Blue Heron Bridge Trolls III

[PBcatfish]

If fisherman are intent on killing cuda (because they are a perceived nuisance) making laws that prohibit retaining more than one on the boat, will not do much to reduce mortality.

There are areas where I typically bring up 5 or 6 cudas before I get a whole snapper to the boat. In a day, I may catch a dozen or so. In the past, I would keep all the cudas. Now I only keep my limit, which is 2 per person or 6 per boat, whichever is less. For me, that frequently means 2 or 4. There is also a size limit now too - Fishing regulations for Barracuda, Great in FL Atlantic State Waters

In my case, the mortality is reduced because I respect the laws, even if I disagree with them. I don't know how many other fishermen follow the rules as closely as I do.

 

[PBcatfish]

CDC and others estimate that only 2-10% of Ciguatera cases are actually reported in the United States. In the US Virgin Islands, there are an estimated 300 cases per 10,000 or 3% of the population per year; a similar rate is found in the French West Indies.

The big sport fishing boats that frequent the islands, often bring barracuda bycatch to shore to give away to the locals as a good will gesture. The locals are generally very happy to get them. Sometimes the whole village is sick the next day. Their test of placing a small piece of fish on an ant hill & seeing if the ants take it, is not particularly conclusive.

Ciguatera is a real threat. It is common in some areas. Generally speaking, the larger predator fish are the most risky to eat. A general rule of thumb is to only eat cudas that are as long as you forearm or shorter. In some reef areas, even ones that size can be problematic. Certain areas are hot spots for breeding Cig. If you step on a cold floor & it feels hot, or if you pick up something hot & it feels cold, you likely have a case of Cig. It takes a long time to get rid of & future sensitivity, to even small additional doses, remains for many years.

Cig builds up via something called bio magnification. Each time a big fish eats another fish that has a little Cig toxin in it, the toxin remains in the big fish after digestion. Over time, it builds up to the point where enough toxin is present to make a person sick. Cudas get the headlines as the common carriers of Cig. But big groupers can also carry it, depending on where & what they eat. The Goliath groupers around here have been protected for many years & are mostly quite old. They almost certainly carry a massive dose of Cig. After many years of zero take regulations, I am now hearing that a limited number of Goliaths are being taken legally. I would not eat a single bite out of any of them. ...but that's just me.

 

[PBcatfish]

When I first started diving in the early 90's, almost every single beach dive I would see at least 1 baracudda. Now I rarely if ever see one off the beach.. Broward County.
I attribute it to poor water quality. The trumpetfish are mostly gone too. Used to see them on every dive. Now, lucky to see one every 20 dives.

In Palm Beach county, I still bring up trumpet fish, in the 2 foot range, as by catch now & then. They are usually in 50-75 feet of water, over structure. It's amazing how big of a bait fish they will try to eat. They seem content to choke themselves on something that is too big to swallow.

Cudas are thick here. If I went looking for them, I could find dozens in a day, some over 5' long. Certain reefs have large schools of them. Mooring fields in the area generally have a 3-4' cuda hanging under at least a quarter of the boats. I frequently see little ones at BHB, right as I enter the water. Usually they hang in 3-5 feet of water over sandy bottom between the bridges. They also hang not far from the footings of the big bridge & just north of there. Those are often slightly larger ones, with 2' being common & 3' being not particularly rare. Cudas usually hang around the outer bounds of an area of structure that attracts other fish. They then occasionally dart in to grab a quick bite when the little fish don't seem to be looking. One of the local fishing guides makes his living showing tourists how to catch cudas in the inlet. The ones there seem to average 3-4'. We have no shortage of cudas in Palm Beach County.

An interesting video about cudas that starts off with one eating a lion fish & covers a wide range of information, closing with a bit about Cig poisoning -

 

[PBcatfish]

@PBcatfish, your comments always make me give further thought on the images of different species I post. I appreciate that, thank you.

I have never found a live Dolly Varden (Hepatus epheliticus) at Blue Heron Bridge, either dead like the one in the photo or just the carapace. According to inaturalist the box crabs, four species of which are recorded at BHB (I have never seen one anywhere but BHB), are genus Calappa, the most common being the Flame Streaked Box (Calappa flammea). For sure I would have thought the Dolly Varden was a box crab until just checking on this.
...

I found a picture of the crab I was thinking of. The markings are similar, but the body shape is a little different. It looks like you got it right the first time. Thank you for humoring me.

Smooth Box Crab (Calappa calappa)

Smooth Box Crab from æ°å¤§æ´²å¤§é, æµ·å£å¸, æµ·åç, CN on January 20, 2020 at 12:46 AM by lsc2188. æç¹çé¦å¤´è¹

inaturalist.ca

The few that I have caught locally looked more like this - Flame Streaked Box Crab (Calappa flammea) the body shape is more similar to yours but the claws and the markings are a little different.

 

[PBcatfish]

Slippery Dick, a species or wrasse

Edit; incorrect photos, see #1950, thanks @Scuba_Jenny

I some times see a wrasse like that being called a SD, but in this area, I more commonly see that name used as a reference to a sand tile.
Most guys throw the sand tiles back because they count against your grouper limit, but some guys keep them for specialty bait. I've never had anything bite on them.

This, more official, source, seems to favor the wrasse that was previously indicated here - Slippery Dick

 

[MrChen]

Any new condition reports?

 

[Pipehorse]

Any new condition reports?

I am a little short on time right now, but I will give conditions, and follow up with my usual posting by editing this later.

Went to the bridge today for diving. Arrived at 0750 for an 0900 high tide. The park was not crowded. From the sea wall the water was deceptively crystal clear. Upon entering on the westside at 0820, the visibility was a hazy 25-30ft,with a whitish blue color, not bad but not as good as I expected from the sea wall observation, then again, vertical visibility is almost always better than horizontal visibility. Sea temp was 79f, and I switched to my Bare 5mm today anticipating somewhat colder water. Follow up with images later.

Following up, wondered around the westside, under the pier the and bridge stanchions down, to the "solid wall stanchion and back up the south westside, 2 hours and 25 minutes. Did a REEF fish survey 65 species in 70 minutes. Spent about 15 minutes untangling a crab from some fishing line. With eight legs it must be easy to get tangled, but I am always surprised at the complexity of the tangle. I think the most complex tangle I ever came across at BHB was a pair of mating Horseshoe Crabs. I don't know Horseshoe Crab anatomy that well, but I think they have way more than eight legs, to lazy to check it out right now. However, I do know off the top of my head that Horseshoe Crabs, are not actually crabs, and are far more closely related to spiders than they are to crabs, that they have ten eyes, that spiny spiky looking thing most people would call a tail is actually called a Telsin, they have blue blood, and that the eggs of Horse Shoe Crabs are essential to the survival of Red Knots. Red Knots migrate from Tierra del Feugo (the southern most part of South America) to their breeding grounds, in the northen most parts of North America, one of the longest migrations of any species on the planet. They stop along the way in Delaware and Chesapeake Bays to consume Horseshoe Crab eggs. Anyway must have spent 30 minutes or so untangling those poor creatures, I did not manage to get all the line off them but enough so they had mobility. But I digress, the ever present school of Gray and Brassy Chub that is always in the vicinity of the fishing pier, or bridge stanchions seems to collect more individuals every time I see it. Had to be at least 300 individual Chubs there today. Been trying to add more species to inaturalist.org for the Blue Heron Bridge Project, and lately Sponge species seems to easy way to do that. We take them for granted almost like part of the background, found an interesting looking Yellow Sponge, species unknown to me at the moment. Also observed a really interesting Butter Hamlet today, i.e. the saddle on the caudal peduncle was irregular in shape, and it had a black teardrop on the cheek. Respectively, Butter Hamlet, Juvenile Spadefish, Orange Sponge, Spadefish School, Spadefish School, and Yellow Sponge.

 

[Pipehorse]

Went to the bridge for diving today. Arrived at 0945 for an 1100 high tide, the park was not crowded. It was a beautiful day weather wise, sunny low 70's little to wind. As I drove over the bridge it was difficult to gage the water color, but as I turned into parking looking at the finger piers the water appeared to be blue. Parked the truck and went to take a look along the seawall, I could see the bottom but just barely, and water color was a mix of blue green white. I usually try to keep my expectations low for visibility at the bridge, but considering the visibility was workable at LBTS this weekend and the wind has not been blowing I was a bit disappointed today. I guess the ground swell I was seeing down LBTS is shaking things up a little more up here. Geared up, and entered the eastside at 1015, Visibility was 5ft, with a very white bluish color to the water. Sea temp was 78f. Did a REEF fish count 47 species in 65 minutes. Found a very interesting looking crab, despite having spent time this afternoon trying to identify it, I still have no idea what species it might be. So in the meantime I am calling it "Very Cool Looking Crab". What I find very cool about it is the way the claw arms are flattened out, and the length of the claw arms compared to the carapace. Also observed a Bandtail Searobin, Pygmy Seabass, very interesting Tunicate, Atlantic Thorny Oyster, Hairy Blenny, and Red Ridge Clinging Crab. Respectively, Atlantic Thorny Oyster, Bareye Hermitcrab, Hairy Blenny, Tunicate, Pygmy Sea Bass, Very Cool Looking Crab, and Red Ridged Clinging Crab.

Btw, in the last post I made here, the last Friday the Yellow Sponge, is not a sponge its a Tunicate.

 

[MrChen]

Speaking of horseshoe crabs, here's one of my old videos of two getting it on.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Following up, wondered around the westside, under the pier the and bridge stanchions down, to the "solid wall stanchion and back up the south westside, 2 hours and 25 minutes. Did a REEF fish survey 65 species in 70 minutes. Respectively, Butter Hamlet, Juvenile Spadefish, Orange Sponge, Spadefish School, Spadefish School, and Yellow Sponge.View attachment 757877

Looks like a red boring sponge..