Live webcams, 360-degree cameras, AI “conversations” with marine creatures, scientific findings, and data on over 1,000 species are part of a new website aimed at bringing the wonders of the Gulf of Eilat to everyone, from marine researchers and divers to the general public.

An effort to raise awareness of the bounty of life and call for further conservation, the initiative is a collaboration between the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, funded by the Rothschild family’s foundation, Yad Hanadiv.

Threats to this national treasure, with its magnificent coral reefs, range from pollution and fishing to uncontrolled development and a lack of protected marine areas.

Among the website’s features are:

A 360° virtual safari of four habitats — the coral reef, seagrass meadows, the sandy bottom, and the open sea

Reef LIVE: A special underwater camera installed by the laboratory of Prof. Maoz Fine at the Interuniversity Institute broadcasts live. A highlight reel below, taken from the LIVE camera, shows a yellow-saddle goatfish (in the center) at a........

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