A group of snorkeling grandmothers is helping scientists better understand marine ecology by photographing venomous sea snakes in the waters off the city of Noumea, New Caledonia. /VCG Photo

Since coming together two years ago, the group of seven women, all in their 60s and 70s, offered to help scientists Dr. Claire Goiran from the University of New Caledonia and Professor Rick Shine from Australia's Macquarie University in their quest to document the sea snake population in a popular swimming spot, known as Baie des citrons. /VCG Photo

The two professors, who have been working in the area's waters for the past 15 years, primarily focused on documenting a small, harmless species, known as the turtle-headed sea snake, but in 2013 the pair turned their attention to another species, the 1.5-meter-long, venomous greater sea snake. /VCG Photo

It was only by accident that Dr. Goiran stumbled across these enthusiastic grandmothers, who volunteered to lend their time and eyes to the project. "As soon as the grandmothers set to work, we realized that we had massively underestimated the abundance of greater sea snakes in the bay," said Dr. Goiran, who believed the project had revealed crucial new information about the snakes' breeding patterns. /VCG Photo