Published Monday, July 26, 2010 12:01 AM

Magazine follows A&M professor on Bahamas dive

Eagle Staff Report

Veteran cave diver Tom Iliffe, professor of marine biology at Texas A&M University at Galveston, is the subject of a cover story in the just-released August edition of National Geographic magazine.

The magazine details Iliffe's work during cave dives in several islands of the Bahamas.

The photos were taken by Wes Skiles, who also is an expert cave diver and accompanied Iliffe and others inside the caves, many of them hundreds of feet deep.

"Most of the photos were shot last summer and also around Christmas time," Iliffe said, adding that it's kind of handy that Skiles is both a world-class cave diver and an underwater photographer.

"We were diving in caves on Abaco Island, plus some on Andros Island and also on the Grand Bahamas," he adds. "Other researchers on our team came from the University of Miami, the University of Florida and Penn State. It's nice to know that National Geographic takes notice of our work, and to get a cover story is especially gratifying. They did a great job."

The article and photos show Iliffe and others exploring caves called "blue holes," so named because from an aerial view they appear to be circular in shape with different shades of blue water in and around their entrances.

Iliffe and the team found crocodile skeletons, new forms of marine life and human remains that are hundreds of years old.

"We found bones of some of the original natives of the area, people who were living there before Columbus' time," he said.

Over the past 30 years, Iliffe has discovered several hundred species of marine life, including four in the past year, and has probably explored more underwater caves -- at least 1,500 -- than anyone else in the world.

He has explored underwater caves in the Caribbean, Pacific, Mediterranean and North Atlantic areas, plus regions of Australia.

The story and photos about Iliffe can be viewed at ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/08/bahamas-caves/todhunter-text.

For more information about his work, go to www.cavebiology.com.

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