A new study involving elephant seals fitted with caps similar to those worn by humans in sleep clinics to measure electroencephalographic activity, or brain waves, has revealed the seals take short naps during deep dives. Unlike other marine mammals, they enter rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep, with accompanying paralysis, but do so at depths below those occupied by their predators.
First spotted in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida in the 1980s, they later spread across the Caribbean, reshuffling coral reefs and other ecosystems by feasting on fish unfamiliar with the voracious predator.
Rebreather Forum 4 was held on Malta on 20-22 April 2023 in University of Malta's old campus in downtown Valletta. The event was attended by prominent dive industry entrepreneurs and manufacturers and hyperbaric researchers, many of which presented the latest findings in their fields.
