Mick's marine biology

A glimpse of invertebrate marine life of Newfoundland (part 6)

2012-01-05T15:25:00.000+01:00

The brittle star Ophioderma brevispina.

I made two snorkeling trips: one at Open Hall and one at Salvage. Have a look at this post for other pictures of Salvage and Open Hall. Apart from Asterias, Eudendrium, an unknown species and Tamiasciurus all photo's were made at Salvage.

The green sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis.

Detail: between the spines you can see tubefeet. They use the tubefeet for locomotion and to attach weeds, (particles of) shells etc. It is said for camouflage, but some urchins do and some don't at the same spot. And those that camouflage themself, regurlarly make a lousy job of it. See for the picture further on of the green sea urchin carrying a (living) periwinkle.

A bit overcrowded?

The tortoiseshell limpet, Testudinalia testudinalis. Just as the green sea urchin and the periwinkle (next photo) they predate on seaweeds and keep the rocks on which they grow 'tidy'.

The common periwinkle, Littorina littorea (D: gewone alikruik). At left just visible a dog whelk, Nucella lapillus (D: purperslak).

A lot of shells (mussels) and crabs (Cancer) looked quite eroded. This periwinkle has a lot of scars. I think the slits are caused by crabs. But the holes? Dog whelks drill holes in shells, but these holes are very crude.

The common mussel, Mytilus edulis (D: mossel).

The common acorn barnacle, Balanus balanus (D: grote zeepok) in different growth stadia.

The atlantic rock crab, Cancer irroratus. This specimen looked very worn and was quite slow.

This one wasn't slow! The specimens I found were small: up to 8 cm. It can grow up to 13 cm wide. A lot smaller than its European nephew Cancer pagurus, which can grow up to 30 cm wide. For this species and other relatives of Cancer irroratus have a look here.

A gunnel, Pholis gunnellus (D: botervis) hiding near a green sea urchin. Robbins' description (1986; see literature page) points it to another species: Pholis fasciata, the banded gunnel. I think he is mistaken.

The common starfish, Asterias rubens (D: gewone zeester) in cometform (D: komeetvorm). The starfish lost 4 of its 5 legs, which are now regenerating.

The brittle star Ophioderma brevispina wasn't pleased when I turned the rock it was hiding under. Most brittle stars become active at night and quickly hide when exposed to light.

Probably stick hydroids, a Eudendrium species (D: haarpijpje) growing on bladder wrack, Fucus vesiculosus (D: blaaswier).

Hardly visible (right/upper halve): Stauromedusa (stalked jellyfish), another cnidarian but belonging to the Scyphozoa (jellyfishes).

I am not sure, but I think that these very tiny creatures are flatworms (phylum Platyhelminthes).

The lion's mane jellyfish, Cyanea capillata (D: gele haarkwal). The world's biggest jellyfish with a bell diameter of up to 2,5 metres and tentacles as long as 30 metres! This one was only 30 cm wide. It can inflict painful stings.

The biggest specimen I ever saw, was washed up on a beach in the Oosterschelde. It had a bell diametre of 1 metre and was thin as a dime. Before I found it I was wondering where a strong fishy smell originated from. Yes: this jellyfish!

Not an invertebrate but I can't resist showing this cute American red squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus. It was running up and down the wharf at Open Hall. It is not native to Newfoundland, but introduced in 1963. In the same year as the chipmunk, which 'Newfies' regard as vermin.

Whelks in abundance in the Oosterschelde

2011-12-03T21:40:00.021+01:00

Last wednesday we spotted a lot of whelks, Buccinum undatum (D: wulk) while diving at Stavenisse Veerweg, Oosterschelde.

Cloaked. The whelk is a beautiful snail and one of the biggest in North-West Europe. The shell is up to 11 cm long, however I have once seen a whelk of about 16 cm long in the collection of a former member of the 'Strandwerkgroep Waterweg Noord'. Because of its size I mistook it at first for a red whelk, Neptunea antiqua (D: noordhoren).

Till a few years ago whelks were quite rare because of tributyltin-poisoning.

Because of the housing shortage for common hermit crabs, Pagurus bernhardus (D: gewone heremietkreeft) one of the members of the 'Strandwerkgroep Waterweg Noord' collected empty snails at the Kalkbranderij at Yerseke and threw them in the tidal zone near Kattendijke. Apart from one Neptunea contraria - not the most obvious house for a hermit crab because it is contrary coiled (hence 'contraria') - we never retrieved them (which is good!).

Specimen collected at Glasjesnol, Oosterschelde. Photo in aquarium.

Whelk laying its spongy egg masses. Naylor (2005, see literature): 'After mating, the female whelk will lay a mass of up to 2000 egg capsules. Each capsule contains approximately 1000 eggs.' Fortunately the parts per million of tributyltin in the water are low enough.

The head, tentacles, mantle and siphon with typical black flecks. At the base of the tentacles the eyes can be seen.

Five whelks feeding on a dead shore crab, Carcinus maenas (D: strandkrab).

Whales of Newfoundland (part 5)

2011-08-21T21:18:00.002+02:00

Minke whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata (D: dwergvinvis)

A blog means regular posts, lazy bastard! Uh yes, sorry. I am really getting behind. I have been diving at Bonaire in January, (Northern) Ireland in July and the Netherlands from April till now and still I'm posting about Newfoundland 2010. So again: sorry.

My wife and I were lured to Newfoundland by the prospect of seeing whales in close proximity. Paul Dolk (see my post of december 25) told me in 2009 about a group of humpback whales that stayed in 'their' bay for two weeks. As close by as they could touch them in their boat.

We were not that lucky. We made several trips with Paul and Sandra, but all we saw was a glimpse of a fin whale about 100 m away.

So in the last week of our visit we made three whaling trips with Sea of Whales Adventures, owned by Kris and Shawna Prince.

It was a wonderfull experience: two quite rocky trips riding the waves and one with a dead calm sea. You still have to be lucky to see the whales from nearby, as we experienced. But no more complaining. Here are a few photo's I took. For really excellent whale pictures have a look at Paul Dolk's site here.

A blowing fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus (D: gewone vinvis). As you can sea they are swimming at close distance from the coast. Kris recognizes whale-species by the shape of their blows.

He called them the greyhounds of the sea, because they are such agile and fast swimmers.

You just can't imagine what's down below: in this picture of a fin whale you see just 25% of the upper part of the animal! The largest fin whale ever found, measured 27 m (R. Wandrey, 2001).

The dorsal fin of individual specimens is easily identifiable, anyway for the specialists. And especially this one with its gnarled fin. He crashed in a propeller, got entangled in a fishing net or was bitten by a killer whale. Your guess is as good as mine. Kris has seen this fin whale before. He and others keep record of the whales they encounter. He showed us a list with pictures and names of frequently sighted whales.

Shawna told us that fin whales and blue whales are that rare that they mate with each other. And the offspring is able to reproduce!

Usually fin whales dive down gradually, so it is quite rare to see its fintail. Kris told me I was very lucky to have a shot!

The minke whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata (D: dwergvinvis) is a lot smaller: up to 10 m (R. Wandrey, 2001).

Not sure where the whales will show up? Look for circling gulls and other birds, who betray surfacing whales.

White beaked dolphin, Lagenorhynchus albirostris (D: witsnuitdolfijn). Unfortunateley they weren't in a playful mood.

The humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae (D: bultrug).

We saw them breach - jumping out of the water - several times, but too far too quick too soon.

After the breach...

This is why the whales are coming near the coast: to catch mouthfulls of capelin, Mallotus villosus (D: lodde). Capelin jump on the sandy beaches and dig themselves in to spawn.

A lot of capelin is catched - I heard - especially for the Japanese market. The Japanese only want the female capelin and the males are just thrown away. If it's true it is a crime against nature. Eat them, sell them, make catfood out of them, but don't kill animals for nothing. Ofcourse it is the livelihood of a lot of people, but so is tourism and what about sustainability?

Whales are not the only creatures waiting for easy prey. It is also an easy pick for bald eagles, Haliaeetus leucocephalus (D: Amerikaanse zeearend). Near Trinity we counted 22 bald eagles in approximately 150 m!

A young bald eagle is even bigger than its parents. Not as beautiful as an adult, but doesn't he look aggresive.

Capelin is just too easy to catch. This one wasn't hunting for capelin, but for bait we threw in the water.

A few seaweeds of Newfoundland (part 4)

2011-04-22T22:05:00.001+02:00

I made two snorkeling trips: one at Open Hall and one at Salvage (both Bonavista Bay).

At Open Hall I snorkelled around the wharf. A wharf that just looks like hundreds of others. Some of concrete and stone but most of wood (often filled with stones for reinforcement). Some modern, some derelict. The latter are very photogenic!

Growing on the wharf and rocks: common southern kelp, Laminaria agardhii. It grows to 3 m and its blade has ruffled edges in spring and summer.

What looks like hairs are hydroids (Hydrozoa), animals related to sea anemones and jellyfish. Bigger brown seaweeds are often overgrown with hydroids, moss animals (Bryozoa), colonial sea squirts (Tunicata) and other - especially red - seaweeds.

I am not entirely sure about the species. It looks a lot like sugar kelp (also sea belt; D: suikerwier), Saccharina latissima (formerly known as Laminaria saccharina). As Gosner (1978) quotes in Peterson's (see this post for literature): 'L. saccharina is a problematic species distinguishable only by microscopic section; some authorities consider L. agardhii a form of this species.'

There is a lot of study in the taxonomy of seaweeds and consequently in their nomenclature. You can wake me up in the middle of the night and I could tell you the Latin name of sugar kelp. But now even this name has changed. See the link at the right side of this page for the most recent Latin names.

The blades often have a ragged look. Sugar kelp is eaten by snails but the lesions are foremost caused by battering waves.

Stipe overgrown with colonies of moss animals.

Another species of the Laminariales: horsetail kelp (or oarweed, D: vingerwier), Laminaria digitata.

And again a member of the order of Laminariales: dabberlocks (also edible kelp), Alaria esculenta. In Europe you will find this species only on exposed rocky shores. Click here for one of its relatives: Undaria pinnatfida.

Looking down the warf.

Exactly the same spot: underwater it is a landscape from a fairytale.

The third member of the Laminariales: smooth cord weed (GB: bootlace weed, D: veterwier), Chorda filum. It grows up to 4.5 m but is no more than 6 mm thick.

Entangled smooth cord weed. Will it ever disentwine?

Left: sugar kelp. This specimen is quite thin, opposed to the more common leathery ones. As with a lot of seaweeds: the habit of growth is quite variable.

Dulse, Palmaria palmata. From Gosner (1978): 'Dulse, one of the edible seaweeds, is still harvested in the Canadian Maritimes and the Bay of Fundy, and packets of dull-red dried weed may be found in specialty stores. The texture of fresh dulse has been compared to salted rubberbands but improves on drying.'

A lot of seaweed specimes are commercially collected and cultivated around the world. The hankering for ecofriendly products will only increase the demand.

Salvage: this is where I had my second snorkelling trip. I found it rather poor, but maybe that was due to the amount of fresh water pouring out into the bay.

One of the top predators of seaweeds: green sea urchins, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis. They grate almost every - not too large - organism off the substrate.

It seems that the rather calciferous coral weed (D: koraalwier), Corallina officinalis, is not juicy enough for sea urchins.

Horsetail kelp, Laminaria digitata.

Possibly black whip weed (D: zweepvormig zeekoord), Chordaria flagelliformis.

Sugar kelp (middle), dabberlocks (right) and other unidentified seaweeds.

Typical 'monoculture' seaweed growth: almost all the specimes in the small tidal zone belong to the Fucales.

A bay near Durrell at low tide with the same typical algal growth. At first it looked like coasts I know from France, Great Britain, South Africa, New Zealand an the west coast of Canada. So I thougt: excellent coast for beachcombing. You just have to lift the seaweeds to find crabs, starfish, sea anemones, snails etc. But unfortunately I just found some snails and a few little crustaceans.

The most common Fucales: in the centre bladder wrack (D: blaaswier), Fucus vesiculosus and left knotted wrack (D: knotswier), Ascophyllum nodosum. Both seaweeds have air bladders to keep them upright at high tide.

The 'bubbles' in the centre aren't air bladders but so called receptacles: reproductive bodies.

Top and below: bladder wrack with two or more coupled air bladders in the blade.

Knotted wrack has a single air bladder. This seaweed lives almost exclusively on sheltered shores. The bigger the air bladder, the more sheltered its environment.

The third member of the Fucales: (quite certain) spiral wrack (D: kleine zee-eik), Fucus spiralis.

As for identification: are you a fan of Science Fiction and Startrek? If so, then you are familiar with the tricorder. I expect that one day we will beachcomb with a DNA-tricorder in our hand for easy identification of organisms.

Possibly gut weed (D: echt darmwier), Ulva intestinalis (formerly known as Enteromorpha intestinalis). Ulva's are hard to identify. One of the species that makes 'rockcombing' hazardous: green weeds like these make rocks very slippery.

With thanks to Dr. Herre Stegenga, National Herbarium of the Netherlands, Leiden University Branch, for his assistance.

Puffins: Newfoundland's Jesusbirds (part 3)

2011-02-10T11:00:00.008+01:00

Jesusbird? The Atlantic puffin (D: papegaaiduiker), Fratercula arctica, is a clumsy bird when it comes to taking off at sea. They need a very long runway for the take off, so it has to walk on water.

At Elliston, Newfoundland, you can observe hundreds of puffins. They are nestling on a few isolated islands. Just like the gannets in my last post they are protected by the sea and the height of the cliffs.

They seem to be excellent divers and are hunting for capelin (D: lodde), Mallotus villosus, just like whales and other animals. Their young need fish like capelin.

In Northwest Europe puffins hunt for sandeels (D: zandspiering and smelt), Ammodytes tobianus and Hyperoplus lanceolatus. These species resemble capelin. But because of warmer watertemperatures the sandeels are moving to more northern waters. So the puffins hunt for butterfish (D: botervis), Pholis gunnellus. Not to the delight of the young puffin chick: they seem to choke in butterfish, because they are more leathery!

Newfoundland part 2: 20.000 gannets

2011-01-26T14:03:00.000+01:00

Cape St. Mary: 10.000 pair of gannets in a relative small place! Spectacular, especially when at first you just hear a lot of screeching noises and there isn't much to see but a thick fog.

We were travelling with a magnificent RV, so at first I just stayed in the car reading about the gannets I was supposed to see at the cape. But after a while I just had to go.

The first half hour I just heard them, but then the fog became thinner and the clouds got higher. And a spectacular view was revealed: every white spot is a (or two or three) gannet.

Getting closer there is a promontory with nestling gannets. You can get as close as 25 meter. Between them and you is a 100 meters deep gap. That keeps the foxes and coyotes (yes coyotes!) and especially people at bay.

So the gannets aren't afraid and are just doing their business. Courting their partner, bill fencing, feeding their chick (just one), being a bit agressive to the neighbour and rearranging or renovating the nest.

The next morning at 8.00 AM we had beautiful weather: sun and unclouded. That's rather untypical for Cape St. Mary. Chris, a nature supervisor of Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve, told us that the cape is shrouded in mist for 2/3th of the year. So we were very lucky. He was very enthusiastic and pleased about his work, but imagine working such a period in a foggy place. And maybe the rest of the season is rain and snow....

A lot of noise, a bit smelly but not as much as I expected. A perfect spot where you can sit for hours.

If a chick falls off the cliff its chances of survival are almost none.

This is the northern gannet (D: jan-van-gent), Morus bassanus. The same species you can observe in the Netherlands - albeit rare and surely not in thousands - gliding over the sea with their typical 'sharp' wings. They are excellent fliers.

Flying upside down. Just for fun or excercise?

In the afternoon the fog reappeared. Perfect for nice soft toned pictures.

The gannet is one of my favorite birds. They are social (partners for life), the way they court each other, their beautiful appearance and the way they float in the air. One of the things I really like to photograph in the future under water: gannets 'dive bombing' in the sea to catch fish.

Newfoundland: more of less

2010-12-25T19:12:00.006+01:00

Last summer my wife and I went for Newfoundland for four weeks. To see the whales, seabirds and other marine life. And to visit our friends Paul and Sandra Dolk, who live on this island for nearly 3 months every year. This island is almost as large as Iceland and located at the east coast of Canada.

Ferryland

I wasn't sure what to expect from the marine life of Newfoundland. I have a lot of excellent books about the abundant marine life of the west coast of Canada. See the very first posts on my blog about Vancouver Island (2008). But I have only one - a bit outdated - guide of the east coast: Atlantic Seashore, Peterson Field Guides, by K.L. Gosner, 1978 (ISBN 061800209X).

Jacques Cousteau famed the marine life of Vancouver Island. I have never heard him talk about the east coast. Both signs on the wall? Uh, yes.

Durrell (vicinity)

Not that I made an extensive study of the marine life of the island. But I had a few snorkeling trips and searched the shores for life at ebb tide. It was quite barren.

Another example? The visitor centre at Terra Nova National Park had a few aquariums with marine life. Just as the aquarium at Ucluelet, Vancouver Island. At Ucluelet all I was 'saying' was oh's and ah's because of the abundance of (new) species. As you understand by now, that wasn't the case at Terra Nova.

Maybe the colder climate - frost, ice shelves and icebergs - is due to this. I can see iceshelves and icebergs eroding all marine life where they are massive and big enough. So, Newfoundland is no good? Not at all: as the title of this post shows, it is more of less. The marine life is abundant in figures but not in species.

Longpoint Lighthouse

This post and the next I will give you a glimpse of the marine life of Newfoundland. About the seashores, my snorkeling trips, the magnificent seabirds and the giant whales.

Let's begin with the shores. As is obvious in the previous and following pictures the beautiful shoreline is mostly rocky and partly covered with species of brown seaweeds.

Upper Island Cove

With high cliffs,

Salvage

Bonavista Bay, vicinity of Open Hall

Salvage

picturesque fjords,

St. Vincent's

a few sandy beaches,

Culls Harbour

lakelike shores,

Bauline East

and a lot of beaches with pebbles. As a landscape it is an amalgam of New Zealand, Scotland, Norway and Bretagne (France). Quite a compliment! In richness of species these countries and regions are the opposite of Newfoundland...

A pebble beach is one of the worst habitats for marine life. Due to the pebbles and exposure to waves and currents everything is grinded to pulp.

Skerwink Trail

This looks good. A nice forest of seaweeds, partly less exposed rocks and clear water.

Skerwink Trail

Unfortunately you need a boat to get there.

Temperate water reef at Wemeldinge - part 1

2010-07-09T16:15:00.001+02:00

One of the pontoon's many inhabitants: the ghost shrimp Caprella mutica.

At the east side of the harbour of Wemeldinge (Oosterschelde, the Netherlands) a pontoon is placed to protect it against waves and as a temporal mooring place for visiting ships.

Mart Karremans, one of the regular participants joining the surveys of the 'Strandwerkgroep Waterweg Noord' lives at Wemeldinge. He told us a few years ago about the wonderful marine fauna and flora that inhabits the pontoon. So since 2006 we made it a tradition to take a snorkeling trip to Wemeldinge. To one of the most exuberant overgrown places of the Oosterschelde. Last saturday we took a plunge. All photo's are taken at this pontoon from 2006 to July 2010.

The pontoon is made of concrete. Near the waterline live several common limpets, Patella vulgata (Dutch: schaalhorenslak).

A layer of Sargassum muticum, wireweed (D: Japans bessenwier) protects animals like sponges, sea squirts and sea-anemones from sunshine.

And forms a substrate for sea squirts and moss animals and a hiding place for ghost shrimps.

The green seaweed Codium fragile, felty fingers (D: viltwier) lives just below the water line.

Typical growth on the pontoon: sessile species like sea squirts, sponges, sea anemones, barnacles, molluscs and seaweeds are fighting for 'lebensraum'.

As colourful as a tropical reef.

Until 2009 the pontoon was also in use for suspended cultivation: ropes were hanging from the pontoon, where mussels (Mytilus edulis) could grow. It seemed to be uneconomical on such a small scale and unfortunately the ropes were removed.

Bryopsis hypnoides (D: onregelmatig vederwier). This green weed is branched irregularly and to all sides contrary to its cousin Bryopsis plumosa (D: vederwier). The red seaweed in front is probably banded weed, Ceramium virgatum.

Agardhiella subulata. A red seaweed with a 'fleshy' feel. One of the more recently introduced species.

Like wire weed, Undaria pinnatifida, wakame (D: wakamé; the name of this weed in Japan) is an invasive species, that originates from Japan. Like gigantic Octopus' arms!

This brown seaweed can grow up to 2 m. In Japan it is cultivated for soups, salads, food supplement and medicinal purposes.

The typical wavy stipe of wakame reminds me of millstone ruffs (D: molensteenkraag), a popular fashion item from the second half of the 16th till the first quarter of the 17th century. Think of paintings by Rembrandt and contemporary artists. Click here for more information.

The first time I found wakame in the Oosterschelde I thougt it was dabberlocks, Alaria esculenta. The frond of this weed has more or less the same appearance. It has incisions and looks ragged. However, the incisions of dabberlocks aren't the 'original' shape: they are caused by beating waves. Dabberlocks is cultivated in Ireland (called Atlantic wakame!) for the same purposes as wakame .

Fighting for space: when there is no place left to go, the frond of wakame is a welcome substrate for barnacles (Balanus spec.).

The last few years I have been trying to take photographs of this tiny creature. Finally I was successful. These crustaceans who do resemble walking stick insects, are belonging to the order of the Amphipoda and have names like ghost shrimp and skeleton shrimp. In Dutch: spookkreeftje, wandelend geraamte, hongerlijdertje and teringlijdertje (however I prefer it written the way it is spoken: teringlijertje; especially with a Rotterdam accent!).

This is Caprella mutica, the ghost shrimp. Its former Latin name was C. macho. Macho it is. It is quite big for this Amphipod: I have seen specimens up to 40 mm. Other Caprellids are up to 25 mm.

And it can fight: I saw these two ghost shrimps having 'a rumble in the jungle'. I am not sure which one won. This is also an invasive species, quite probably replacing our native species.

You can find them by the millions. I observed banded weed, Ceramium virgatum, a red seaweed, expanding and shrinking in a second. Quite strange because weeds don't expand and shrink in a second or at all. But it wasn't the seaweed, it were hundreds of ghost shrimps pulling back because of my appearance (just because I am big, not ugly).

Remember the film Aliens or Star Trek species 8742? Just fantasize this creature 5 meter high!

They feed by making 'kowtow's', slashing their claws - which are very big in comparison to their bodylength - forth and back. That way they collect little worms and crustaceans carried by the currents. As is quite common with crustaceans, they also cannabalise on little brothers and sisters or other species of Caprellids.

View from above. They are very thin, hence their common name.

Close up. The milky coloured protrusions are its gills.

Ghost shrimp with breeding pouch: the protrusion with the red dots. Back at home selecting and editing photo's is a time consuming job. But a rewarding one! It is a kind of arm chair marine biology. Magnifying photo's to 100% reveals a lot of creatures I hadn't recorded at the time. Thanks to Canon's excellent 5D II and Sigma's 50 mm macro (still waiting for a new version of Canon's 50 mm macro).

Opossum shrimps (order Mysidacea) can be found in hundreds near the pontoon.

Female with breeding pouch.

Opossum shrimp swimming in its typical upright posture.

Paleamon serratus, common prawn (D: gezaagde steurgarnaal), the biggest prawn in Dutch waters. The pontoon and seaweeds offer a perfect hiding place for prawns, little crabs and fish. In Dutch such a habitat is called 'kraamkamer': a delivery room.

Palaemon elegans, rockpool prawn (D: sierlijke steurgarnaal): the more common species in Dutch waters.

BEHIND THE SCENE

The magnificent six (photo 2010: Mart Karremans).

Entering the water at low tide can be hazardous, especially carrying your costly gear (photo 2009: Mart Karremans)

Jumping of another pontoon: not the proper way when carrying your camera (photo 2009: Mart Karremans).

Me with an Ewa-marine underwater housing. Okay for snorkeling, but not for diving (photo 2008: Mart Karremans).

My weekly dive and snorkel-buddy Ruud Versijde (right) and me, both equiped with Ikelite underwater housing (photo 2010: Mart Karremans).

The pontoon (photo's 2010: top and 2009: below: Mart Karremans).

Me in need of a lot more lead (photo 2010: Mart Karremans).

In my next post: sessile animals on the pontoon like sea squirts, sponges, sea-anemones and a few passer-by's.

Literature:

Een aanwinst voor de in Nederland voorkomende Caprellidae: Caprella acanthifera (Leach, 1814): nu autochtoon op onze kust. Marianne Lighthart. Het Zeepaard, no. 2, 2010.
Handbook of the Marine Fauna of North-West Europe, P.J. Hayward and J.S. Ryland, 1995. ISBN 0198540558.
The Hamlyn Guide to the Seashore and Shallow Seas of Britain and Europe. A.C. Campbell and J. Nicholls, 1976. ISBN 0600343960.

The web:

For the most recent Latin name of species: MarBEF Data System

Smooth flutemouth (Fistularia commersonii): long mouthed bigeye

2010-03-23T19:09:00.042+01:00

This is Fistularia commersonii, the smooth flutemouth. It looks like an amalgam of the needlefish (family Belonidae), the trumpetfish (Aulostomidae) and pipefish (Syngnathidea). It seems a bit prehistoric with its elongated body, long mouth and very big eyes.

Last January my wife and I were on a diving and snorkeling holiday at Kandooma, the South Male atoll of the Maldives. The last day we went snorkeling we took off with a boat to the 'house reef'. Before we left the jetty I saw a few strange, big-eyed elongated creatures hiding under it. So after this trip I went snorkeling under the pier. The water was a bit murky, but I could see the flutemouths making their appearance.

When it was light they were quite shy. After dark they were not as shy as I expected. They didn't seem to be bothered by my appearance and the flashlight.

The smooth flutemouth has a few other names: the reef or bluespotted cornetfish, the coronet and the gladde fluitbek (in Afrikaans, which is a kind of my native language).

Its common length is 100 cm, like the specimens I saw and photographed, but it reaches 160 cm. Its tailfin has a long filament. This filament is lined with sensory pores, which may serve as a long range sensory system for detecting prey.

The flutemouth hunts fish and small invertebrates, like crustaceans, squid and cuttlefish. It is active day and night. Litlle Red Riding Hood: 'Why do you have those big eyes? To see better in the dark....'

Its beak looks big but has a small finish. I am sure the flutemouth sucks its prey with a gigantic force into its mouth, snapping its prey in two. Just like pipefish do. This snapping sound of a relative small pipefish is easily heard. I would love to hear the snapping sound of the flutemouth! Hence its name?

Look at the map fot its distribution. Not to be seen in this map: the flutemouth has made its appearance in the Mediterranean. It is a so called Lessepsian species: a species that has made its entrance in the Mediteranean through the Suez canal.

A few websites with information about this species (click on it for a direct link):

Horn-eyed ghost crabs (Ocypode ceratophtalmus) of Koh Yao Noi

2010-01-10T16:57:00.028+01:00

When visiting Koh Yao Noi, an island near Phuket, Thailand, in 2007 I was so fortunate to encounter and observe horn-eyed ghost crabs, Ocypode ceratophtalmus (Pallas, 1772), on the beach.

I saw something moving on the beach, like a leaf blown by the wind. Just a leaf. Some time later it was something ghostlike, a swift moving transparent thing: the first ghost crabs. Very agile and - especially the small specimens - very well camouflaged. I saw one, and then more and more of these crabs scavenging the beach.

More

and more.

This is where they are hiding and appearing: self made burrows.

A young specimen leaving its burrow.

Features
Adults are easily recognised because of the long horned eyes. It gives them a funny appearance. Younger specimens are less easy to recognize: they lack the horned eyes. Poore (2004; see literature): ‘The stridulating organ, a rough area on the inside of the large cheliped (claw) is a more reliable character to differentiate the species.’ With this stridulating organ they can make sound. I can’t remember hearing a particular sound or it should be like the noise cicadas and later on the day crickets are making. Its carapace width is 40 mm and rather rectangular.

Captured to have a closer look. The only way to capture the ghost crab is to let it ‘escape’ into water, where it’s less agile. Observe the typical rectangular carapace.

All alone in the big ocean. Horn-eyed ghost crabs are semi-aquatic. They need water for reproduction and respiration. Staying too long in water they will drown.

After his more or less involuntary swim he touched ground: a few seconds later he ran away with amazing speed.

Excellent 360º sight.

A young(er) ghost crab without the typical eye-extensions.

Biology
Generally scavengers, they also feed on bivalve molluscs and will attack and eat turtle hatchlings and cannibalise members of their own species (Richmond, 2002). I can not remember a lot of hostility or seeing crabs with amputated claws or legs as is quite usual with species like Grapsus. When one came too close, the other crab(s) ran away. Maybe it is just a matter of having enough ‘lebensraum’.

I saw a lot of crabs sifting sand for organic matter.

Ghost crabs make deep burrows above the high tide mark. It was a real treat to observe the ghost crabs making or improving their burrows.

Poore (2004): ‘They rarely leave the burrow during the day. At night however they run quickly over the beach where they scavenge and are known to forage almost a kilometre away from the sea.’ The Ko Yao Noi-ghost crabs were very active during the day. Maybe there aren’t many predators on the island, so they can be bolder. And there was enough organic matter to scavenge on the beach at ebb tide.

The first excavation. The sand is blocking a perfect (360º) view. Dangerous: predators like birds - coming from the right position and keeping low - could ambush.

So throw it a bit further away.

This crab, making or renovating a burrow, is clever. He doesn’t want the sand blocking his sight around the burrow. So he makes balls of sand and moves them out of sight.

After all this hard labour he was ‘dancing’ on the sand near the burrow. Not for joy: by trampling on the sand the surface will get even smoother. And maybe it gets more solid, so the entrance of the burrow will stay firm.

An entrance with typical smoothing patterns. The sand thrown out of the burrow is still moist.

Typical treading patterns near the entrance of a burrow.

These crabs are well adapted to living in burrows. Branch (1983): ‘Ghost crabs have a cavity on either side of te body between the bases of the third and fourth legs, which is fringed with hairs. These hairs serve to suck water from damp sand and pass it through the cavity to the gill chamber. They also serve to filter the water to exclude sand or mud.‘

Distribution
Its distribution is the Indo-Pacific, so for me as a Dutchman it is as exotic as it looks.

Searching the web
I found an interesting and extensive report of the off-road vehicle-impacts on beaches in Australia. With a frontphoto of a crushed horn-eyed. Click here.

Literature

The living shores of Southern Africa, M. & G. Branch. 1983. ISBN 0869771159.
Australian marine life, G.J. Edgar. 2000. ISBN 187633438.
Marine Decapod Crustacea of Southern Australia, G.C.B. Poore. 2004. ISBN 0643069062.
A field guide to the seashores of Eastern Africa and the Western Indian Ocean Islands, M.D. Richmond. 2002. ISBN 9158687831.

Hiding in its burrow in the evening.

Sunfish in Oceanário

2009-11-05T09:52:00.014+01:00

I’ve seen it for real: a sunfish. Not in real nature, but while visiting Oceanário in Lisbon, Portugal. A strange and grotesque creature. Huge, leathery skin, small eye and small beak. It looks like an animal that has been on earth for millions of years.

The Latin name of the sunfish is Mola mola. Mola is Latin for millstone. Does it resemble a millstone? The ‘Zeevissengids’ (see literature) quotes that it makes a grinding sound. Grinding -> millstone -> Latin name?
The name sunfish (also ocean sunfish and trunkfish) may have something to do with a habit (see later). In Dutch it is called maanvis, i.e. moonfish, the opposite of the sun. What’s in a name? It must be a lack of fantasy on my part.

The colour of the upper part and fins is usually greyish brown, the lower half has a lighter colour, sometimes silvery. The green colour in the first photograph of the lower part is due to reflection of the water and the ground.

The sunfish can reach 4 meter and can weigh 2 tonnes. This specimen was about 3 meter long. How did they catch and transport this sunfish to the aquarium? As a juvenile?

It is generally epipelagic (the zone from the surface to around 200 m), occasionally to depths of 600 meter. It is rarely seen near shores. Sunfish tracked with electronic tags dived frequently (up to 20 dives per day) to depths of 600 m to feed. They are often seen drifting on their side at the surface as if basking in the sun. Hence its name? This behaviour may help the sunfish to keep their muscle temperature and metabolism at a higher level. Wheeler says (see literature) ‘To what extent this basking behaviour is normal and whether these fish are sick or disabled is not known, but the latter seems more probable’.
The sunfish is found in all oceans except polar seas. Nowhere is it common, but they seem to prefer warm temperate areas.

The fecundity of this giant fish is prodiguous: the ovary of a 1,24 meter female was estimated to contain 300 million eggs.

In the books I consulted it is mentioned that they eat jellyfish, comb-jellies, crustaceans and small fish. In inshore waters specimens have been found with seaweeds, brittle-stars, bagpipes and bigger fish in their gut.
They are not good to eat though Japanese fishermen are reported to relish the thick chewy blubber-like tissue under the skin, which they eat raw. You have to eat something if whale-meat is not available…

© Oceanário

If you are going to Lisbon you should visit the Oceanário. It exhibits aquaria with 500 different species in 7 million litres of sea water. Build in the form of a cross, two storeys high, there are several aquaria, looking like just one. The main aquarium ‘Global Ocean’, hosting the sunfish, is the most impressive one. The panels are made of acryl and about 30 cm thick.

For more information about Oceanário, click here.

Other species in Oceanário:

crevalle jack (Caranx hippos)

meagre (Argyrosomus regius)

Queensland grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus)

leopard shark (Stegostoma fasciatum)

Alaskan sea-otter (Enhydra lutris)

Literature:
Fishes of the world, A. Wheeler, 1975. ISBN 905746058.
Coastal fishes of Southern Africa, P. & E. Heemstra, 2004. ISBN 1920033017.
De vissen van Nederland, H. Nijssen, 1987. ISBN 9050110061.
Zeevissengids, B.J. Muus, 1966.

Weblinks:
http://www.oceansunfish.org/index.php

Grey seals, gannet and other discoveries

2009-10-14T14:08:00.031+02:00

A week ago I made a wonderful trip with Mart Karremans and Herman Nijhuis, two 'strandwerk'-friends, to the Westerschelde. We took kayaks to go to the Hooge Platen, a sandbank.

There is a small dune on the sandbank. It even has a name: De Bol.

Herman and Mart searching and studying molluscs. I went looking for patterns, shapes and colours.

The oysters had wonderful colours. The red-brown colour is due to iron in the ground.

A bivalve heavily pierced by the boring sponge Cliona celata.

Even rubbish is a photo opportunity.

When we approached it from behind, we first thought it was a great northern loon, Gavia immer (Dutch: ijsduiker). When we saw its head it was obvious: a juvenile gannet (Morus bassanus). I adore adult gannets with their beautiful yellow head fading into white, just as juvenile gannets, with their patterned feathers. We couldn't establish its cause of death.

It was perfect weather and a calm sea, so Mart and I decided to kayak to another sandbank near Breskens. En route we encountered around 15 grey seals (Halichoerus grypus).

It looks just like a submarine. Grey seals, especially the males, are impressive animals. The bridge of their nose is higher and make them look less cute than the harbour seal, Phoca vitulina (Dutch: gewone zeehond). Males can reach 2,3 meter and weigh to 310 kilo. Two times I saw a seal jumping out of the water like a dolphin.

They were very curious and 5 seals followed us to the other sandbank. As soon as we landed, they lost their interest. When we paddled back, they followed us in minutes.

Photo: Mart Karremans

One of the beautiful patterns. More of this natural art I will soon reveal on my weblog: mick otten's nieuws van het fotografenfront
Wipe that stupid grin of your face! Sorry: kayaking with friends, perfect weather, curious grey seals and beautiful sand patterns. Why should I stop grinning?
Photo: Mart Karremans

Botrylloides and other tunicates I could not remember...

2009-10-01T10:36:00.039+02:00

Colonies of Botrylloides diegensis with hundreds of skeleton shrimps (Caprella spec.)

Having a blog and my last post was 3 march 2009... It's about bloody time for an update!

This post is about tunicates, also called sea squirts or ascidians. As strange as it may seem, these animals are chordates: in their short larval state they have a dorsal nerve cord that disappears when they settle on substrate. For more information about their anatomy, ecology etc. see the book and website reference at the end of this post.

At the age of 16, I bought 'The Hamlyn Guide to the Seashore and Shallow Seas of Britain and Europe' (Campbell and Nicholls, 1976). By then it was the first good illustrated and comprehensive fieldguide. I still recognise a lot of animals and seaweeds just from the illustrations of this book; they are etched in my brain. But now at the age of 49 I have problems remembering new species, because they are not in the Hamlyn Guide. And there are a lot of new species invading our Dutch waters.

As you can imagine, my copy is dirty, stained and swollen of all the times I browsed it.

So I forced myself to give a lecture about tunicates for our local 'Strandwerkgroep Waterweg Noord'. Now I do recognize a lot of the ascidians! And I hope Marco Faasse (a very enthusiastic friend who devotes - I think - all his leisure time to marine biology) will no longer be annoyed by my ignorance...

On my blog follows a summary of the more common Dutch ascidians. I start with a few colonial species: Botryllus and Botrylloides.

BOTRYLLUS SCHLOSSERI
golden star tunicate (Dutch: gesterde geleikorst)

All kinds of colour and form of Botryllus growing on a turned stone at Neeltje Jans, North Sea. The golden star tunicate is a species I recognize easily, because... it is described and depicted in the Hamlyn Guide :-)

This ascidian is one of my favourites because of its colour and the star like arrangement of the zooids (the individual embedded animals).

Botryllus growing on sea-lettuce (Ulva spec.).

BOTRYLLOIDES VIOLACEUS
(Dutch: gewone slingerzakpijp)

This colonial ascidian is a more recent invader. It is easy to distinguish from Botrylloides diegensis (see the next species) because it is always in one colour. On the web I found an English name: orange sheath tunicate. A confusing name as you will see in the next photographs.

B. violaceus growing on another tunicate: Styela clava.

The pink and orange ascidians are B. violaceus, the skin coloured one is Didemnum vexillum.

BOTRYLLOIDES DIEGENSIS
chain sea squirt

It looks a lot like B. violaceus but fortunately it is always two coloured. Fortunately? It is for a lazy marine biologist like me: I don't have to collect and dissect them under a microscope.

Like lava form an erupting volcano.

Some invaders I really love!

Photographs taken at Wemeldinge (Oosterschelde), Neeltje Jans (North Sea) and 't Koepeltje (Grevelingen).

Book reference:

British Ascidians, Synopses of the British Fauna No. 1, R.H. Millar, 1970. ISBN 124966500.
Handbook of the Marine Fauna of North-West Europe, P.J. Hayward and J.S. Ryland, 1995. ISBN 0198540558.
The Hamlyn Guide to the Seashore and Shallow Seas of Britain and Europe. A.C. Campbell and J. Nicholls, 1976. ISBN 0600343960.

Website:

Cryptosula: photographs of marine flora and fauna by Marco Faasse
Anemoon: photographs and descriptions of Dutch marine flora and fauna

Hammerhead shark: what a coincidence!

2009-03-03T23:03:00.012+01:00

On the 15th of February my wife and I travelled from Lake Tarawera to the the Waitakere Ranges in New Zealand (North Island). We took a break near Wharekawa at the Firth of Thames. It was just a spot near the beach. Sitting down I saw a lot of seaweed and one dead fish washed ashore.

It looked as if the head of the fish was torn apart. But having a closer look it appeared to be a shark: the common or smooth hammerhead (Sphyrna zygaena)! The first one I ever saw and pure coincidence. Its size was 50 cm; the maximum size is 400 cm.

I think, looking at the eye, he(?) died a few hours earlier that day. I saw no wounds and have no idea what caused its death. It is a pity I couldn't take it home.

In New Zealand Fish, C. Paulin, ISBN 0-909010-85-4 it is quoted as 'Uncommon in New Zealand waters'.

Introduced shore crabs: pest or not?

2008-11-04T11:30:00.016+01:00

One of the most common crabs at Vancouver Island's shores: the purple shore crab (Hemigrapsus nudus).

The purple shore crab belongs to the Grapsidae, a family of crabs with a rather square carapace, usually not more than a few centimeters wide.

The typical environment of the purple shore crab: mud, sand, little rocks and debris. They prefer the upper tidal zone, are quick and well adapted to living out of the water.

After turning over a rock you can see up to 25 crabs getting away. It is very important to gently place the rock back. Otherwise animals and seaweeds living upon or under the rock will die. Grapsid crabs are swift and not aggressive, however you frequently find specimens with amputated legs or claws. Maybe because they are very abundant and are fighting for space. Apart from that: a lot of crab species are cannibals.

This is obvious a relative of the purple shore crab: the Asian shore crab (Hemigrapsus sanguineus), in Dutch called blaasjeskrab. It is a recent import (since 2003) on the Dutch shore. It originates from Japan's surrounding waters. It is not as abundant as his relative: the penicillate shore crab (Hemigrapsus penicillatus), in Dutch called penseelkrab.

A pest or not?
The penicillate shore crab has replaced the common shore crab (Carcinus maenas)
on the Dutch upper tidal shores. However, the much bigger common shore crab is still abundant.

The common shore crab (Carcinus maenas).

In Canada and the USA, where the introduced common shore crab is called the European green crab, it is as in the Netherlands: it has difficulty competing with native grapsid crab for space under rocks (from: Pacific Coast crabs and shrimps, by G.C. Jensen, 1995, ISBN 0-9300118-20-0).
The common shore crab is considered a pest in South-Africa: 'it poses a threat to many local molluscs. When it invaded the east coast of South-Africa, it caused millions of dollars of damage to the shellfish industry' (from: Two Oceans, G.M. Branch, 2005, ISBN 0-86486-672-0). A quotation from Australian Marine Life by G.J. Edgar (1997, ISBN 1-876334-38-X): 'the species, introduced from Europe in the ninteenth century, is an active predator and has probably affected the populations of a number of local animal species.'

Massive: the sunflower star

2008-10-21T11:25:00.014+02:00

Picture yourself as a clam lying on the bottom of Deep Cove bay, Vancouver Island. This starfish approaches you. He likes you, as food. But hey, you're a big and strong clam. So no worries.

Wrong! This is the sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides). Full-grown it can be 1 meter wide, have 24 arms and 15.000 tubefeet and weighing in at about 5 kg.

This specimen was ‘only’ 60 cm.

A juvenile of 6 cm.

A few of the more than 10.000 tubefeet. Have you ever been drunk? Than you know how hard it can be to control your locomotion. How does the sunflower controls that many feet? And he is quick: up to 160 cm in a minute.

Juvenile starfish can look quite different from adult specimens. This one looks even stranger: he has has lost a few arms and is regenerating them (the smaller arms). He walks next to an ochre star (Pisaster ochraceus).

If you want to read more about the starfish of Vancouver Island, here is an excellent book:
Sea stars of British Columbia, Southeast Alaska and Puget Sound, 2000. Philip Lambert. ISBN 0-7748-0825-X. ubcpress.ubc.ca. It is cheap (Can $ 27 = € 19) and describes 43 species of starfish. I think there’s no place on earth with that many species of starfish!

Deep Cove bay

2008-10-04T15:33:00.028+02:00

I found the plumose anemones (see previous message) on a jetty at Deep Cove bay. The jetty and bridge are overgrown with mussels (Mytilus spec., picture above), sea anemones, hydroids, sponges and seaweeds.

Deep Cove bay is in the vicinity of Sydney. We stayed at the Gazebo bed and breakfast, in a village between Victoria and Sydney. A perfect spot for nature and culture-lovers. Have a look at: www.gazebo-victoria.com

The bay is as sheltered as the rocky shore beneath the Wickaninnish is exposed. Because of the exposure both shores are inhabited by different creatures. However, some species like the ochre star (Pisaster ochraceus) and the red rock crab (Cancer productus) are found on both kind of habitats.

The ochre star (Pisaster ochraceus) resting and searching for prey on the bridge.

The jetty seen from above. A lot of people have no idea of the creatures on and under the jetty. For example the sunflower star; a starfish that can grow to 1 meter, with 26 arms and 15.000 tubefeet! More about this starfish in a next message.

The screw of a ship overgrown with hydroids, a colony of animals related to sea anemones.

Even ropes are footage enough for sea anemones, hydroids, seaweeds etc. As you can see, the water was a bit misty and muddy.

I have snorkelled two times at Deep Cove bay for more than 4 hours. After 2,5 hours I swam to the beach to drink and eat something and to get warm: the water felt a bit warmer than at Tofino. At Tofino I measured a water temperature of 10˚ Celsius!

The giant plumose anemone

2008-10-04T12:45:00.019+02:00

It can grow up to 1 meter high: the giant plumose anemone (Metridium farcimen). The specimens I saw were not higher than 25 cm. It’s one of my favourite sea anemones because of its hundreds of fluffy tentacles.

Compare the tentacles of the giant plumose anemone with the green surf anemone (see one of the previous messages).
The thinner the tentacles the smaller its prey. So the plumose anemone needs a lot of tentacles to catch plankton. The green surf anemone lives of individual organic and much bigger prey, like fish, crabs etc.

The short plumose anemone (Metridium senile), another Metridium-species you can find at the west coast of Canada. This is a Dutch specimen. The two species look very much alike. The big difference is its size. The short plumose grows up to 20 cm, the giant to 1 meter. Find a real big one and you're sure of the species!

Since 1974 I own a cold water sea aquarium. It hosts mostly sea anemones (27 species) and a few starfish, crabs and fish. I have collected the animals myself from all over the world (Europe, New Zealand and South Africa).

Since two years it’s more difficult to take them home because of the regulations at airports: you are only allowed to take home flasks containing no more than 10 cc of liquid. But I still managed to take a few sea anemones and starfish home.
Before we got to the security check I dumped the seawater in a toilet. To my surprise they didn't ask me to open the bucket, after it went through the rontgen scanner. At a store we bought a few bottles mineral water. In the plane I mixed the mineral water with the aquarium salt I brought from home (divided in portions of 1 liter in serviettes), till it was salt enough (I had to taste it...). The animals responded well and the only thing I had to do to keep them well, was to shake the bucket a bit now and then.

The man sitting next to my wife was looking at us as if we where doing something very illegal. But I understand: who is mixing white stuff in serviettes with mineral water in a plane?

The beautiful plumose on this picture is now my guest.

The Lewis's moonsnail and other shells

2008-10-03T04:08:00.009+02:00

This is the Lewis's moonsnail (Euspira lewisii). It lives in and on sand where it preys on bivalves like the Pacific gaper (Tresus nuttallii) and other bivalves. I saw this beautiful snail at Deep Cove bay, Vancouver Island.

It’s the biggest moonsnail I have ever seen: up to 14 cm across, shell only.

It grasps its prey with its sticky foot. Then he drills a hole in it, pours an acid in the shell that dissolves the weak tissue of the bivalve. Then he sucks it up.
The moonsnail has a gigantic foot: as you can see the foot is much bigger than the shell itself. For those who do not realise: the shell is the external skeletal structure of this animal (as our internal bones).

Here you see a shell that has an unfinished hole in it. It was attacked by a moonsnail. But he stopped drilling. Maybe because he realized it was already empty? Or he had to leave it because of an approaching sunflower star? In the Netherlands we frequently find bivalves with two, three or more - sometimes unfinished - holes.

This thing that looks like a broken vase are eggcases of the Lewis’s moonsnail. You can see a helmet crab hiding under the eggcases.

After portraying for a few pictures the Lewis’s moonsnail decided he had enough of me and, using his foot as a plough, dug himself in the sand. They frequently go ‘underground’ in search for prey.

The shell of the Pacific gaper (Tresus nuttallii).

This is the siphon, a retractable tube like organ, of the Pacific gaper. With the upper tentacled part he inhales water for food (plankton) and oxygen. With the other - lower - part he emits the 'waste water'. Now you understand why the moonsnail has to dig himself in to search for this kind of prey.

Fish: sculpins and gunnel

2008-09-30T15:10:00.011+02:00

From above it looks like a tadpole, in profile it looks like a scorpionfish. There is a fish called the tadpole sculpin, but this is the buffalo sculpin (Enophrys bison). It belongs to a large family of fish called the Cottidae. There is quite a difference in appearance between the approximately 36 species found on the west coast of Canada. See the next pictures of the tidepool sculpin.

The tidepool sculpins (Oligocottus maculosus) I saw were not bigger than 8 cm, the buffalo sculpin can reach a length of 37 cm.

The brown Irish lord (Hemilepidotus spinosus), another sculpin. Brown Irish lord? What's in a name!
Easily overlooked, because he is well camouflaged between the weeds.

The saddleback gunnel (Pholis ornata) was curious, but when he realised what was looking at him, he jumped away and disappeared in the weeds.

Take a good look.

Orcinus orca: the killer whale

2008-09-28T14:38:00.017+02:00

Orcinus orca, the Latin name of the orca or killer whale. It means something like the creature from hell.

If I am not mistaken, this is Ruffles. He is the oldest male (they say 60 years old) of the pod. He is called Ruffles for the shape of his dorsal fin (see next picture).

Our captain knew the orca’s by heart because of the form of their dorsal fin. The upper left orca is Ruffles.

This is a male from a resident group of more than 50 orca’s.

Residents orca’s hunt mostly for salmon. Transient orca’s are the ones hunting whales.

We had a wonderful trip on a zodiac with a captain that knew – as he said and did – when to shut up. Just what I like: I want to enjoy them in all quietness.
For some free advertising: www.emeraldsea.ca
The captain trying to catch salmon to lure a bald eagle.

He did catch a lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus) that he released. No good for luring a bald eagle.

The bald eagle.

Seaweeds

2008-09-28T13:20:00.008+02:00

What’s this? It looks like a light bulb. Emitting light without an energy source? It will all be revealed in the next picture.

It is bull kelp (Nerecystis luetkeana). This brown seaweed can grow up to 20 m and even to 36 m in deeper water. It has a very large stipe (‘whip’), which is anchored to the bottom with a holdfast. The first picture is a stranded and bleached bull kelp.

Bull kelp can withstand very strong waves and it functions like a breakwave. Snorkeling in a bed of bull kelp, especially when there’s a lot of surf, can be very annoying. I got entangled in the weed, had to protect my camera gear and had to deal with a water temperature of 10 degrees Celsius (and I am using a wetsuit). Not for the first time: it made me seasick!

It’s also called bullwhip kelp. I think a better name, however what about the bull? In New Zealand there’s also a brown weed called bull kelp, but it is not at all the same species. I know it is important to have a name for an animal or plant in your own language, but I thank Linnaeus for the way he has given Latin names.
Do they know what they are looking at?

The flask shaped object, called a pneumatocyst, is filled with carbon monoxide and makes the bull kelp float.

A look at the rocky coast at Tofino covered in seaweeds.

Snorkeling between these weeds is like a walk in very dense forest. By now you will recognize the bull kelp. The other brown weed is feather boa kelp (Egregia menziesii). It takes a bit of fantasy, but I like its name.

Feather boa kelp underwater. It can grow 10 meters long.

Heavy and strong: the red rock crab and relatives

2008-09-26T17:12:00.013+02:00

When I was young I played for years and years with my toy knights. To be honest, up to my tenth birthday I wanted to be a knight. Maybe that’s the reason I love crabs: both are heavily armoured and crabs walk a bit clumsy like knights did in their armour of up to 40 kg!
This is a ‘heavy’ crab: the red rock crab (Cancer productus).

I found quite a few of these crabs in shallow water. They were ‘hiding’ under seaweeds. Because of their red colour they are easy prey for divers and I have seen crabs without claws. Taken because the claws are excellent food. And however I do like to eat crab, it makes me sick to see them amputated this way. At least leave one claw, so they are able to gather food and to regenerate!

The red rock crab can grow as large as 20 cm. It is a ‘nephew’ of our (European) edible crab (Cancer pagurus). They are quicker and more aggressive than the edible crab. So you better beware, because their pincers are big and very powerful.

The European 'nephew' edible crab (Cancer pagurus). I saved him years ago. He got stuck in a net, lost by a trawler and washed on the shore. Out of gratitude he gave me some time to take a few portraits. Doesn't he look cute?

This one is waiting for the female crab (you can see her lying under him) to shed her armour. When she has crept out of her old armour her new armour is soft and the male can penetrate her, so they are able to reproduce.

These red rock crabs are in the process of ‘making love’. Apart from protecting her against other animals, I have never seen any kind of courtship between crabs. This reminds me of an awfully bad King Arthur movie, where Arthur in armour was making love to his queen. Killing in a missionary position!

Another species of the Cancridae I found: the graceful crab (Cancer gracilis). This is a juvenile specimen of 45 mm wide.

The northern kelp crab

2008-09-20T12:32:00.001+02:00

This is the northern kelp crab (Puggetia producta). Most crabs are nocturnal, these crabs are not. They are not or not very well camouflaged and I have seen a lot of these kelp crabs in the open. Like this one clinging on bull kelp (hence the name of the crab). Kelp crabs are the second favourite food of otters. Then why don’t they hide or come out at night as ‘normal’ crabs?

Northern kelp crab clinging on bull kelp in a strong current.

This old(er) crab has lost a few walking legs and one claw. When a crab sheds of his armour to grow, he can regenerate lost legs, claws and other parts.

The pink-tipped anemone and green surf anemone

2008-09-15T21:26:00.002+02:00

Let's start with the smaller one: the pink-tipped anemone (Anthopleura elegantissima). This anemone clones itself into big colonies. Sometimes they are densely packed. There’s no aggression against each other, but they do war against other colonies.

A lot of closed pink-tipped anemones at low water.

The irregular way the tubercles are arranged on their column are a distinctive feature of the pink-tipped.

The pink-tipped anemone and green surf anemone next to each other.

The green surf anemone (Anthopleura xanthogrammica). The sea anemone referred to on the website of the Wickaninnish Inn (see the previous message) is probably the green surf anemone. It’s the most obvious of the two: it has a jade-green colour and it is large. I found specimens up to12 cm, but it can be as large as 30 cm. The pink-tipped anemone can also be quite large, but most specimens were 3 to 6 cm.
So yes, you can find Anthopleura elegantissima on the shores of the Wickaninnish, but it is impossible to oversee Anthopleura xanthogrammica!

This is one of my favourite pictures of marine life I took on Vancouver Island. So if you don’t like it, you better quit my blog :-)

Vancouver Island, Canada

2008-09-13T17:21:00.009+02:00

I start this blog with Vancouver Island, an island at the west coast of Canada. Jacques Cousteau famed the marine life of this island as the most impressive of the earth's cold water region. I have visited this island in July for two weeks; the pictures are taken above and underwater.

Ik start deze blog met Vancouver Island, een eiland aan de westkust van Canada en door Jacques Cousteau geroemd als het mooiste onderwater gebied van de gematigde zones (lees: niet tropische wateren). Daar ben ik in juli twee weken geweest en heb daar boven en onder water foto's gemaakt van het bijzondere zeeleven.

The rocky habitat beneath our beautiful resort: the Wickaninnish Inn at Tofino. Have you ever encountered a hotel site that says 'find a sea anemone, Anthopleura elegantissima, we think'. See www.wickinn.com. And it's the right species, however... see one of the following posts.

My first encounter with the ochre or purple star (Pisaster ochraceus).

The ochre star is a sturdy, leathery starfish that preys on barnacles and snails but mostly on mussels. It attaches itself very strongly on rocks with its tubefeet. They’ld better: the surf can be very heavy.

The lifespan of this starfish is up to 20 years; there is a record of a specimen as big as 50 cm. It’s very abundant on the rocky shore of Tofino: I found up to a 1.000 ochre stars in a relative small area. Their thick, sturdy arms remind me of ‘Barbapappa’.

Underwater it has a fluffy appearance, due to the papulae. They give the starfish its basic colour.

Two juvenile and an older ochre star.

Another juvenile specimen.

Tofino's rocky coast.

I have been at places on the coast of South Africa, near Capetown, where I saw aggregations of sea anemones. Then I was impressed. At Tofino I could only stammer things like awesome, massive and cool (as the Canadians would say): I saw thousands of green surf anemones (Anthopleura xanthogrammica) and pink-tipped anemones (Anthopleura elegantissima). For me this shore is like a candy store.

These are all green surf anemones.

Next post: more about the green surf anemone.