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DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #904: THOSE AREN'T PUMPKIN SEEDS! Come spring I often find a lot of what look like pumpkin seeds on hard surfaces at the bottom of the dive park. Halloween is long gone so they aren't the work of underwater pumpkin carvers. Oh, how I used to love scraping out those...

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #903: NOT YOUR PLAYBOY "BUNNY" Many years ago I was diving within a boat mooring field during a time few boats were present. I came across a strange creamy colored mass on the bottom. Having spent time at Antonio's Pizzeria, I thought it looked like a batch of Mama Mia's...

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #902: GET YOUR VITAMIN A FROM A JAR! Way back in the late 60s, before I moved to Catalina, I feared sharks. All my diving had been in freshwater and I doubt any had worked their way thru the St, Lawrence River and Great Lakes to the shores of Lake Michigan. When I took...

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #901: PLEASE SWEAT THE LITTLE STUFF Back when I was doing my graduate work at UCSB, my focus initially was on the marine algae in our waters. Many of them are difficult to identify because they can assume different shapes under different environmental conditions. Others...

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #900: FIN IN MOUTH No, I didn't forget to filet my latest fish for dinner. Nor did I swallow a live goldfish whole. Last month I stuck my dive fin fully into my mouth during an interaction with another diver. You're probably wondering if I'm doing yoga these days to get...

Way back in my grad school daze, I was studying to gain the credentials necessary to be a "real" marine biologist. I had already done research funded by the National Science Foundation that was published in peer-reviewed journals for a number of years. Back in 1969, before the time of e-mail, I...

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #898: ALGAL SYSTEMATICS Way back in my grad school daze, I was studying to gain the credentials necessary to be a "real" marine biologist. I had already done research funded by the National Science Foundation that was published in peer-reviewed journals for a number of...

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #897: YET ANOTHER MYSTERY Albert Einstein reportedly said "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." Well, in my scientific pursuits ranging from the galaxies of the Universe to the critters in a tidepool...

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #897: YET ANOTHER MYSTERY Albert Einstein reportedly said "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." Well, in my scientific pursuits ranging from the galaxies of the Universe to the critters in a tidepool...

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #896: MOSS "ANIMULES" Many dwellers of the terrestrial portion of Planet Ocean are not well-versed in the critters of the 70% of our planet covered by water. Why else would the PC crowd have to rename starfish as sea stars, jellyfish to sea jellies, etc., etc? Anyone who...

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #895: MEET YOUR RELATIVES! Many of my readers know that human beings (species Homo sapiens sapiens) share a large percentage of our DNA (99%) with chimpanzees. The behavior of some of us illustrates that we have not evolved as far from them as we claim. Many feel a...

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #894: GPS, GIS and MPA Government agencies often use three character acronyms. You've probably heard of the FBI, CIA and NSA. I'm not a member of any of those (but I think at least one of them must have a file on me from my days as a 60s radical!). Well, biologists and...

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #893: METRIDIUM Sea anemones don't get much respect and I recently realized I had not yet written about one genus I've never seen in Catalina waters even down to depths of 200 fsw. I've had to dive the colder waters of Wreck Alley down in San Diego to film them on the...

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #892: NO, MY OCTOPUS TEACHERS Many divers and non-divers have viewed a popular video recently entitled "My Octopus Teacher." Most have raved about it and it received a 4.9 out of 5.0 rating on Netflix. The score on Rotten Tomatoes, 3.5 out of 5.0, was probably closer to...

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #891: THE FISH HAWK Back in the days when I served as marine biologist and underwater videographer on Lindblad Expeditions eco-cruise ships in the Sea of Cortez, Belize and Honduras many of our passengers were birders and carried binoculars and long telephoto lenses. I...

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #890: KELP SEX PHEROMONES Many Homo sapiens believe in using chemical attractants to entice members of the opposite sex. The ladies use perfumes with various fragrances while the men douse themselves with Old Spice and other after shaves. Personally, I've never found the...

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #889: MISSING IN ACTION? Due to my self-imposed quarantine and a pinched nerve in my back making even walking a bit painful, I have not made a single dive in December of 2020. Like everything else, I hope 2021 is a much better year (although I have no intention of trying...

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #888: SOLE SURVIVOR Recently a Facebook friend from San Diego, Rocio Bunker, posted an interesting video showing parasites on a fish known as the C-O sole (Pleuronichthys coenosus). I was intrigued by this since I had never seen these parasites on fish in our island...

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #887: DEAD LEOPARD No, I'm not referring to the group Def Leppard. I'm not a fan of heavy metal... unless it is gold. I just completed my 200th dive of the year and thought I'd comment on an unusual sighting from that dive (and #199). Not long ago 200 dives in a year...

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #886: GOT THE COBALT BLUES AGAIN Divers in warmer waters are familiar with large barrel sponges. Unfortunately the only ones in our waters seem to be at much deeper depths, and even though I'm a very "deep" person I no longer go there! We do have a number of sponge...