Search
Tracking our turtles: Snacks and stopovers for Kai and Nori
Our Turtle Conservation Centre is currently tracking two rehabilitated turtles as they journey through the ocean. Let's catch up with Kai and Nori.
Tracking our turtles: Cruising the currents with Kai and Nori
Our Turtle Conservation Centre is currently tracking two rehabilitated and released turtles with very different stories. Kai, a juvenile loggerhead turtle, and Nori, a subadult green turtle, are both fitted with satellite tags that allow us to follow along on their journeys as they explore the ocean.
South African-established Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Day gets United Nations Endorsement in 2026
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), often referred to as the 'nature reserves of the sea', are ecologically significant areas that protect vulnerable marine ecosystems, habitats and species, while supporting the people who depend on them. Launched in South Africa on 1 August 2021, MPA Day aims to drive awareness of these areas dedicated to ocean – and planetary health – with the 2026 edition garnering support from the United Nations.
Entangled Cape fur seal rescue in Cape Town: What it reveals about ocean health
A juvenile Cape fur seal with a life-threatening entanglement was rescued by the Marine Wildlife Management Programme at the V&A Waterfront. Discover how marine pollution and discarded fishing gear continue to threaten Cape Town's marine wildlife, and how you can help.
Meet the keynote speakers for the IZE Conference 2026
As zoo and aquarium educators from around the world come together at the IZE Conference 2026 to share ideas, celebrate innovation, and strengthen their collective impact, we are honoured to welcome three exceptional keynote speakers: Dr Gcina Mhlophe, Dave Morgan, and Loyiso Dunga.
Ghost fishing gear: The silent killer haunting our ocean
When a female loggerhead turtle of nesting age washed ashore in Betty's Bay in February 2025, severely entangled in the ropes of a marker buoy, the damage had already been done. While ghost gear is often described in statistics, its true impact is revealed through the stories of individual animals.
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.