Scuba Diver Australasia Magazine + ALERTDIVER Issue 5/2015 | Page 6

FROM THE EDITOR
Change is the only constant. It’s a mind-mangling paradox.
But it is thanks to this (unchanging) process of persistent
change that evolution marches forward, creating this brainbogglingly beautiful world of biodiversity.

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Evolution in Nature tends towards increasing complexity:
the more species, the more resilient the system. It’s all
about encouraging variety, through a process that knows
no boundaries, one driven by exploiting differences – from
mixing DNA to transferring ideas – to create new species
and systems that are better adapted to prevailing conditions.
(I’m pretty sure there is a “take home” message in here for
humanity.)

ASIA PACIFIC’S DIVING
EVOLUTION
Text By Oliver Jarvis
Images By various contributors
Discoveries, inventions, the
war machine, pioneers and
protection: the history of
scuba in Asia Pacific is long
and complicated; we bring you
some of the key developments
along the way

Properly managed protected areas demonstrate this principle
in action. Take Tubbataha Reefs National Park, for instance,
a place experiencing stellar enforcement of its no-take
status. As a result, it now offers a rare opportunity for diving
a pristine ecosystem, one that has been allowed to bounce
back, home to myriad magnificent species, following Nature’s
complexity drive.
This drive is often guided by some very basic rules, such as
“eat but don’t be eaten”, “be the most attractive”, and “find
your niche”. And, once you know what you’re looking at, or
for, there is nowhere better to witness these principles in
action than the marine-life melting pot that is the
Coral Triangle, and Australasia as a whole.
Still, not every evolutionary experiment is successful: Nature
is not above a little bit of trial and error. Some mutations
may or may not go on to produce new species, but even the
“dead ends” often give rise to extraordinary, if short lived,
specimens. Like nudis with two heads.

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Makes you wonder what other novelties evolution might have
waiting in the wings…!

WHEN TWO HEADS ARE
BETTER THAN ONE
Text & Images by Aaron “Bertie” Gekoski
Come behind the scenes of
the find of the year, a marine
mutation, an evolutionary
experiment. This is a world
first – meet the only two-headed
nudibranch ever discovered!

Editor

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On the cover:

An evolutionary experiment;
the world’s first documented
two-headed Nembrotha.
Image © Aaron “Bertie”
Gekoski/Scubazoo

Credit Correction
At SD we place great importance on proper
recognition of the photographers and writers
we are honoured to work with. But we are
guilty of a heinous crime in the world of
publishing – in the last issue of SDAA we
miscredited a picture.
This image was taken by the extremely
talented Stefan Follows, to whom we offer
heartfelt apologies for the mistake.

DESIGNED FOR DINNER
Text By Chetana Purushotham
Images By Umeed Mistry &
Scott “Gutsy” Tuason
Some of the ways that finding,
and not becoming, breakfast,
lunch or dinner has driven
evolutionary adaptation under
the waves