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Request for Proposal (RFP): Turtle Conservation Centre Merchandise Strategy and Development
TOAF is seeking partners to support the development and implementation of a merchandise strategy for the Turtle Conservation Centre. The goal of this initiative is to create merchandise that raises awareness, builds a strong and engaged conservation community, and generates sustainable funding to support the TCC’s work.
Tracking our turtles: News from Nori, the green turtle
It has now been 75 days since Nori, the green turtle, was released into the wild waters of De Hoop Marine Protected Area. Since then, she has travelled an incredible 3 700km, averaging about 49km every single day.
Happy first birthday to our African penguin chicks, Ember and Echo!
This week, the Two Oceans Aquarium is celebrating the birthdays of African penguin chicks, Ember and Echo! Our first African penguin chicks in 10 years, they were welcomed to the Aquarium family in February last year.
Cape Town has another rare Antarctic visitor – a crabeater seal
An unusual visitor from Antarctica has been spotted along the Cape’s coastline this week. A female crabeater seal, a species seldom seen in South African waters, was initially sighted at Baden Powell Drive and later in the Strand area.
Help us save turtle hatchlings this stranding season
Turtle stranding season is coming up, and the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation’s Turtle Conservation Centre is preparing to receive hundreds of tiny hatchlings for rehabilitation. Every year from late February, baby turtles strand on beaches along the Western Cape coastline after hatching on the coast of northern KwaZulu-Natal. These patients are rescued by our incredible Turtle Rescue Network and brought to us for treatment.
Turtle Road Trip 2026 showcased the power of community
In anticipation of turtle stranding season, our Turtle Conservation Centre embarks on a road trip along the Garden Route to raise awareness, distribute rescue resources, and prepare the Turtle Rescue Network.
Birdmouth wrasse
Birdmouth wrasses are small, elongated fish that display strong sexual dimorphism (males and females look different). Males are vivid blue-green with yellowed fins. Their snouts grow disproportionately long, often with bulbous protrusions. Females are significantly smaller, with comparatively drab colouration. They are yellow-brown with white underparts. Their snouts are also elongated, but more slender than the male’s. Birdmouth wrasses use their elongated snouts, which have small mouths on the end, to prey on small invertebrates in cracks and crevices. They are abundant around Indian Ocean reefs, particularly on the African coast.Short-spined urchin
Short-spined urchins are large, well-rounded sea urchins, completely covered in short, white spines. Long tube-feet extend well beyond their spines.They inhabit beds of seaweed, where they use their tiny tube-feet to camouflage themselves by holding straps of seaweed, rocks or other debris over their bodies (as pictured). This behaviour gives them their international name of “collector urchin”.Short-spined urchins are opportunistic feeders, and feed voraciously on algae, seagrass and bacterial mats. Their behaviour is unaffected by the day-night cycle, and this is unusual amongst urchin species. This unusual behaviour has made short-spined urchins useful for rehabilitating coral reefs which have been infested by alien seaweed species.These urchins are nutritious and edible – regularly preyed upon by humans, octopuses and puffer fish.Boxfish
The yellow boxfish may be small, but it packs a punch! This little fish is the type species for the genus Ostracion – this means it is the “base” species for the boxfish family and is permanently the first association with the genus. Ostracion means “little box” and describes its cube-like body. Its species name, cubicum, refers to its boxy shape.
Cape knifejaw
The Cape knifejaw is a dark, oval shaped fish that can grow to almost a meter in length. Their colouration is generally a dark grey, with lighter coloured mouths and underparts. Juvenile Cape knifejaws are bright yellow, with black, vertical bands over their eye and in front of their tail. The knifejaw’s teeth are fused to form a beak-like structure. They are omnivores and feed on a variety of food sources around near-shore reefs. Their beak is used to break up sea squirts, sponges and red algae. Cape knifejaws become territorial when they mature and form pairs that hunt together. The Cape knifejaw is endemic to South Africa, ranging from False Bay to Thukela. Cape knifejaws are on the SASSI Red list.Jacopever
The Jacopever is a distinctive fish, its colour is highly variable, usually with pink-red blotches and irregular dark patches that form excellent camouflage in deep water. Their short, but stock bodies are protected by sharp spines along their dorsal fins and pectoral fins. It is an ambush predator that uses its cryptic colouration and the darkness of the depths at which it lives to ambush smaller fish and invertebrates that swim past it. Its spines contain venom that is used to protect the jacopever from larger predators. Venom is known to be harmful to humans. This fish lives at great depths on sandy continental slopes, ranging from 50m to over 1km in water depth. Jacopevers are widely distributed throughout the Atlantic, ranging from South Africa to Venezuaela, Iceland and the Mediterranean Sea. The jacopever is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN. Due to its procurement as bycatch of unsustainable trawling methods, this is a SASSI Red listed species in South Africa and should not be eaten.Baardman
The baardman, sometimes called the slender baardman, is a dark brown fish, with a curved dorsal fin and short barb on the bottom of its chin. As a juvenile it displays large white patches on its dorsal surface that darken with age. The baardman hunts invertebrates, such as polychaete, worms on sandy sea floors. The baardman inhabits the western Indian Ocean, feeding on ocean-floor invertebrates. It is a resident species, rarely venturing far from its home territory – it often establishes a home cave in limestone or sandstone reefs. The baardman is on the WWF SASSI Red list.