May research blog: The elasmobranch egg case project continues to progress smoothly. Despite having dropped our surveys to only once a month, we still haven’t been able to totally process through our backlog, though we are steadily moving through it. There will be a big celebration once we have conquered the mountain of egg cases! […]
Exciting times……. March research blog The elasmobranch egg case project has been progressing business as usual this month, although we are not able to process the egg cases fast enough to make up for the backlog of egg cases from the November to January period. In light of this, and that we have a year’s […]
Blacktail – abundant, ubiquitous, and hermaphroditic! Anglers and visitors to the underwater world in our beautiful Plettenberg Bay may be familiar with a fish called blacktail Diplodus capensis, though perhaps the name dassie or Cape white seabream is more familiar. This is an oval-shaped fish which is primarily silver in colour with a black patch […]
Not one, but three, abalone species in Plettenberg Bay! If someone mentions abalone, it brings to mind one specific marine gastropod mollusk (sea snail) species Haliotis midae, also known as perlemoen. In fact, in Plettenberg Bay, there are 3 abalone species living in intertidal and subtidal waters. The most well-known abalone species is perlemoen, while […]
![June_Two_macroinvertebrate_species_found_this_month[1]](https://orcafoundation.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/June_Two_macroinvertebrate_species_found_this_month1-e1467356789262-200x200.jpg "June Research Blog!")
June research blog Winter is well underway and the ORCA team is feeling the chill – even our beach surveys for elasmobranch egg cases are now accompanied by a jersey each! With the project 5 months in we have collected 2176 egg cases of 6 different species, with Puffadder Shysharks by far the most common […]
Although we are always sad to say farewell to our wonderful volunteers – we do encourage them to share with us their experiences and feelings about the programme. We think it is important to share those feelings with you so when you are deciding whether to become an ORCA Volunteer or not you can browse […]
OUR FIRST STERREWEG INTERN TESTIMONY Joyce Roels “Firstly I would like to say thank you to everyone at the Orca house. Without all those people it wouldn’t have been the same. My internship in South Africa was definitely the best experience in my life so far. All the nice people, the spirit and the hospitality […]
We would like to say farewell to Rachel Izzo who has been with the ORCA Foundation for the past 4 weeks… She was one awesome person who always had a smile on her face and we wish you all the best for the future. This is what she had to say about the ORCA Foundation: […]
When walking on the beach in Plettenberg Bay different kinds of shells from marine animals can be found like Cuttlefish bones, mussels, clams and the most attractive of all, the pansy shell (Echinodiscus bisperforatus). The pansy shell is an icon for Plettenberg Bay and is the symbol for the Bitou Municipality. Even though they are […]
The Humpback Whales sightings the past week have been amazing at Ocean Blue Adventures, with guests having a blast. Did you know: Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) can grow up to 15m in length and weigh between 30-40 tonnes making it the 5th largest whale. They are normally found migrating single or in small groups aggregating […]
