DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #729: MY LUCKY CHARMS
You can be sure this will NOT be a column about General Mills' Lucky Charms cereal. Rather disgusting to see the high sugar content of cereals today. I don't even add a pinch to my Raisin Bran, GrapeNuts or Shredded Wheat in the morning. Okay, I'll confess that I did use it on my Wheaties when I was younger and needed about 5,500 calories a day to fuel my body for competitive swimming. Those days are long gone.
However, a few weekends ago it became apparent that I did need some luck on my dives. People have been reporting the presence of giant sea bass (Stereolepis gigas) in our waters for weeks. However I struck out the few times I dove to try to find them. Maybe I do need prescription lenses in my mask. I see the smaller stuff but these huge "bass" have eluded me. Fortunately I've seen hundreds of them over the last two decades, but it is always exciting to see another.
I should clarify that the giant sea bass is not a bass or even a grouper. It is a member of the wreckfish family. And it's common name should not be giant black sea bass or black sea bass either. The name black sea bass is already taken by a species in the Atlantic Ocean. These two names were often used earlier, back into at least the late 1800s, because once they were landed by anglers and expired, they often turned a solid black or charcoal in "color."
However our giant sea bass (GSB) can assume a number of different body patterns with "colors" strictly of greyscale. They can be silvery, light with black spots or even adopt a camouflage pattern common in open water fish with a light belly color and a darker dorsal surface. These patterns can even change fairly quickly based on my observations and reports from other biologists.
So, I hoped my "luck" (or lack thereof) would change before I have to go under the knife again. I was pleasantly surprised when Liz Taylor, daughter of marine biologist extraordinaire Dr. Sylvia Earle (aka Her Deepness), messaged me to say she and her husband Ian were coming to Catalina. They wanted to know if I would dive with their sons Taylor and Morgan and Morgan's friend Kohl. Sure!
Taylor took one of Sylvia's cameras and went out with Ian to practice shooting images. Morgan and Kohl did two dives with me. On both dives we ran into giant sea bass, a different one each dive, and were able to get within a few feet of them. My dive buddies were ecstatic (and so was I... my "unlucky" spell was broken). I really enjoyed being able to find these two fish and give my dive buddies their first glimpse of them. They were surprised when I told them after the dive that the two were "small" individuals at a mere five feet or so. Dr. Larry Allen's team at CSUN has measured one that was nine feet long and I've seen several in the 7 1/2 ft range.
Sadly there were few good studies of these fish back before they were overfished in our waters. Although early anglers brought in the whole fish to weigh, biologists at the time did not use the otoliths (bones in the ear) to determine their age and I don't think CDF&G biologist Dr. John Fitch had much opportunity later on. Many of the giant sea bass he saw were commercially caught and usually beheaded (losing the otoliths) and gutted (losing valuable information about their diet).
I have only filmed one feeding from a distance while seated in a submersible in Lover's Cove. It was impossible to see exactly what the fish sucked up when he opened his mouth. When I worked with a Japanese film crew on a one hour documentary about these fish for NHK (Japan's public TV network), the final version showed a GSB with a lobster in its mouth. I didn't see this being filmed and the crew wouldn't tell me if they captured the footage naturally or hand fed the GSB.
Based on a single incident noted by Fitch, nine bonita were found in a GSB's stomach. While GSBs can reach pretty good velocity on short spurts, running down a bonito is unlikely. They may have been bait used by the angler to take the fish. Abalone have also been seen in stomachs, but it must be pretty difficult to overcome the ab's hold on the rocks unless it was out on the sand. Known prey species include fish like sting rays, skates, small sharks, flatfish, kelp bass, barred sand bass, blacksmith, sheephead, sargo and ocean whitefish; and invertebrates such as tuna or red crabs, mantis shrimp, lobster, octopus and squid. What? No tasty seaweed salad?
The family left to head back to their hotel, but I decided to finish off the rest of my tank and did a third dive. That actually doubled my total number of dives for the year. Yes, sad, I know. Did I see a giant sea bass while diving solo? Not even a hint of one. I may need Taylor, Morgan and Kohl to return to see my next one.
© 2017 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of over 700 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page
Image caption: GSB with infected lip that healed and a spotted "black" sea bass; face-to-face and open wide (this really "sucks" big time)
You can be sure this will NOT be a column about General Mills' Lucky Charms cereal. Rather disgusting to see the high sugar content of cereals today. I don't even add a pinch to my Raisin Bran, GrapeNuts or Shredded Wheat in the morning. Okay, I'll confess that I did use it on my Wheaties when I was younger and needed about 5,500 calories a day to fuel my body for competitive swimming. Those days are long gone.
However, a few weekends ago it became apparent that I did need some luck on my dives. People have been reporting the presence of giant sea bass (Stereolepis gigas) in our waters for weeks. However I struck out the few times I dove to try to find them. Maybe I do need prescription lenses in my mask. I see the smaller stuff but these huge "bass" have eluded me. Fortunately I've seen hundreds of them over the last two decades, but it is always exciting to see another.
I should clarify that the giant sea bass is not a bass or even a grouper. It is a member of the wreckfish family. And it's common name should not be giant black sea bass or black sea bass either. The name black sea bass is already taken by a species in the Atlantic Ocean. These two names were often used earlier, back into at least the late 1800s, because once they were landed by anglers and expired, they often turned a solid black or charcoal in "color."
However our giant sea bass (GSB) can assume a number of different body patterns with "colors" strictly of greyscale. They can be silvery, light with black spots or even adopt a camouflage pattern common in open water fish with a light belly color and a darker dorsal surface. These patterns can even change fairly quickly based on my observations and reports from other biologists.
So, I hoped my "luck" (or lack thereof) would change before I have to go under the knife again. I was pleasantly surprised when Liz Taylor, daughter of marine biologist extraordinaire Dr. Sylvia Earle (aka Her Deepness), messaged me to say she and her husband Ian were coming to Catalina. They wanted to know if I would dive with their sons Taylor and Morgan and Morgan's friend Kohl. Sure!
Taylor took one of Sylvia's cameras and went out with Ian to practice shooting images. Morgan and Kohl did two dives with me. On both dives we ran into giant sea bass, a different one each dive, and were able to get within a few feet of them. My dive buddies were ecstatic (and so was I... my "unlucky" spell was broken). I really enjoyed being able to find these two fish and give my dive buddies their first glimpse of them. They were surprised when I told them after the dive that the two were "small" individuals at a mere five feet or so. Dr. Larry Allen's team at CSUN has measured one that was nine feet long and I've seen several in the 7 1/2 ft range.
Sadly there were few good studies of these fish back before they were overfished in our waters. Although early anglers brought in the whole fish to weigh, biologists at the time did not use the otoliths (bones in the ear) to determine their age and I don't think CDF&G biologist Dr. John Fitch had much opportunity later on. Many of the giant sea bass he saw were commercially caught and usually beheaded (losing the otoliths) and gutted (losing valuable information about their diet).
I have only filmed one feeding from a distance while seated in a submersible in Lover's Cove. It was impossible to see exactly what the fish sucked up when he opened his mouth. When I worked with a Japanese film crew on a one hour documentary about these fish for NHK (Japan's public TV network), the final version showed a GSB with a lobster in its mouth. I didn't see this being filmed and the crew wouldn't tell me if they captured the footage naturally or hand fed the GSB.
Based on a single incident noted by Fitch, nine bonita were found in a GSB's stomach. While GSBs can reach pretty good velocity on short spurts, running down a bonito is unlikely. They may have been bait used by the angler to take the fish. Abalone have also been seen in stomachs, but it must be pretty difficult to overcome the ab's hold on the rocks unless it was out on the sand. Known prey species include fish like sting rays, skates, small sharks, flatfish, kelp bass, barred sand bass, blacksmith, sheephead, sargo and ocean whitefish; and invertebrates such as tuna or red crabs, mantis shrimp, lobster, octopus and squid. What? No tasty seaweed salad?
The family left to head back to their hotel, but I decided to finish off the rest of my tank and did a third dive. That actually doubled my total number of dives for the year. Yes, sad, I know. Did I see a giant sea bass while diving solo? Not even a hint of one. I may need Taylor, Morgan and Kohl to return to see my next one.
© 2017 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of over 700 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page
Image caption: GSB with infected lip that healed and a spotted "black" sea bass; face-to-face and open wide (this really "sucks" big time)
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