Blue Heron Bridge Trolls

[mscott556]

Hey Rat-man,
It is not a flounder. It is a side-gill sea slug.
A Pleurobranchus crossei.
You can read about it onpage 114 of Caribbean Sea Slugs.
If you don't have the book, you can get it from Amazon.

Yikes, a whole book on slugs? I might pick it up eventually. Thanks

 

[fisheyeview]

Hey Rat-man,
It is not a flounder. It is a side-gill sea slug.
A Pleurobranchus crossei.
You can read about it onpage 114 of Caribbean Sea Slugs.
If you don't have the book, you can get it from Amazon.

Seems like a good book to have. Do you know anything about the authors?

 

[Biminitwist]

Seems like a good book to have. Do you know anything about the authors?

It is a great book though it's always more fun to hear it from Anne herself.
Very good reference material, I am using it as a hit list of wild slugs I haven't seen yet.
I only wish they were all that big so my spotter wouldn't get all the glory.....
and by the way, if you thought that might be a flounder a book on slugs could be just the ticket
John

 

[fisheyeview]

Loved my copy of it, but my ex got custody of it because Anne put a not in it to her.

 

[Reck Diver]

Should have been a good dive today. I saw some of the usual critters,(my tiger goby is gone...) a few that were new to me, but the most disturbing was the intentional STANDING on live rubble by students, obviously directed by the instructor.
bad divers.wmv - YouTube

I was fuming. Instructors, please, this is very live bottom. If you want to do these kinds of skills, do a beach dive and only use the bridge as a last resort. Animals almost got killed today.

I don't think you are going to have much of an effect on the conduct of instructors and students at Phil Foster Park. On the upside, you should know that the critters on the bottom at the Blue Heron Bridge are very common throughout the ICW from Jupiter to Boca.

 

[scubajim 1]

I went here for the first time on Saturday. It's pretty neat. I was amazed by the abundance of life there. So different from what I"m used to seeing. Are there areas where there is more of a reef? We stayed primarily over the sandy areas and saw many rays and starfish. I also would like to know what these wormlike creatures are that come out of holes in the sand. When you come near they quickly retreat back into their holes. I've never seen anything like them. They are skinny and full of bristles.

What you say were likely garden eels Tracy. Next time you plan to visit why don't you see if one of the "Trolls" can give you a tour. Most of us love to show off the site.
There is little in the way of coral but there are plenty of areas where the sponge grows, the westside has a great "swim through" between the boat channel and the bridge foundation pilings. The easside has lots to see under the bridge itself.
Glad you enjoyed your trip!

 

[danvolker]

Should have been a good dive today. I saw some of the usual critters,(my tiger goby is gone...) a few that were new to me, but the most disturbing was the intentional STANDING on live rubble by students, obviously directed by the instructor.
bad divers.wmv - YouTube

I was fuming. Instructors, please, this is very live bottom. If you want to do these kinds of skills, do a beach dive and only use the bridge as a last resort. Animals almost got killed today.

We need to find out what Dive Shop this was, or each new violation like this is. Then we all need to talk about THAT SHOP, ALOT! I happen to know that Force E, Pura Vida, and Jupiter dive Center have all pledged NOT to allow this from their instructors. A year ago, one instructor was FIRED for such a violation.

One poster mentioned these creatures are all over the Intracoastal.
This is not true, in the concentrations they are in at the BHB, or in the species diversity. We have dived near the mangroves a mile north of the blue heron bridge, where you would expect even more optimal conditions for diversity and volume, yet there is next to zero nudibranchs or anything close to the life common to the BHB. We have dived the bottom up to a mile south as well, with worse results.

This is an area that should be protected, and any dive instructor that thinks it is OK to march students around the bottom over the rich marine life areas, needs to get NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT FOR IT.
I am happy to shoot video when I see it, and then help with the ID later. There are good shops doing the kneeling drills to the north of the west fishing bridge, where the bottom is like beach sand, and where they disturb nothing.
There are also some good places like this on the far east side off the piers in 19 feet of water. All it takes is an instructor that cares about ecology, and that has some instructing skills. I am thinking that the worst offenders, are also the worst instructors.
There are lots of us with cameras, why don't we find out?

We can have a great thread for this on scubaboard...what a great place for revealing photos

---------- Post added ----------

Part of the problem, is that several shops are going to BHB instead of ever using a pool....From what I hear, the first dive they do is like a resort course, where with no skills whatever, they tour the group around the sights of BHB, with many students thrashing the bottom the whole way...the next dive they do is the kneeling dive...where they learn skills.....

I think they should learn skills before they are allowed all over the BHB area...this could be mandated by ERM if it has to be. And the kneeling should be in the areas like beach sand, as mentioned above....This can be brought up to Environmental Resource Management as well.....First we should see if we can handle this with photos of offenders and negative reinforcement....if this does not work, I think a meeting with ERM is in order.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

I don't think you are going to have much of an effect on the conduct of instructors and students at Phil Foster Park. On the upside, you should know that the critters on the bottom at the Blue Heron Bridge are very common throughout the ICW from Jupiter to Boca.

yanno, you are right. I, alone, shooting crappy video won't do much. But if each of us spoke up and let good instructors know they are doing good, and let others know to stay away from bad diver practices, WE might start to change the attitude that BHB is a good place teaching OW students.. (which is an awesome place.. when done correctly)

 

[TracyN]

What you say were likely garden eels Tracy. Next time you plan to visit why don't you see if one of the "Trolls" can give you a tour. Most of us love to show off the site.
There is little in the way of coral but there are plenty of areas where the sponge grows, the westside has a great "swim through" between the boat channel and the bridge foundation pilings. The easside has lots to see under the bridge itself.
Glad you enjoyed your trip!

Thanks Jim. I definitely want to come back. It would have been nice to have a guide though. None of us had been there before. I'd like to get down again once the weather clears. This is one dive that I can pull myself out of the caves to do.

 

[scubajim 1]

Thanks Jim. I definitely want to come back. It would have been nice to have a guide though. None of us had been there before. I'd like to get down again once the weather clears. This is one dive that I can pull myself out of the caves to do.

Just sent me a PM. If I don't have students I'll be happy to be your guide and maybe even induct you into the Trolls.