DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #799: GARY AT NIGHT: AFRAID OF THE DARK

[Sam Miller III]

Bill,
What a great timely article on the Black Sea Bass of my generation and the Giant Sea Bass of your generation.

The article should be reproduced as a hand out to all who visit your domain the Catalina Dive Park as a tribute to a true California diving tourist attraction the "Giant Sea Bass" ( after all these years still difficult to use GSB rather than Black Sea Bass)

A slight correction re Ron Merker's fish

The late great spear gun and camera housing maker Herb Samson of Coasta Mesa California set the first BSB spearfishing record with a gun of his own design

A few weeks later Ron speared a even larger fish, which is pictured on the back of his MG. I cannot identify the spear gun but recall it being one of Her Samson's early models Due to several circumstances Ron did not immediately register his BSB and a larger one was registered by as I recall a Bottom Scratcher club member from San Diego.

So Ron did have a record but never registered BSB record

Ron did set the Blue Fin Tuna record at Guadalupe island in 1963 (?) the same island and location that todays' divers set in a cage and watch GWS swim by

His record was smashed by Dr Terry Maas 18 years later

Keep up the great informative posting

Sam Miller. III

 

[drbill]

Sam, that was the reason I referred to Ron's GSB as a "world record class" fish instead of a "world record" fish. I didn't go into more detail on that as it was peripheral to the main point of the article.

Made a dive last week and ran into a few of these gentle Giants!

 

[MaxBottomtime]

You need to get out more. There is more to the mainland than just surf.
There are pockets of Broomtails groupers in Hermosa Beach, La Jolla and the Long Beach breakwater.
I received an email from Carrie Wilson of California Fish and Wildlife. Her friend Steve Carson is knowledgeable about these fish and sent me a brief history of the population in California.

The main population of broomtail and gulf groupers was artificially created by tuna boat skippers of the late 1940's and early 1950's bringing them back from the tropics in their bait tanks, and dropping them off in La Jolla. The fish grew large and tame, and a resident population became popular with the growing sports of SCUBA and free-diving in the 1950's, with divers going down and literally hand-feeding them, or practicing underwater photography.

In order to prevent spearfishing and hook/line anglers from taking these tame "pet" fish, the San Diego [including by the now-defunct "Bottom Scratchers" of San Diego

San Diego Bottom Scratchers Freediving Club

who were doing a lot of damage to them, they were protected. The very similar giant [black] seabass were common everywhere, so similar protections were not enacted for them until 30 years later.

However, the demise of the tuna fleet meant no new recruits, and the conditions in La Jolla were not quite suitable for spawning, so the population slowly died out. By the 1980's they were gone from La Jolla, and even the massive El Nino of 1983 did not bring any new fish north.

The protection remained on the books nonethless.

A handful of fish did come up with the 1997 El Nino, and apparently took up residence at Redondo breakwater. The 2014-16 El Nino brought a couple up to Laguna and even Long Beach. A recent catch INSIDE San Diego Bay seems likely be a transplant.

These fish are not rare further south, so it makes no sense to prohibit even their "possession", if legally taken in Mexico or elsewhere.

The original protection was intended for what would now be "illegally introduced" species, which by modern standards makes no sense.

Even given that they are unusual in CA waters, but very occasionally migrate here, its really no different than making it illegal to possess a king salmon here [VERY rare in SoCal], or yellowtail in Oregon [they caught about a dozen up there during last year's El Nino].

There are also any number of rarities [sierra, pompano, etc] that show up during El Ninos that are not protected.

However, if the grouper's superficial similarity to black seabass means "no take", that should not also mean "no possession".

Thanks,

Steve

 

[drbill]

Now, Phil... why would I want to give up the warmer and clearer waters of Catalina for the cold, dark waters you and Merry dive? Besides, due to my cancer, I would have trouble entering and exiting in the surf. Thanks for the additional info though.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

We have broomtails, wolf eels, many different nudis and inverts on this side of the channel. If we had your visibility nobody would ever dive Catalina.

 

[drbill]

Agree, Phil... especially based on your reports and images. However, I am not certified in Braille diving. Tee hee.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Sometimes we get lucky where we find these amazing animals.

 

[drbill]

DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #799: GARY AT NIGHT: AFRAID OF THE DARK

Back when I could dive frequently, I loved to descend during summer nights (sadly I never "met a girl crazy for me")! The nights were warm enough for me to dive after sundown and not freeze my fanny off (even though that would be an improvement!). Thanks to a consulting job a few years ago, I had some of those endangered greenbacks and was offered a deal I couldn't refuse on the new Sola 1200 lights by Scott Gietler at Bluewater Photo. I didn't even have to raise my debt ceiling since I paid cash. The illumination from those units was even across the frame and didn't have the nasty hotspots of my previous lights. All the better to bring home images and video for my readers and viewers!

In an earlier column about Gary Garibaldi's courtship and mating habits, I described how aggressively he protects his nest, and his thousands of potential offspring, from threats like egg eating invertebrates and fish, as well as SCUBA divers like myself. He is willing to confront intruders who might pose a threat and even inflict wounds on them as a number of divers have discovered. I have had Gary's brothers and cousins grab hold of my video rig and shake it quite ferociously when I tried to film them "in the act" or just defending their kids. Both the males and females will defend their feeding territories from possible competitors even prior to the onset of mating season.

However, once darkness settles over (under?) Casino Point, everything changes in the kelp forests and on rocky reefs. Some species like blacksmith and sheephead go into hiding for a (hopefully) safe night's sleep. Others like morays and the larger kelp bass come out of their daytime shelters to hunt, as well as lobster to scavenge. In Catalina waters where sheephead are abundant, sea urchins.hide during the day feeding on drift algae and come out at night to munch on Macrocystis (giant kelp) and its relatives. Of course they do have to watch out for the nocturnal lobster which are known to relish them and their "tasty" calcium carbonate skeletons! But even the bugs need to worry about another nocturnal predator, the most vicious one on Earth... humans. Of course anyone taking lobster out of Casino Point will be poaching.

Of course my focus this week is on Gary and his relatives, so what happens to them during the dark hours? Given the male's highly aggressive defense of its nest during daylight, I was surprised to discover years ago that they seem to be sissies at night. That's right, these bad boys appear to be afraid of the dark. In all my night dives I do not ever remember seeing a garibaldi defend its nest as I approached. I could even place my hand right next to the nest without fear that a finger would be chomped down on. They will just look at me from the crevice or hole they are sheltering in and play dumb. It's as if they had a personality transplant when the sun went down. Gary transitioned from the Superman of the kelp forest to a mild mannered Clark Kent. Of course in the dark there are few roving eyes that can see they are really just fraidy cats... except mine (and now yours as you view the images and video footage!). Now I feel like I'm writing for the National Enquirer by revealing my dive buddy's secret identity.

The night shift means there are fewer potential egg predators out and about since many of them are also scared. Those that are active and hunt visually probably can't see the eggs anyway. Gary and his clan are damsels, like their relatives the blacksmith. Those blue and black spotted fish seek shelter to avoid nocturnal predators like seals and sea lions. Of course that puts them into crevices and holes in the reef where the morays are hunting, but those eel-like fish have very poor eyesight, and based on my observations they don't seem to be particularly successful. Garibaldii also shelter at night, although the males stay pretty close to their nest... but just blindly stare at me when I come to film their nests.

Nests and eggs require tending 24/7. I can see why the garibaldi may not need to defend them at night, and that through due diligence they can work long and hard to weed the nest during the daylight hours as they guard it. However, since the eggs require frequent aeration to ensure an adequate supply of oxygen, I'm curious about this aspect of Gary's paternal obligation. I have seen a few fanning their eggs at night, but they were rather timid about it.

Mating almost always occurs during daylight since males use a behavior known as "dipping" to attract the lady's attention. The swim quickly in an oval-shaped pattern and then head to the nest itself. They also call audibles like Tom Brady to inspire the girls. The females assess the likelihood of depositing her eggs in the nest based on the visual condition of it. If there are no eggs present, she usually declines but may also do so if there are only older (gray) eggs. Dr. Paul Sikkel has done substantial research on garibaldi and noted that spawning usually begins at first light and continues into the late afternoon.

However, I have actually observed mating behavior at night. Apparently a few of the males are so driven by "reproduction" that they will overcome their fear of the dark and couple with abandon. Given that visual cues are not present in the darkness, I wonder what triggers this behavior. Perhaps the audible call of the male or some chemical cue may be responsible. I just wish I could do more night dives to investigate this when mating begins this spring, but due to my cancer diving during daylight is my only safe option.

© 2019 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of nearly 800 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page

Image caption: Gary and his cousins sheltering at night; juvenile garibaldi sheltering and a pair mating at night!

 

[aquacat8]

Hmmm, based on your remarks I believe a garibaldi has flirted with me.

 

[WeRtheOcean]

I see these are all orange. In books, I have seen pictures of red ones. Do you see both colors?