DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #677: SEE... A SEA HORSE!
Those of you ancient geezers who can still read this fine print may remember the Ed Sullivan Show which he started off with "We have a REALLY BIG show." Of course as a youngster I was certain he said a really big SHOE and thought maybe he once played professional basketball. Well, this week I've got a REALLY BIG column for you!
Back on Valentine's Day while I was moping about not having a sweetie (but happy to save big bucks by not buying flowers, candy and a fancy dinner), CDS instructor Ruth Harris was out in the dive park. Her eagle eyes have discovered a number of critters including a lonely white abalone. On this dive she returned saying she had seen a sea horse!
Sea horses are extremely rare in Catalina waters. However, due to our unusually warm water this is the third sighting I've heard of in the last year. Usually I have to travel to exotic destinations to film them. Last week all I needed to do was kick out to the location Ruth described and... voila... there it was.
The Pacific sea horse (Hippocampus ingens) is known from Peru to the southernmost part of the US West Coast. If I could conjure up the big bucks, I could have made a trip down to Sandy Eggo where they have been found under the Coronado Bridge, in Mission Bay and even in La Jolla Cove. So it's not a "giant leap for seahorse kind" to make it up to Catalina.
The interesting thing about this one is that it was not a little baby that might have drifted up here in the currents, unless it was a while ago. It was about 4" in length and they can reach a foot, making them one of the largest species. Males are usually larger than females. Body color can vary depending on the background habitat. They may be brown, gold, maroon, white or a combination of colors.
Seahorses have fairly small, tubular shaped mouths. Food is swallowed whole so it must be small to pass into the body. Munchables include plankton, crustaceans and other small organisms.
Mating involves complex rituals, far more involved than what can be observed at the Marlin or Chi Clubs about 2:00 am. The female deposits up to hundreds of her eggs into a pouch on the male's belly. Yep, another fish species in which the female has wisely relinquished child rearing to her mate. Here the eggs will develop for several weeks before hatching as tiny miniatures of the adults (mini mes?).
I actually hesitated a bit before deciding to write this column. While I try to respect different cultures and belief systems, I think the PC crowd has gone way too far when they descended on the marine world. Anyone who can't tell that a starfish (er, sea star) or a jellyfish (er, sea jelly) is not a fish must have flunked freshman biology. I just hope they don't try to change the name of the seahorse in their zeal!
© 2016 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of over 650 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page
Image caption: Female seahorse filmed in the Casino Point Dive Park, Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, California.
Those of you ancient geezers who can still read this fine print may remember the Ed Sullivan Show which he started off with "We have a REALLY BIG show." Of course as a youngster I was certain he said a really big SHOE and thought maybe he once played professional basketball. Well, this week I've got a REALLY BIG column for you!
Back on Valentine's Day while I was moping about not having a sweetie (but happy to save big bucks by not buying flowers, candy and a fancy dinner), CDS instructor Ruth Harris was out in the dive park. Her eagle eyes have discovered a number of critters including a lonely white abalone. On this dive she returned saying she had seen a sea horse!
Sea horses are extremely rare in Catalina waters. However, due to our unusually warm water this is the third sighting I've heard of in the last year. Usually I have to travel to exotic destinations to film them. Last week all I needed to do was kick out to the location Ruth described and... voila... there it was.
The Pacific sea horse (Hippocampus ingens) is known from Peru to the southernmost part of the US West Coast. If I could conjure up the big bucks, I could have made a trip down to Sandy Eggo where they have been found under the Coronado Bridge, in Mission Bay and even in La Jolla Cove. So it's not a "giant leap for seahorse kind" to make it up to Catalina.
The interesting thing about this one is that it was not a little baby that might have drifted up here in the currents, unless it was a while ago. It was about 4" in length and they can reach a foot, making them one of the largest species. Males are usually larger than females. Body color can vary depending on the background habitat. They may be brown, gold, maroon, white or a combination of colors.
Seahorses have fairly small, tubular shaped mouths. Food is swallowed whole so it must be small to pass into the body. Munchables include plankton, crustaceans and other small organisms.
Mating involves complex rituals, far more involved than what can be observed at the Marlin or Chi Clubs about 2:00 am. The female deposits up to hundreds of her eggs into a pouch on the male's belly. Yep, another fish species in which the female has wisely relinquished child rearing to her mate. Here the eggs will develop for several weeks before hatching as tiny miniatures of the adults (mini mes?).
I actually hesitated a bit before deciding to write this column. While I try to respect different cultures and belief systems, I think the PC crowd has gone way too far when they descended on the marine world. Anyone who can't tell that a starfish (er, sea star) or a jellyfish (er, sea jelly) is not a fish must have flunked freshman biology. I just hope they don't try to change the name of the seahorse in their zeal!
© 2016 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of over 650 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page
Image caption: Female seahorse filmed in the Casino Point Dive Park, Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, California.
