identified by their protruding rostrums, the beak shaped structure on the front of their bodies, which also gives them their name.
Sawfish, also known as carpenter sharks, are a rare and threatened species of ray, who, like many other species of sharks and rays, are targeted for their fins.
අලුත් අවුරුද්දෙ අලුත් විදියකට “සාගර ජීවී සඳුදා” අරගෙන අපි ආයෙත් ආවා. සාගරයේ ඇති සුන්දරත්වය හැම කෙනෙක් එක්කම බෙදාහදා ගන්න දැන් සිංහල, ඉංග්‍රීසි සහ දෙමළ භාෂා ත්‍රිත්වයෙන්ම ඔබ සමඟ තොරතුරු බෙදාගන්න අපි සූදානම්.
2023 අලුත් අවුරුද්දෙ අපි මුලින්ම කතා කරන්නෙ ලාරජේටූත් දැති මෝරා ගැන. දැති මෝරුන් ජීවීන් විශේෂ තුනක් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අවට මුහුදු කලාපයෙන් හඳුනාගෙන තිබෙනවා. ලාරජේටූත් දැති මෝරා ඇතුළුව නැරෝ දැති මෝරා සහ ග්‍රීන් දැති මෝරා යන ජීවීන් මුලින්ම වාර් තා වුණේ සියවස කට කලින්. නමුත් එවක පටන් ඔවුන්ගේ ගහණය අඛණ්ඩව පහළ යමින් පවතිනවා. හිස ප්‍රදේශයෙන් ආරම්භ වී ඉදිරියට නෙරා ඇති උල් හැඩැති කියතක් බඳු ශරීර ව්‍යුහය නිසා මෙම ජීවීන් ඉතා පහසුවෙන් අනෙකුත් ජීවීන්ගෙන් වෙන්කොට හඳුනාගත හැකියි. මෙම කියතක හැඩය නිසාම තමයි ඔවුන්ට දැති මෝරා කියන නම පටබැඳිල තියෙන්නෙ.
මොවුන් කාපෙන්ටෙර් මෝරා (carpenter shark) යන නාමයෙන් ද හඳුන්වනු ලබයි. අනෙකුත් මෝරුන් සහ මඩු මාළුන් විශේෂ මෙන්ම මොවුන්ගේ ද වරල් ලබා ගැනීම උදෙසා සිදු කෙරෙන ධීවර ක්‍රියා හේතුවෙන් දැති මෝරුන් දුර්ලභ සහ දැඩි ලෙස වඳවී යාමේ තර්ජනයට ලක් වී තිබෙන ජීවීන් කාණ්ඩයක් ලෙස හඳුනාගෙන තිබෙනවා.
புதிய மற்றும் மேம்படுத்தப்பட்ட வடிவத்தில் எங்கள் “மரைன் மெகாபோவுனா திங்கட்கிழமைகளுடன்” நாங்கள் திரும்பியுள்ளோம்! கடலின் மகிழ்ச்சியை அதிகமான மக்களுடன் பகிர்ந்து கொள்ள, எங்கள் பதிவுகள் இனி ஆங்கிலம், சிங்களம் மற்றும் தமிழ் ஆகிய மூன்று மொழிகளிலும் இருக்கும்!!
Continued in the comments…

📢 EXCITING OPPORTUNITY! Are you a Sri Lankan

📢 EXCITING OPPORTUNITY!
Are you a Sri Lankan early career researcher interested in the human dimensions of conservation? Join us for a 5-day residential conservation social science course from 20-24th February 2023!
To learn more and apply head to bit.ly/SocialScienceCourseReg or click on the link in our bio titled ‘Social Science Course’!
This course is offered as part of an ongoing collaboration between Oceanswell, Ocean University of Sri Lanka, the Zoological Society of London, NOVA University Lisbon and Ashoka University, and is funded by the Bertarelli Foundation. Successful applicants will be provided a full scholarship to attend.
Our expert team of resource people for this course includes Dr Claire Collins, Dr Asha de Vos, Prof M. F. M. Fairoz, Dr Ana Nuno, Dr Divya Karnad, Sneha Satheesh and Lasuni Gule Godage.
Deadline to apply: 27th January 2023
@ashadevos @clariscollins @oceanuniversityofsri @officialzsl @universidade_nova_lisboa @ashokauniv @bertarellifoundation @lasunigodage
#socialscience #socialsciencecourse #marineconservation #conservation #fisheries #srilanka

Say hello to our volunteer illustrator, Neha Tenne

Say hello to our volunteer illustrator, Neha Tennekoon! 👋
Neha, aged 18, is currently studying art at school and is hoping to start a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2024. Her work includes digital illustrations, animations, book designs, and layouts. She is also very interested in graphic design, character design, and comics.
As a long-term follower of Oceanswell’s work, Neha reached out to support our outreach efforts, particularly offering her artistic skills. Having seen her incredible talent, we jumped on the offer 🙂 Neha will be creating the illustrations for the next phase of our ‘Marine Megafauna Mondays’ series so follow along to see her beautiful drawings! If you want to see more of her other work, check out her Instagram page @neharts_.

Seabirds are a part of the amazing marine life fou

Seabirds are a part of the amazing marine life found in and around our oceans. The term ‘Seabird’ refers to any bird species that spends a significant part of its life in a marine environment - feeding and breeding. This includes species like terns, albatrosses, gulls, storks, and phalaropes. Seabirds depend on the ocean for their survival, and their populations are significantly impacted by declines in ocean health. Because of this, seabird population data is often used by scientists as a barometer for ocean health.
Check out the slides to learn more about what makes seabirds special, the threats they face, their relationship with humans and some species you can hope to see if you head out from southern Sri Lanka.
#seabirds #marinemegafauna #tern #albatross #phalaropes #gulls #storks #srilanka

It’s the start of a brand new year and to start