*** In Person Speaker and USA Dive Club Member***

Linda Ianniello – “Blackwater Creatures” 

Linda has been scuba diving and taking underwater images for over 30 years. Her favorite type of photography has always been macro photography, where half the challenge is finding the small, unusual subjects.  When a local dive operator started doing “blackwater” dives she became interested. She was quickly hooked and has done 550 blackwater dives locally, in just under 10 years. These dives involve going approximately five miles off the coast and doing a night drift dive close to the Gulf Stream where the bottom is 700 to 750 feet deep. 

It is fascinating to find and photograph the animals that migrate vertically from the deep every night to feed, and those that spend their whole lives in the water column. Linda then strives to identify and learn more about them, with a lot of help from willing scientists. In return, the scientists are interested to see the subjects “in situ” rather than mangled after being collected in a net towed behind a boat. Linda will talk about the evolution of these dives and how much she has learned, and also how much she hopes to have contributed to science and education. These creatures, though small, all have a purpose and are necessary to the health of the ocean.