This International Whale Shark Day, we shed light on what draws the beloved butanding to Donsol! A big part of it is the seasonal changes that influence diatom blooms — a special group of phytoplankton.

Despite the name, shipworms aren’t actually worms—they’re mollusks! They earned their name from their notorious habit of boring into wooden ships.

Harvested in the wild and sold as gamét or Philippine nori is Phycocalidia, a genus of tropical red seaweed. This genus was initially described and named as Calidia and later renamed by Filipino phycologist Dr. Wilfred John Santiañez and Dr. Michael Wynne, and has now been officially reinstated!