Blue Heron Bridge Trolls

[guyharrisonphoto]

the tragedy of the commons

A very perceptive comment. On this very forum, some people claim their "needs" and some people claim their "rights" all of which are legitimate in their own personal light, but who looks out for the whole?

Still, people are able to look outside themselves and act for a common good, otherwise we would still have law of the jungle. Can only hope that people do this for the BHB since action in the form of legal protection does not seem to be forthcoming.

 

[mntlblok]

Kevin: can't help you in ID'ing the trunkfish, but the photos are great! Thanks for posting

Thanks, Sport. I just *love* finding that sort of cool stuff at the bridge. 3 to 4 hour dives are conducive to that, even if I can only make it down once a month or so, and can't recruit many "spotters".

I've now run into the pea sized orange version three times, the ping pong ball sized green ones twice, and the dark gray marble sized one once. I've yet to run into the larger green ones that are starting to get more of the trunkfish shape, but that are just so beautiful and cool looking. I've seen them posted here and elsewhere. Am now pretty sure that they're all the buffalo trunkfish - or just plain ole "trunkfish".

Kevin

 

[Biminitwist]

Guy
Last Sat while checking the vis and current prior to our dive I saw two morons with slurp guns and bright pink bait nets terrorizing the west bridge seawall, I told them it was illegal to collect tropicals from the park which they claimed ignorance so I pointed out the prominent sign 50 feet away. I saw them resume their activity as I walked away so went over and reported it to the lifeguards who radioed for the park ranger. I didn't stick around to see the outcome. Three hours later coming out I ran into four young guys with spearguns at the sailboat ramp just heading in. I told them it was illegal around the bridge and headed back to my truck. After taking off my gear I came back to wait for Kelly to finish her dive (I think women make air down there) and saw the kids float was out front. I saw a park ranger walking towards the fishing pier and told her I think those divers are spearfishing and she radioed FWC. They materialized so fast it was amazing. Some Blue lights and heated conversation ensued and the kids came back looking embarrassed. I asked what happened, and they said the officer let them off with a warning after an ass chewing and threatening them with a 500 dollar fine and six months in jail. Hanging out with the ranger she said this happens every weekend. I asked what the best thing to do was since I rarely see a ranger and she said tell the lifeguard and they will radio the park ranger. Good to know as I try to limit my interaction with said lifeguards.

Doing the right thing didn't wreck my dive and more importantly my dive buddy didn't find any once in a lifetime critters without me
John

 

[guyharrisonphoto]

Thanks very much, John. Now I know what to do if I see this again. Glad to see that there is in fact some legal protection for the area.

 

[Biminitwist]

Well I'm not sure who to go to before or after lifeguard's hours but I'm in favor of Tazers.....
:comeandgetsome: and I'm sure a lot of people honestly don't know

 

[trigfunctions]

This is a reminder that our next FREE Blue Heron Bridge Night Dive is this Thursday (Aug 16th) and you are all invited.

If you are interested, please call our Riviera Beach store (561) 845-2333 to sign up. Dive starts at 7:36 PM; high tide is at 8:26pm.

Are any of the regulars here going to do the night dive Thursday? I'm going to try. I'd love to meet up with some of you in person and maybe dive together, at least for part of the dive. I've been doing the bridge "solo" the last several times and it's always different to have more sets of eyes for spotting things, especially at night.

 

[jet126]

Well I'm not sure who to go to before or after lifeguard's hours but I'm in favor of Tazers.....
:comeandgetsome: and I'm sure a lot of people honestly don't know

I'm sure a lot of people do honestly not know ... but ignorance has never worked as an excuse for breaking the law.

Here is the local FWC number to call any time you see illegal activity at BHB: (561) 625-5122

 

[Biminitwist]

I think it is usually the difference between a warning or a ticket if the officer buys your "but I didn't know " bit.
Thanks for the BHB specific FWC number though I "heard" they don't get involved with the collection of tropicals but the park ranger said they definately do and have to frequently primarily weekends.
John

 

[jet126]

John you could be right about collection of tropicals - but I can tell you for sure that they will get involved with spearfishing.

 

[mntlblok]

Greenies

View attachment 132466View attachment 132467View attachment 132468

Apparently, all three of these guys are versions of baby trunkfishes. Anybody got information otherwise? Also, seems the "locals" know these as "sponge bobs".

I *have* seen the adult version of the buffalo trunkfish in the general area where all these were shot. All survived.

Kevin

Quite the coincidence, whilst processing some more pics from late June, I ran across a couple of shots that I had both forgotten and hadn't realized had a "later version" of one of these guys in it. The real coincidental part is that my new "e-friend", Benjamin Victor, had just coined a term for the slightly older version - "greenie" - to go with the "spongebob" nickname. He had told me that the three above were all almost certainly of the same species, as all other trunkfish babies have distinctive appearances. Below is the "greenie" pic that Dr. V sent me.




Below, in the background of what I assume to be a nearly full grown trunkfish, is a "large-ish" greenie, which I hadn't noticed in the pics prior to "processing".

Kevin