We Saw TONS of Cool Critters Today!

[Gidds]

Today I went snorkelling at Ft. Wetherill in the morning with gfisher4792 and in the afternoon with johnnyseko. The vis. was variable but mostly ok, water was mostly calm in the morning with a breeze and small swells in the afternoon. Temp. was probably 65-68F.

A Brief List of the Cool Critters We Spotted:

Snowy groupers ( :07: @ Scuba Sarus)
juv. black sea bass
juv. cunner and assorted older ones (why are they all congregating lately?)
a few small tataug
menhaden (we got to swim WITH the school!)
silversides
bluefish (small ones forunately)
sennet
flounder
spider crabs
green crabs (saw a mating pair in the afternoon)
rock crabs
possibly some Japanese shore crabs
hermit crabs
mussels of course
lotsa welk around that big rock
and one lonely quahog

 

[RIOceanographer]

I guess I just missed seeing you folks... I was in the next parking lot over from FT Wetherill at Bull Pt/Fort Pt this afternoon. We dove around Fort Point and exited before Bull Point on the DEM Pier. Technically it is still part of the Fort, its just the Deep End of Ft. Wetherill. Did an awesome dive with Tampico_ED down the wall to 92 ft and then came up and showed him the big old style ship anchor at 70-75 ft on the wall. We saw no tropicals since they usually hang out shallower, but that area is currently loaded with sea robins and we if you're into invertebrates there are many cool anemones sponges etc.

Gotta get you back in scuba gear so you can see all the local fauna and not just these warm water intruders!

 

[Gidds]

Scuba review is Monday! I wanna see the inverts! And the sea robins! Were they singing by any chance? Is that the wierd noise I was hearing all day? We left around 3:30 so we probably did just miss you.

Oh yeah I forgot for my list:
sculpin
blenny or gobyish camoflauge bottom fish, I'll have to look it up in my books...

 

[RIOceanographer]

Scuba review is Monday! I wanna see the inverts! And the sea robins! Were they singing by any chance? Is that the wierd noise I was hearing all day? We left around 3:30 so we probably did just miss you.

I actually did break out my trusty sea robin call to show Ed what they sound like

The ones we saw today were all mute.....

Also for anyone who cares there are actually two species of sea robins native to RI, the northern sea robin (Prionotus carolinus) and the striped sea robin (Prionotus evolans). The ones we saw were the northern variety.

Good luck with the review. You'll be back up to speed in no time.

 

[johnnyseko]

I think I saw more life today snorkeling in 4' of water than on my 70min dive around the point. Very cool and interesting things going on in that cove! Must add to the list the HUGE butterfly we saw during the dive. It was about the size of my thumbnail... :07: and looked cold... even though I thought the water was pretty warm!