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Flatfish - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 013
By DrBill on 21 November 2008 -
The Star Wars saga has conditioned us to accept strange-looking creatures, especially those that frequent some of the watering holes in those episodes. Well, in my “watering hole,” the Casino Dive Park, there are some pretty strange looking creatures as well, only they didn’t emerge from George Lucas’ fertile imagination.
We are all familiar with fish like the garibaldi, kelp bass or opaleye that swim through the water and have eyes one on each side of their head so they can see in either direction.
Abalone - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 012
By DrBill on 20 November 2008 -
When I began diving Catalina waters in the late 60’s, my students introduced me to abalone… not in an ecological sense, but as a tasty culinary experience. Coming from the Midwest and East, I had never eaten this shellfish.
In those days I could literally watch an abalone grow for a year or two before I harvested it, and black abalone were thick on the rocks at low tide (but who ate them?). Trips into Avalon during the summer usually included an abalone burger at Rosie’s.
Bat Ray - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 010
By DrBill on 12 November 2008 -
I certainly am not the best diver or even underwater videographer on Catalina (much less the world) but I do believe in the Babe Ruth philosophy of underwater imaging. We all know the “Babe” was once the home run king of baseball, but fewer people know he also set records for strikeouts. Under my philosophy, if you dive enough times and carry a video camera on each dive, you’re bound to collect some good images… and “strike out” many times as well.
Conditions in the Dive Park this weekend suggested nothing but strikes… visibility above 30 feet was poor and there was a rather strong swell from a tropical storm off Mexico. However it was also warm and I needed to cool off so I grabbed my gear and headed down the hill. I’m glad I did. Once out in the deeper water I hit home runs twice… once with a large bat ray and then again with a very large California halibut.
Moray Eel - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 009
By DrBill on 10 November 2008 -
As I was walking past Antonio’s Cabaret in my wetsuit the other day, Pete the musician gave me the idea for this week’s column by starting to sing “That’s a Moray.” He must have known I’d just spent the day underwater with one of the very few moray eels I’ve seen in the Casino Dive Park the past few years.
When I first started diving Catalina waters in the 60’s, many of my friends were reluctant to get close to morays. The fear was that they would rush out and clamp onto the diver’s arm in a deathgrip, resulting in massive lacerations or even drowning. Some of our dive instructors in that more macho era reinforced that fear with their own stories (fact or fiction). Now, much older and somewhat wiser, I love getting up close and personal with them.
Octopus - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 008
By DrBill on 9 November 2008 -
Often while diving I find myself transfixed in a small area observing the obscure marine life that form the micro-ecology of the rocky reefs in the Casino Dive Park. This often happens when the visibility is poor and my video work is limited to close-up subjects. Last Sunday I spent much of my “bottom time” watching with great fascination a young octopus who seemed equally fascinated watching me.
There is no question that an octopus’ eyes convey a real sense of intelligence, probably one reason many non-divers seem fascinated by them as well. This little octopus was no exception. Its eyes were as expressive as the beautiful color changes noted when its mood altered (of course I’m a “sucker” for a pair of beautiful eyes!).
Halfmoon or Catalina Blue Perch - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 007
By DrBill on 8 November 2008 -
A fairly common and subtly beautiful fish in our kelp beds is the halfmoon. This fish is also commonly known as the Catalina perch or Catalina blue perch, even though it is not a member of the perch family. Their color ranges from a very light to a dark, slate blue. Halfmoon get their common and scientific (Medialuna) names from the halfmoon shape of their tails.
Although found as far north as Vancouver Island, they are common from Pt. Conception south into the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez). Their preferred habitat is over rocky reefs and kelp forests. Halfmoon are sexually mature at just over seven inches, and large ones reach 19 inches.
Global warming is killing off coral
By Travel-Dive on 8 November 2008 -
Major Study
If world leaders do not immediately engage in a race against time to save the Earth’s coral reefs, these vital ecosystems will not survive the global warming and acidification predicted for later this century. That is the conclusion of a group of marine scientists from around the world in a major new study published in the journal Science on Dec. 13.
“It’s vital that the public understands that the lack of sustainability in the world’s carbon emissions is causing the rapid loss of coral reefs, the world’s most biodiverse marine ecosystem,” said Drew Harvell, Cornell professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and head of the Coral Disease Research Team, which is part of the international Coral Reef Targeted Research (CRTR) group that wrote the new study.
Sea Urchins - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 006
By DrBill on 29 October 2008 -
When I began diving Catalina waters in the late 1960’s, sea urchins were considered a “problem” in southern California ecosystems. Formerly luxuriant kelp beds were greatly reduced and the bottom dominated by urchin “barrens” along some areas of the mainland coast. Urchins were thought to have peaked because of the local extinction of sea otters, a major predator of theirs, by hunting in the 1800’s and increased fishing for sheephead, ocean whitefish and other fish predators. Scientists were using lime to kill the urchins and divers were asked to crush them. However, Catalina waters were generally not affected by this problem.
Research revealed that the problem was not really the urchins, but the continual dumping of raw or partially treated sewage into the ocean. This sewage provided an alternate food source, allowing urchins to remain after kelp beds had been decimated by them.
Black Sea Bass - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 004
By DrBill on 28 October 2008 -
There are magical moments in one’s life that you savor for a long time. One occurred last Wednesday for me and my dive buddy, Vicki Durst, while diving (under permit) in Lover’s Cove. We were between Abalone Point and Ring Rock in a beautiful kelp bed following two black sea bass slowly winding their way through the kelp obviously in courtship. My favorite poet, Robinson Jeffers, once said “the happiest and freest man [or woman] is the scientist investigating nature, or the artist admiring it.” Both of us felt that way on this dive!
When I first started diving Catalina waters in the late 1960’s, the giant or black sea bass was largely a legend. Commercial and “sport” fishing in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s had greatly reduced populations of “jewfish” (their “politically incorrect” former name) in southern California. Later, SCUBA diving spearfishermen found them an easy target, and they were killed as “by-catch” in gill nets. My “sightings” in those days were limited to pictures in the Museum of these fish hanging dead next to their smiling angler.
Nudibranchs - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 003
By DrBill on 27 October 2008 -
Nudibranchs are creatures with a special fascination for many marine biologists. The name means “naked gills” and you can see the many exposed gills looking like a shag carpet in this week’s photo. Unlike humans who draw air into their lungs, many marine species have their breathing structures outside where oxygen in the water can easily pass over them.
Although often incredibly beautiful, they really are vicious predators… at least to the tiny hydroids, bryozoa, sponges and other invertebrates they feast on. Imagine being faced underwater with a predator that was one hundred times your size! With a rasp-like tongue they scrape the flesh off these small defenseless animals.
Sheephead - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 002
By DrBill on 26 October 2008 -
John Steinbeck wrote in The Log from the Sea of Cortez (undoubtedly paraphrasing his good friend the marine biologist Ed “Doc” Ricketts): “the best man fitted to observe animals, to understand them, emotionally as well as intellectually, would be a hungry and libidinous man, for he and the animals would have the same preoccupations.” Perhaps that’s why marine biologists tend to be interesting (and quirky) people.
The two male sheephead shown here are engaging in a territorial dispute over both food and potential mates. This particular ritual combat, observed last November, continued for several minutes until one forced the other to the bottom and nipped him as he swam away. Note the large canine teeth of these males (one reason I identify with them!).
Sheep Crab - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 034
By DrBill on 23 October 2008 -
During the Avalon Harbor Cleanup sponsored in part by the Catalina Conservancy Divers, I had an opportunity to dive Avalon Bay to videotape those involved in the event. While I obtained some good footage of divers collecting trash (and valuables) from the bottom, it was a chance encounter with a sheep crab that provided some of my best footage that day. Despite some 500 dives in the Casino Dive Park alone, I have yet to see a sheep crab there but others have.
Therefore the sheep crab was a welcome subject for my camera (of course no sooner did I write this column than they started appearing in numbers in the Dive Park!).
Maerl
By Mark Milburn on 23 October 2008 -
Calcified Seaweed
Maerl, a strange title for a dive report, as it is not a dive site nor a location.
‘Maerl is a collective term for several species of calcified red seaweed. It grows as unattached nodules on the seabed, and can form extensive beds in favourable conditions. Maerl is slow-growing, but over long periods its dead calcareous skeleton can accumulate into deep deposits (an important habitat in its own right), overlain by a thin layer of pink, living maerl.’
‘Maerl is of commercial value as a soil conditioner on acidic ground, as an animal food additive, for the filtration of acid drinking water and in pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. In 1978 a licence was issued by the Crown Estate Commissioners (CEC) to dredge 30,000 tonnes per year of dead maerl from the Fal Estuary. The area dredged avoids the live maerl of the St Mawes Bank.’
Navanax - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 032
By DrBill on 22 October 2008 -
A few months ago I invited my friend Sheena, who was visiting the island, up to my house to watch some exciting footage I had taken in the Dive Park that day. I thought she’d really be interested in seeing what I thought was a beautiful type of opisthobranch snail. I had forgotten that we marine biologists have slightly distorted views on what constitutes beauty (at least in the undersea world). As she and Iris watched the videotape, both responded with “yuck…. gross… disgusting.” Perhaps they saw something I didn’t.
Now to most biologists, the opisthobranchs are extremely beautiful. Some scientists have even called them the most beautiful group of animals on the planet, surpassing even the birds and butterflies. I’ve already written about one type in the Dive Park, the nudibranchs, in a previous column. Today’s article is about one of the most vicious predators in the sea, their relative the cephalaspidean Navanax.
Electric Rays - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 035
By DrBill on 17 October 2008 - comments
Shocking Experience
When I was in kindergarten, I remember making a “warship” out of 2×4’s in school. Instead of being satisfied with something that merely floated in the bathtub, I decided to enhance my design by nailing a string to its stern and attaching a bobby pin to the end of the string. After school I proudly walked home with my creation and showed it to my mother. She was busy talking over coffee with a neighbor, and told me to take it into the living room and play with it. I marched out there and decided it was time to test my handiwork.
I had seen my parents plug things into the wall sockets and, like our fan, they moved when plugged in. I proudly plugged the bobby pin into the wall plug and…
You Think Your Sex Life is Strange?
By DrBill on 16 October 2008 - comments
eating and sex
My readers know that there are two biological subjects near and dear to me, and common in all species… eating and sex (er, reproduction)! Like my icons Edward “Doc” Ricketts and John Steinbeck, I believe these are the two key activities of all life on Earth. Why? Because the ultimate purpose of life is to reproduce… to pass one’s genes on to the next generation. Of course humans infuse life with greater meaning, often of a religious nature. Since that subject is usually too controversial to appear in my columns, I’ll stick to the less controversial topic of sex! My sex life is nothing to write about, so I want to focus on some truly strange reproductive lifestyles in the marine world. They make anything we humans have dreamed up (even in Hollywood) pale by comparison!
Gray Whales - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 033
By DrBill on 15 October 2008 - comments
This is an excellent time to write about the leviathon seen about this time of year in Catalina’s waters. No, I’m not talking about the extra pounds I added serving on the cruise ship this winter. I’m referring to 30-40 tons of solid blubber (with a little muscle and bone thrown in) known as the gray whale.
Although these whales are not large by whale standards (up to 50 feet, they are dwarfed by blue whales which may be twice as long. I’ve always had a mild interest in whales, but I never attached the significance that many observers give them as a marquee species. Fortunately the efforts of such people led to a recovery of this species from a post-whaling low of about 2,000 to some 25,-26,000 a few years ago.
Dry Dive with Dr Bill No.028
By DrBill on 7 October 2008 - comments
Triggerfish
My diving in the Gulf of California has given me an opportunity to more closely observe a fish also found in our waters, the finescale triggerfish. This species and its relatives are not usually native to our temperate waters and kelp forests, but to the warmer waters of the Gulf of California south to Chile.
They were first noted here during the extreme 1982-84 El Nino event when stronger currents from the south brought much warmer water into our region. Although these conditions were not good for our kelp and the species dependent on it, it sure was nice to dive in warm water off Descanso Beach! With predictions of a milder El Nino this year, it will be interesting to see if our local triggerfish population receives some new immigrants, either as adults or planktonic larvae and young.
California Sea Lion
By DrBill on 25 September 2008 - comments
Catalina has been the home of many outstanding divers… after consulting other local divers, I decided the list was too long to print here. Despite my own years of experience, I couldn’t hold a candle to them (it would go out underwater anyway). However none of these fine divers could out-dive the subject of this week’s article, the California sea lion.
I rarely encounter sea lions in the Casino Dive Park, but was able to dive with them three times during my first stint on the Lindblad Expeditions ship MV Sea Bird. Los Islotes, a small group of exposed rocks just north of Isla Partida near La Paz, is home to a fair colony of these critters and they are none too shy with divers and snorkelers!
Sex in the Underwater World
By DrBill on 20 September 2008 - comments
We all know that Hollywood, television stations and the print media often resort to racy sexual content to improve ratings or sell products. I don’t want any of you to think this column is experiencing a sagging readership, and needs to do likewise! However, as John Steinbeck wrote in The Log from the Sea of Cortez “Marine biologists are the tenors of the scientific world: temperamental, moody, lecherous, loud-laughing and healthy… The best man fitted to observe animals, to understand them emotionally as well as intellectually, would be a hungry and libidinous man, for he and the animals would have the same preoccupations.” Eating and sex, or perhaps I should say reproduction, are the two foremost activities of all species.
Dolphin Dive
By Kate Hardy on 15 September 2008 - comments
My only dream in life was to swim with wild Dolphins. I have never agreed with captivity and exploiting them in the way that they are. To be able to swim with or be with any animal in their natural habitat must be breath taking. And my first experience of it was!
The First Time
It was November 2003 and we had just clambered back into the rib after our final dive on the Thistlegorm. We all started to take off our kit to head back to the boat when one of our divers grabbed my knee with one hand and pointed with the other.
Endangered Species: How State Laws are Aiding Connecticut and Massachusetts
By NOAA Coastal Services Center on 10 September 2008 - comments
“Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed.”
President Nixon, upon signing the national Endangered Species Act
While the national Endangered Species Act receives a lot of attention, it is often state regulations that are the first line of defense in protecting species that have state or regional importance. Increasingly, coastal resource managers are having to balance development and recreational activities along our nation’s shoreline with the habitat needs of endangered or threatened species.
Minke Whale Expedition
By Jovin Lim on 3 September 2008 - comments
I absolutely love the seas and have always been fascinated by this beautiful mammal called whale. Some of them are the oldest species on this Earth and they have been around much longer than we have. I have always been in awe when watching these magnificent creatures on documentaries and it is my dream to watch, swim, snorkel or dive with them some day.
Grey Nurse Sharks of Australia
By Jane Wilkinson on 11 August 2008 - comments
Looks aren’t everything!
I had never encountered a shark before going to Australia and was quite worried what my reaction could be. However, by the time I reached the east coast of Australia I felt I had got pretty cool about shark encounters. I’d been on several dives by this stage in my travels, including a shark feed out on Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea, so had come across several different types of sharks.
However, I wasn’t really prepared for just how close you could actually get to the very timid and shy Carcharias Taurus, better known in Australia as the Grey Nurse Shark and in the Americas as the Nurse Shark. Did I say ‘timid’ and ‘shy’? This seems a contradiction in terms but this is exactly what they are like.
Where there be Dragons
By Jane Wilkinson on 13 February 2006 - comments [4]
Emerging from the tendrils of green, a tangle of weed slowly took shape. Suddenly fronds of foliage became more alive, a weedy sea dragon ascended from its hiding place, its perfect camouflage betrayed by its movement.
Sea dragons, which are unique to Australia, sat near the top of my list of ‘things I wanted to see’ whilst diving in the clear warm waters surrounding this incredible place.
I had done my homework in preparation, trawling through reviews and trip reports on a variety of web sites and forums in order to draw up a list of dive operators who would give me the best chance of catching a glimpse of these fantastic creatures.
Red Sea Shark Encounters
By Mark Davies on 1 November 2005 - comments
Approaching the street I cut the sirens and blue lights. Just as we pulled up outside the house a chair came flying through the front window, scattering broken glass across the pavement. It was my first shift back and so far it had been fairly typical of a Saturday evening. Welcome back!
Five minutes later and the angry, young man that we had dragged from his hiding place in a wardrobe was handcuffed and in the cage in the back of my van. I’d left colleagues to look after his girlfriend with her black eye and swollen lip. I waited a moment for free air time to get onto the radio and advised the custody office of the in-coming prisoner. With the young man still spitting and screaming abuse in the secure cage behind me I took a deep breath and for a moment closed my eyes and took myself back just a few days; for not too long ago I had been sharing memorable moments with a predator of an entirely different kind. Earlier that week I had been diving in the company of sharks!
Tiger Shark Technical Diving!
By Alan Edwards on 26 August 2005 - comments
I have to say that I have had the most terrifying moment of my diving career today, thanks mainly to a 10 foot Tiger Shark in Sharm El Sheikh. Every diver loves seeing a shark, but this can change when the shark starts getting to close/aggressive, especially when it’s a bloody great Tiger Shark.
Mickael from Tiger TekStreme as I now call them had spotted Tiger Sharks on almost every dive at the aptly named Shark Observatory.
I had just arrived yesterday and Aaron who was guiding me got the call from Mickael that they had seen 5 sharks together, 2 Tigers 2 Silkies and a Reef Shark.
After some questioning at the dive centre I had established that Tigers had been coming in quite often and there would be a good chance to see one/some of these wonderful creatures. I posted this on the Sharm Travel-Dive forum last night and probably fated today’s trip by saying I hope they don’t bite.