Oceans Research Institute

🔍 Have you ever tried one of these methods, or do you have a favourite way to explore intertidal life? We’d love to hear it below! 👇

There are so many ways to study these ecosystems — from random quadrat sampling and drone transects to photographic surveys and timed searches — each offering a slightly different window into the same shoreline.

Our students get hands-on with the quadrat and transect method — one of the classic ways to measure biodiversity across the intertidal zone.

But, as the saying goes, there’s more than one road that leads to Rome! 🌍

Each little tube is the home of a worm that builds and cements it together with thousands of others, forming these reef-like structures. They help stabilise sediment, create shelter for small creatures, and even filter the surrounding water.

During our egg case analysis shift at the Hartenbos river mouth, the recent opening created some incredible low-water conditions — and our students came across this fascinating find! 🪱🌊

What looks like a coral head is actually a dense colony of tube worms.

These nets are not barriers, but fishing gear that kill sharks, dolphins, turtles & rays. He later moved into deeper water, but was still not fully out of danger.

Read more here: 🔗 www.oceans-research.com/white-shark-...

✨ Maya – Tagged in April with the help of our students, she’s remained close to Algoa Bay, showing strong site fidelity.

✨ James – After 2 months of silence, he resurfaced near Richards Bay, dangerously close to the shark board nets.

White shark tracking 2025: first 7 months - Oceans Research White shark tracking 2025: first 7 months

🦈 White shark tracking update (Jan–July 2025) 🌊

In collaboration with the Shark Research Foundation, SAIAB, and Stellenbosch University, our program has followed two very different shark stories this year.

The highlight of the evening was catching (and safely releasing) a stunning leopard catshark (Poroderma pantherinum). These small, nocturnal sharks are endemic to South Africa’s coastal waters and are known for their striking leopard-like pattern.

#OceansResearch #NightFishing #LeopardCatshark

🌙 Tonight, we swapped sun caps for headlamps and joined Justin from Saltlife Mossel Bay for a night fishing adventure. The swell was heavy, and the chill set in, but the excitement kept us warm!

This end-of-week routine builds teamwork, attention to detail, and a real understanding of the responsibility that comes with working at sea. Caring for Triton isn’t just maintenance; it’s a skill set every future marine scientist needs. ⚓🧽🌊

#MarineScience #FieldSkills #ResearchVessel

Buckets, brushes and plenty of elbow grease turn into a practical lesson in vessel care—teaching not only how to scrub a deck but how to respect and maintain the boat that makes our science possible.

After a full week of salt spray, sandy boots, and long research days, our students roll up their sleeves to give Triton a well-deserved deep clean.

Discoveries like this turn a simple egg-case walk into a mini marine-biology lesson—proof that the shoreline always has a few surprises waiting. 🌊💛

Cowfish are relatives of puffers but belong to the boxfish family. Instead of scales, their bodies are protected by a rigid, hexagon-patterned “box” of fused bone plates. When the soft tissue decomposes, this tough outer shell remains, which is why it feels so hard and light in your hand.

An unexpected find on our elasmobranch egg-case survey 🥚➡️🐟

While searching the beach for shark and skate egg cases, our students spotted something unusual—a dried cowfish carapace.

They learned the essentials of piloting a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV): smooth navigation, steady camera work, and quick problem-solving.
Every joystick move is practice for exploring habitats and collecting vital data that help us understand and protect the ocean. 💙

#MarineScience #ROV #HandsOn

🌊 ROV Skills in Action 🌊
Today’s shift took our students beneath the surface—without even getting wet! 🎮🤿

Spotting these little capsules is always exciting for our students. Each one is a reminder of the marine life just offshore and the species that use our coastline as a nursery.

And if you’re really lucky, you might even come across a chimera (St Joseph shark) egg case—rare, but so, so special.

Mermaid’s purses are a favourite find along the windswept beaches of Mossel Bay 🌊🦈
After strong South Coast tides, egg cases from sharks, skates and rays wash ashore and settle in the sand and seaweed.

Despite the quiet bite, we still met a smoothhound shark, a zebra fish, and a dark shyshark—all safely released back to the big blue. 🌊🦈✨

Field skills ✔️
New connections ✔️
Ocean memories forever ✔️

#MarineScience #ShoreAngling #CatchAndRelease #OceanVibes

🤝 The best part? Collaboration. Local fishers shared tips, tricks, and generations of know-how, showing how community knowledge and research can reel in real science together.

🌬️🎣 Windy, wild & worth it!
Our students bundled up for a chilly day on the shoreline to try shore angling—a catch-and-release method used in marine science.

Dr Gennari’s work reinforces that sound science drives smart conservation—from deep genetic analyses to tracking the daily movements of endangered sharks.

#SharkScience #SASRS2025 #OceansResearch #MarineConservation #SharkTagging #AcousticTelemetry

🔹 Collaborative Insights – Multi-institution studies advancing understanding of shark behaviour, fishery overlap, and non-lethal management tools.

🔹 Molecular Taxonomy – Contributions to a nationwide effort to resolve the complex genetics of South Africa’s diverse catsharks, improving species identification and conservation.

🔹 Movement Ecology – Co-authored research revealing how acoustic telemetry identifies critical habitats and improves Marine Protected Area (MPA) effectiveness.

🔹 Key Talk – Use of passive acoustic telemetry on targeted and by-caught elasmobranch fishery species to inform future management strategies in South Africa – highlighting 11 years of tagging smoothhound and smooth hammerhead sharks to guide sustainable fisheries management.

🌊 Leading Shark Science at SASRS 2025 🌊

This week our Director Dr Enrico Gennari represented Oceans Research Institute at the 8th Southern African Shark & Ray Symposium with four scientific contributions showcasing the power of collaboration and long-term data:

This is how marine science and conservation work hand in hand—knowledge gained, ocean life protected. 🐟💙