by Marc Levenson | Jun 2, 2013 | Conservation, Fish, Seahorses, Travel
There are endless dive spots to visit in the world, but there’s no doubt in my mind that Galapagos is on the “bucket list” of every diver out there. I know it has always been on mine, and it absolutely did not disappoint. While the rules and regulations have changed a bit over the last few years with regard to combined land/water-based trips, you can still experience both underwater and topside locations on the same trip. Ideally, it would be perfect to book two weeks or more in Galapagos, the first half diving, the second hiking around on land, but since this much time off from the grind is not always an option, I think 10 days, including travel, is a reasonable amount of time to get the feel of this incredible place and hit the major dive spots and explore a bit on the islands.South of Mexico, West of Ecuador, a small group of islands draws divers year round.I booked my trip through DEEP BLUE (http://www.deepbluegalapagosdiving.com) and they did a fabulous job with every aspect of the trip. The staff was extremely knowledgeable about the history of the areas visited, diving conditions, and all manner of wildlife both underwater and on land. As can be expected, there is a huge emphasis on conservation when diving in Galapagos due to its status as a series of marine parks and protected areas, but more than that it’s an incredibly important place not only because of the unique biodiversity, but because Galapagos is a location paramount to the landscape of scientific knowledge as it exists today. Galapagos is the birthplace of modern evolutionary theory as described by the British naturalist Charles Darwin during his voyage there by way of the HMS Beagle in 1835; Darwin’s observations of the animal life, in particular the numerous variations and specific adaptations of avian fauna on the islands, served as the basis for the development and eventual publication of his unified theory of evolution in his best-known piece of literature, The Origin of Species (1859). Visiting Galapagos and standing in the actual footsteps of this great man is akin to making a pilgrimage to Mecca for science nerds, and I’d recommend this experience to anyone who values the importance of biological diversity and how we, as a species, both understand and protect it for future generations.Now, into the blue! We spent a day in Quito, Ecuador to get acclimated to the elevation. The next day was a short flight to Guayaquil on the coast where we shortly boarded the DEEP BLUE vessel and began the overnight cruise to San Cristobal. We arrived in San Cristobal around noon on a monday, where we did our checkout dive and got our gear ready and tested out for the rest of the week. Not a whole lot other than rockfish, starfish, urchins, and playful sea lions in some chilly 65° F water, but a neat dive nonetheless. On Tuesday we arrived at Punta Carrion. We did two dives that day and started to really get a feel for what Galapagos looks like under the waves with its characteristic rocky slopes and sandy reef flats punctuated with big boulders. There were plenty of sea lions, the ubiquitous schools of colorful creole fish, and lots of lovely little endemic dorid nudibranchs (Tambja mullineri) with black and blue stripes. White-tipped reef sharks visited us on both dives.We cruised all night to arrive at Wolf Island in the morning on Wednesday where we did three dives (water temp of ~73° F). The sheer amount of epic marine biomass present here will knock your fins off, as will the ripping current. Massive schools of scalloped hammerheads, eagle rays, turtles, white-tipped reef sharks, Galapagos sharks, silky sharks, Guineafowl puffers, and a variety of snappers were common sights on these dives. Bring your gloves, try not to drop your regulator out of your mouth as you say “WOW” to yourself every 10 seconds, and get ready to swim. You might be a little fatigued from fighting with a hefty current (4 knots when I was there in September), but the sore muscles are easy to ignore when you’re staring up at hundreds of hammerheads. This is certainly an incredible sight that will be seared into your mind’s eye for the rest of your existence. On Thursday we arrived at Darwin Island where we were greeted by a lovely pod of dolphins that showed us the way to the very recognizable Darwin’s Arch. We spent both Thursday and Friday diving Darwin, the northernmost island of Galapagos, where we completed a total of six dives. There is so much to see that it’s impossible to cover everything in this paragraph. So I will summarize Darwin as follows: back roll out of the boat, descend, realize that you haven’t breathed because the beauty of this undersea paradise literally took your breath away, put the regulator back in your mouth after you recover from your daze of slack-jawed awe, and breathe. Now, here comes the visual bombardment summary: turtles, sharks, jacks, sharks, rays, whale sharks, eels, sharks, octopus, whale sharks, parrotfish, sharks. Did I mention sharks?! You will be madly in love with Darwin Island, and you probably won’t mind the boobies all over the deck of the boat either. Brown-footed booby birds of course, get your mind out of the gutter! After two days of nothing but amazement, we arrived at Punta Vicente Roca on Saturday. Our departure south carried with it a massive drop in temperature. Grab every layer of dive gear you brought and put it on, and you’ll still be cold. The water temperature here was a balmy 51° , and the frozen extremities reminded you of it regularly. But the cold water was no match for the incredible creatures that inhabit this area. You soon forget you can’t feel your feet and start to notice all the unique animals here. The primary attraction in this dive spot is the endemic red-lipped batfish (Ogcocephalus darwini), which resides in about 100ft of water. Sea lions keep you company here as well as seahorses, cephalopods, all manner of crustaceans and then holy Mola mola! Right in front of you there are three ocean sunfish relaxing at a cleaning station letting you snap pictures until you run out of space on your memory card! Penguins, sea turtles, schools of salema, and marine iguanas accompany you in the rocky shallows, an area comprised of huge boulders covered by a layer of perfectly manicured macroalgae that looks more like the greenest rolling hills of Ireland than an underwater scene off the coast of South America. Finally, we reached our final dive destination of Cousin’s Rock on Sunday. We did two dives here, and while this spot has a good reputation, the day we were there the water was extremely choppy and the visibility was terrible. We still saw picture-worthy creatures, but the less than ideal diving conditions made it more of an exploratory experience than a photographic one. A few eagle rays were spotted along with quite a few sea lions, including some very young and equally curious pups. Black coral bushes grow under rocky ledges and slipper lobsters adorn the many crevices of the triangular Cousin’s Rock. In the afternoon, we enjoyed the dry land of the Charles Darwin Research Station on Bartolome. The following day was spent back in San Cristobal visiting the Charles Darwin Interpretation Center, photographing the famous Galapagos tortoises, and walking along the beautiful beaches covered with sunning sea lions. This sea lion rookery was fantastic for photos and was a great way to end an unforgettable week. We flew out of Quito, Ecuador the following day after some delicious local food and lots of chocolate. I hope to return to Galapagos some day, and honestly feel like this is one of those dive destinations that absolutely cannot be missed. The importance of conservation is a message that permeates every aspect of your time spent in Galapagos and stays with you long after you’ve returned to the likely less fantastic place you call home. Places like Galapagos are worth more to us as a species than any sum of wealth imaginable, and need our full devotion to their continued preservation and protection.Additional reading:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galápagos_Islands by Reef To Rainforest | May 20, 2013 | Aquaculture, Events, Fish
You’ve seen the black shirts…this is what it’s all about. Workshop Preview by Tal Sweet Since 2010 the Marine Breeder’s Workshop has been at the forefront of captive breeding events in North America. The Workshop is part of the Marine Breeding Initiative (MBI, www.mbisite.org) and was created to bring some of the biggest names in marine ornamental fish and invertebrate captive breeding together in one place to speak about various topics related to captive breeding. MBI participants attending the workshop might be recognized for personal breeding accomplishments. The concept of the Workshop is to provide attendees with the latest information and plenty of time to interact with the speakers and other breeders in an intimate setting. The first event, in 2010, was the first time that Dr. Matthew Wittenrich and Mathew Pedersen were able to speak about the topic at the same event. Other past speakers include: Eric Cassiano, Todd Gardner, Jay Hemdal, Randy Reed, Richard Ross and Dan Underwood. This year’s list of speakers continues the tradition of exceptional people talking about the latest in saltwater breeding. Matthew Carberry – Sustainable Aquatics Chad Clayton – Reed Mariculture – Culturing rotifers and copepods for use in marine ornamental larviculture Martin Moe – Structure and operation of a unique culture system for rearing the larvae of Diadema antillarum, the long-spined sea urchin of Atlantic coral reefs David Watson – Cardinalfish, beyond Banggai, with tips on constructing a larval rearing system for the small fishroom Veterinarian David Watson will talk about his experiences breeding Cardinalfish, being one of the few (if not only) aquarists to successfully breed the Pajama and Margaritophorus Cardinalfishes at home. This year’s Workshop is held at the Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills, MI. on Saturday, July 13, 2013. The Cranbrook Science Institute will be home to the MBI Workshop for the 4th year in a row. There is an informal reception at the host hotel on Friday evening. The Workshop kicks off at 9AM on Saturday and includes lunch at noon. On Sunday afternoon there will be a lakeside BBQ at Fishtal Propagations in nearby Waterford, MI. For more information or to register, visit www.mbiworkshop.com – Tal Sweet is the co-founder of the Marine Breeding Initiative and proprietor of Fishtal Propagations, a home-based marine fish hatchery in Southeast Michigan. CORAL Magazine & Reef2Rainforest.com are proud sponsors of the 2013 Marine Breeder’s Workshop. by AquaNerd | Apr 10, 2013 | Corals, Eye Candy, Photography, Science
embedded content This video may have already been making the rounds for the past couple of months, but it’s certainly worth mentioning here considering its focus. Put together by the University of Hawaii and the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, the clip features up close footage of a popular aquarium specimen, the Pocillopora damincornis coral. As the video progresses, we get to dive deeper into the coral’s tissues, starting on the surface with some amazing fluorescing coral tissue and moving into individual polyps for a look at their internal structures and symbionts. Wrapping up the up close look at Pocillopora, we actually get a great view of its messentarial tissue expelling symbiont algae and even live coral larvae moving about on their hunt for an appropriate settlement area. Following the Pocillopora, the video gives us a microscopic look at other coral species, including Leptastrea, a couple Porites species, and Fungia. And no coral video would be complete without touching on the danger they face in the wild, most notably bleaching. The video avoids mentioning the often politically divisive topics like global warming and ocean acidification, instead keeping the message much simpler by stating that we need to have a better understanding of corals and their endosymbiotes, and how those two react/interact with their environment. Truly, this is one of the coolest videos we have every seen or posted here on the AquaNerd Blog, and it’s a great science lesson for coral keepers.
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by Reef To Rainforest | Apr 8, 2013 | Conservation, Corals, Fish, Industry, Opinion
06 Apr, 2013 Seeing red yet? Trade in maricultured and aquacultured corals may (or may not) have a chance. (ORA Red Goniopora / image Matt Pedersen) 11:59 PM EST April 5th, 2013 has passed and Regulations.gov appears to still be accepting public commentary, so you have another 11 hours or so to say your piece online. [Update, comment period has now closed, you can view the document and public commentary here] In light of this one last chance, Julian Sprung, well-known author, MASNA Aquarist of the Year, founder of Two Little Fishies, and a member of the CORAL Sr. Advisory Board, shares his opinions on why failing to speak up isn’t an option. Opinion by Julian Sprung Foreword to my commentary letter [download PDF of Sprung's public commentary] In early January Dustin Dorton and the owners of ORA organized a meeting at ORA with people from NOAA and a group of people from the aquarium industry, from PIJAC, from the University of Florida Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory, and the Florida Division of Aquaculture. I was also invited and was glad for the opportunity. It was an extremely informative meeting for everyone. There were a few key take-home messages. 1. It appeared that this train (ESA listing of corals) was not stopping. 2. The room for control in making a decision is set up by the structure of how ESA implementation works, not by any individuals at NOAA. As they put it, our agency (NOAA) does not have the discretion, only the ESA sets the rules. 3. Public commentary should focus on factual errors in the literature cited in the proposal, and should bring to light any new data from the scientific literature. Public commentary regarding the collateral impacts on industries affected by an ESA ruling have no influence on the decision, because that is the way the ESA is written. They put it this way: Our comments should focus only on whether a particular species is threatened or not. They should not focus on whether NOAA should or should not list. This of course puts the position of public commentary for the most part in the category of useless. Does the general public have the qualification to discuss the threatened or endangered status of specific coral species? 4. Although a read of online information about the ESA suggests that any listing of corals as endangered would make possession of them illegal, the representatives from NOAA assured us that a listing as endangered would not prohibit the keeping of those corals already in aquariums. It would not criminalize our hobby. What it would do is prevent the TRADE of corals listed as endangered. That means no import no export no sale. It was a little unclear whether that also meant no in-kind trading. Basically this threatened the farmers, shops, frag swaps, and any form of business engaged in the commerce of corals, in the USA. By contrast, a listing as threatened would not prevent commerce of those species. Given the conflicting information out there, what do you suppose would happen if corals were to be listed? 5. We were told that NOAA had the ability to control the activity of the US Fish and Wildlife Service at the USA ports of entry, so that FWS would not utilize any ESA listing as a reason to shut down coral imports. Do you believe that? Scientists have already pointed out a broad range of errors in the science used to support the ESA listing proposal, and the statistical methods used. New data has also been presented. Evidence from the scientific literature has been presented that shows the premise of the need for listing any corals is in error. Comments have already been submitted about the status of individual species proposed for listing. While it canʼt hurt to add more to that in the few hours that remain for public comment, and there is no shortage of areas to explore for finding error, I believe that enough is enough. I am not proud of the letter I wrote. There are many very good scientists at NOAA. I donʼt wish to offend them but I canʼt help but be offended by what is happening, and felt the need to call what I see. Why should NOAA tell us that we cannot question the use of the ESA for coral conservation? Who are we really talking to with this public commentary? The ESA is not an agency, NOAA is. Are their hands so tied by the ESA structure and the petition submitted by a litigious Center for Biological diversity? Craig Watson, who also was at the meeting at ORA, submitted a letter that pointed out the fact that using the effects of greenhouse gas emissions as a basis for listing corals that are not now threatened with extinction sets a terrible precedent and exposes the ESA to attack. After all, as he put it: “If the predictions on climate change used in the petition and the subsequent review are accurate, there is very little life on this planet that one could not argue would be equally ʻthreatenedʼ or ʻendangered’ …..If approved and adopted by NOAA, the precedent established by this use of the ESA will result in a list of endangered species that is so inclusive, there will be little to no meaning to the list of endangered life within the ESA program.” Do you support the premise of the Endangered Species Act? I do. What I donʼt support is misuse of the act, and misuse of science for a policy agenda. Aquarium hobbyists are encouraged to submit their written commentary to NOAA. - Julian Sprung Download or View Julian Sprung’s public commentary as submitted. PIJAC’s recommendations on how and what to submit - US NOAA Coral Species Listing by Luiz Rocha | Jul 13, 2012 | Conservation, Fish, Science
A new report published this week in the journal PLoS ONE indicates that two groups of iconic coral reef herbivores (parrotfishes and surgeonfishes) are in relatively good shape. Life history characteristics of fast growth and high fecundity, combined with the fact...
