Taking photo's, selecting, processing and... enjoying!

I had my last dive at December 11th. The water temperature was still okay: 6ºC. But, when diving in wetsuites, the problem is not in but out of the water. Drying yourself, getting warm, uninstalling your diving gear, cold fingers, toes and nose. Ready to catch a cold.

So instead of diving I have been browsing, selecting and processing hundreds of photo's I took of marine life in the Netherlands. In part it is like armchair discovery of marine life. When browsing photo's at 100% on my 23 inch display I regurlarly discover animals I hadn't noticed while diving. Like miniscule nudibranchs on hydropolyps. I try to identify every organism on my photo's. That takes a lot of time and isn't always possible. Sometimes the photo isn't good enough (not sharp enough, not enough contrast, too tiny), sometimes you just need to see another part of that animal or seaweed.

In their habitat: attached to shells or stones in sand or silt.

This post is about photo's I took of the small snakelocks anemone, Sagartiogeton undatus (NL: weduweroos). It is a stunning beautiful sea anemone and one of my favourites in the Netherlands.

Expanded anemone showing its column. Not the typical habitat of this anemone.

I try to take photo's of animals at their loveliest, but I also want to document the characteristics, behaviour and habitat. Just like my great source of inspiration: the exquisite images T.A. Stephenson (1935) made for The British Sea Anemones (bottom half image below).

I already had a few nice photo's of this beautiful sea anemone. But sometimes the conditions are better: clear water and a nice background. Or it's moving, eating or showing some kind of behaviour. That will always trigger me to try again.

Habitat: it looks like the specimen in the lower right corner is living in a tube like the burrowing anemone, Cerianthus lloydii (NL: viltkokeranemoon). That is not the case: the silt is compressed when the anemone is fully expanded.

Nice, but I don't like the white 'blob' behind the anemone (Didemnum vexillum, NL: druipzakpijp). One of the biggest challenges is finding an animal without white (flash reflecting) spots in the neighbourhood. Think about surrounding white shells and reflecting sandparticles....

Behaviour: one of my favourites with an expanded mouth. Give me a kiss!

Characteristic: the white line along the length of the tentacles.

My favourite at the moment. Beautiful colours, the composition I wanted, sharp where it is supposed to be sharp, nice backgroud and lighting. Or do I prefer the cropped first photo of this post (not the same photo) or the next more dynamic photo of the same specimen? What do you think?

So, you always try to do better. In the meantime enjoy the photo's you made!

All these photo's were taken in the Grevelingen (divespots Den Osse, Dreischor, 't Koepeltje). The small snakelocks anemone prefers rather stagnant waters, as in the Grevelingen. At certain spots it is abundant and even the most common anemone. It is also fairly common in the Oosterschelde.

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

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 (NL: gewone alikruik). At left just visible a dog whelk, Nucella lapillus (NL: 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 (NL: mossel).

The acorn barnacle, Semibalanus balanoides (NL: gewone 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 (NL: 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 (NL: gewone zeester) in cometform (NL: 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 (NL: haarpijpje) growing on bladder wrack, Fucus vesiculosus (NL: blaaswier).

Hardly visible (right/upper halve): Stauromedusa species, stalked jellyfish (NL: steelkwal), 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 (NL: 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

Last wednesday we spotted a lot of whelks, Buccinum undatum (NL: 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 (NL: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 (NL: 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 (NL: strandkrab).

Whales of Newfoundland (part 5)

Minke whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata (NL: 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 (NL: 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 (NL: 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 (NL: witsnuitdolfijn). Unfortunateley they weren't in a playful mood.

The humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae (NL: 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 (NL: 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 (NL: 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.