Wildlife fans: Why do you go deep?

[gsk3]

This post by Bob inspired me to ask a question that's been lingering for some time. In most locales, life gets scarcer when you go deeper. Yet deep diving has some rewards, biologically speaking. I've heard of the sponge belt in Cayman, and the PNW has its own fun stuff deep. Southern Florida seems to have some interesting wildlife deeper. And, I suppose if you had a hankering to see the big lionfish that'd probably be a reason to too?

What wildlife do you see in technical depths (let's call it >130ft for this discussion) that you can't see anywhere else? Was that the reason you got trained, or is it just a happy side-effect?

 

[wedivebc]

Around here, cloud sponges and abundant squat lobster. Occasionally 6 gill sharks but I started deep diving to enjoy shipwrecks and the different marine life was an added benefit.

 

[TSandM]

I specifically got my tech cert to go down and look at cloud sponges up off Vancouver Island. They start at about 100 feet, but get more abundant and larger as you go deeper. There is a dive called Agamemnon Wall that has cloud sponges and big red gorgonians, that start at 140. That's a dive I'd really like to do.

I have also found that there are some sites where life is zonal. For example, on Long Island Wall, the top 40 feet or so are kelp beds, with the fish and animals that live among the holdfasts and stalks. Below that, down to about 100, is a zone of metridium anemones, with their attendant warbonnets, crabs and other critters. Below 100, the predominant life is a wide variety of species and morphologies of sponges. I haven't been below 130 there, so I don't know what happens deeper.

My friends in Monterey tell me things are similar there -- boot sponges don't come up to recreational depths, and there are starfish and nudibranch species they see deeper that they don't see elsewhere.

If I'm diving an area which is new to me (like the Red Sea), there's usually more than enough stuff for me to discover in recreational depths, so there has to be a very specific target (eg. wreck) to make anything deeper worthwhile.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I did my first 60 - 70 tech dives exploring the wrecks in Lake Washington ... at depths between 150 to 210. We would even troll around the lake, pulling a side-scan sonar "fish" looking for new targets ... then going down to see what was there. For a while it was exciting ... after a while it got repetitive.

I'm a critter person ... I like taking pictures. Those deep channels and walls up along the coast of Vancouver Island are like a siren song ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[limeyx]

Lot of big fish deep here in SoCal...including some nice rockfish that someone told me were quite rare that somehow got in the way of one of the wrecks in a video I was making.

 

[gsk3]

The sponges sound cool. Maybe some time in Seattle.

Sixgills are pretty rare, right? I think the UK folks have them too.

And SoCal...West Coast represents as usual!

 

[TSandM]

Nick is completely out of line, posting in a thread aimed at critter nerds. If it isn't made of rusty metal or limestone, and it doesn't have teeth aimed at Nick, it's just in the way of the viewfinder

Sixgill sharks aren't necessarily found deep. The only one I've seen was in 60 feet of water.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Sixgill sharks aren't necessarily found deep. The only one I've seen was in 60 feet of water.

... I remember that one ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[limeyx]

Nick is completely out of line, posting in a thread aimed at critter nerds. If it isn't made of rusty metal or limestone, and it doesn't have teeth aimed at Nick, it's just in the way of the viewfinder

Sixgill sharks aren't necessarily found deep. The only one I've seen was in 60 feet of water.

Hey !!! I happen to have some rather nice video of a Flag Rockfish, which I have only seen deeper than about 170 locally.

of course I had no idea the damn thing was even in frame until Jamie said "Hey, what's that weird fish in your video"

I replied "You mean that clownfish ???? That *is* rather odd for Socal"

Of course it was a Flag Rockfish, and I had also completely not noticed the (apparently even rarer) "Rosie" rockfish right next to it.

We also get big lings deeper here, and usually Wolf Eeels are not seen shallower here.

Also, if you dive on a wreck, there are many where there is more life deeper than 200 feet than I see on some reefs much shallower.

 

[limeyx]

The sponges sound cool. Maybe some time in Seattle.

Sixgills are pretty rare, right? I think the UK folks have them too.

And SoCal...West Coast represents as usual!

This video should have cloud sponges, but for some reason it wont play on my Vimeo

McCurdy Point - Website on Vimeo