I would but can barely keep my eyes open. Has been a very long day. lol.
Nature's Underwater Gardens 3
Well then you need to get some sleep child! Pleasant dreams.....
Will hit the sack in about an hour. If I go to bed too early I wake up around 4am instead of 7am. Waaaaaaaaaay to early for me and it will make me a grouch. lol.
Sounds good to me. I have never been on a *blog* or in a *chat* room. Think I could master it,Shari? Lately I seem to be taking over a lot threads anyway. And you explained my question very well. My DD calls me obsessive when I have an interest. Won't give up until I have more than a passing knowledge.
Main difference that I can see is that the answers and talk is all cut short - quick responses and lots of abbreviations....I'm sure you would be just fine Christi! Not to worry, we would help ya....its just like these, but more real time. It would be good for John, cuz the brevity of the responses would be easier for his one handed typing...but I don't see it open....
Hey all...too bad the chat room is so sporadic(sp)might be fun for a bunch of parrotheads to take over....speaking of parrotheads...check Katie out with her underwater MP3 player trying to get this French Angelfish to listen...playing dark side of the moon or something....this thing is cool on night dives...turn off the dive lights...lay there in the dark at 80 feet and get taken to another place!!
j
Do we know if fish *hear* or sense vibration.
Some do....like dolphins, others just rely on smell - like sharks. All have pretty darn good eyesight until you get to the deep water fish, who sometimes don't even have eyes they have been blind so long! Don't know about the one in John's pic...but the fish and Katie sure do look to be havin a good time!
There is no way I would be able to go to that "other place". I would be too afraid of being lost in the music and running out of air!!!! What's with the wet suit - thought your water was warm? Thought I'd send the question right back to ya!
Here's our friend - the professor - checking out the life in and around a smokestack from a sunken wwII transport ship.
sharks are the one of the most vibration-sensitive creatures. poor eyesight, keen smell, vibration sensors throughout their head....if you wiggle it, it might get sampled...as far as wetsuits go...we do dives for 70 minutes plus and even in 80 degree water, towards the end of the dive, considering that we have already done 2 other dives earlier, gotta keep warm to avoid camera shake...we find that gloves make people touch things when they don't need too. many times a simple touch will take years of growth away and possibly kill whatever you touched. Good buoyancy control eliminates the need for gloves....granted, we have no current here....in some places, possibly where Shari is, gloves are needed to hold on so you don't get flushed away....if you get bit by something that you pick up, maybe you shouldn't have.
besides, can't control a housed nikon and arms full of strobes wearing gloves.
Thank you both once again. Better than any documentary. This is interactive at it's finest.
I ask....you tell.
LouC
should add that tiburon blancos rely on site at the end of an attack to make sure they get a firm grip on what their sonar targeted...
Hi John and everybody! I found this thread a few days ago, been lurking, loving the pictures!
Did you ever notice the line down the side of a fish? This 'lateral line' works similar to hearing, little tiny hairs help them sense movement, and that's how fish can swim in perfect unison as a school. You can see it on most any fish.
This is soooooooooo interesting! I love this sight! John, hope you are feeling better! Take good care of all of that camera equipment, because we are sure enjoying the fruits of your labor....enjoyment....We love it!
Same for you Shari...all of this info on the undersea world is fantastic!
This message was edited Aug 4, 2007 10:08 PM
hey claypa! it's been a while, glad to see you here...
that lateral line is also known as the blood line...the first thing you discard when cleaning a tuna!!!
Shari, Christie,Janet,Carol,and a heap of others will look after you here, enjoy the visit...very smart folks here
I spent a summer fishing for bluefin tuna in Maine on a friend's boat, but we never caught a one. The license was very expensive - we had a blast anyway but the guy's wife wasn't too happy about it...
Mike
Hey John,
That fish that Katie is seranading reminds me of a pillow I used to have! HAHAHA Love those little yellow polka dots! He looks huge!!!
Shari, as always, I learn something new here each day. You all make learning about this other world fascinating!
Hi Texasgal. We are practically neighbors! Recently Connie and I went to a round up in Houston and were wondering if there were any Goodwills or other thrift stores in Baytown. We do love treasure hunting and Baytown would be much closer and less hectic than driving all the way to Houston or Pasadena. :-) I don't want to hijack this thread though so send me a Dmail if you know of any. If you like to treasure hunt also, maybe we can hook up somewhere there. :-)
Hi Mike,
It must have been a blast fishing in Maine. I always think of Maine as being cold! I've never been that far north. I have been through Pennsylvania though on a trip between Virginia and Connecticut about 10 years ago. Gorgeous country you live in there. Sad about all of the deer along the highways though. In one day we counted 15 in PA.
Welcome to this wonderful underwater world that Shari and John show us. It's truly a tropical underwater paradise in this thread. :-) Christi, you hit the nail on the head about interactive at it's finest. I learn so much all the time here.
Janet
Welcome, welcome, welcome! Thanks for adding the info on the bloodline! Really good point. There is so much info that we forget to include so much. And that was a really important point! Please stay around and comment whenever you want.
I promise John, we are very, very careful about what we touch!
Thanks Shari! I enjoyed your Orchid article - so far I just enjoy other people's, I should try some.
Hi Janet - I did see a few deer by the roadside today, but it is beautiful near here, the farms are gorgeous now. The corn is great this year, I guess there has been enough rain.
It does get cold in Maine, but summer is perfect. I miss it all the time. Another job I had up there was tending an urchin diver. Talk about gloves, needless to say the water is cold there, and urchin season is in winter, so the water is about 38 degrees. Sometimes there was ice in the harbor and 'sea smoke' coming off the water it was so cold. I had to cull all the seawwed and undersize urchins and I got to see all kinds of critters that came up in the bags. Between the cold and the urchin spines, gloves were a necessity there. But I stayed in the nice warm boat! Wish I had a camera back then.
What did they do with the urchins?
Sell them to the Asian buyers on the docks, for sushi in Japan. They just use the eggs, called 'Uni' in Japanese.
I love sushi Mike. I've tried several different kinds and I think my favorite is called the Tiger Roll. It has octopus and is rolled in smelt eggs. I tried quail eggs once and that just wasn't something I just loved.
I've only seen sea urchins in photos. I don't think I've ever seen one live.
Janet
Found a picture in wikipedia. They'd pay based on the color of the roe. This one looks nice, maybe two dollars a pound at that time. The outside of the urchins there is usually green, but you'd see other colors occasionally, purple or even a white one once. Short spines too, not like in the Caribbean.
A good diver would get a thousand pounds or more in 4 hours, about as long a time as we would stay out. The diver was a real little guy and didn't use much air!
Thanks for digging up a photo Mike. I can sure see why you wore gloves! My Goodness those things look like dingle berries I find in the yards sometimes. They hurt like the dickens when you step on them with bare feet.
Janet
Janet, here's one not all cut up.
Years ago sea urchins use to be quite thick in the tidal pools to the south of me but they were getting hard to see after a group moved in and began harvesting them. They would break them open and eat the yellow stuff inside (Roe?) then toss the broken pieces all over the beach. The ones here were mostly purple and green. The rangers finally started inforcing the laws to stop them but I imagine it took years for the population to recover if they ever did.
Zany - I know just where you are talking about! I would always get in so much trouble trying to stop them....making all these people mad at me, but I didn't care - to me it was horrible what they were doing! Like shooting bambi's in a national park and bar-b-q ing right there on the spot! Claypa - I'm not picking on what you did for a living, I'm talking about the thoughtless folks that just devastate tide pools and reefs without a thought to the damage they are doing.
No worries - I think it's too easy for most of us not to think about where our food comes from and exactly what's involved. It's not always pleasant. I used to dig clams with a guy who was Buddhist. We were talking once about food while we were eating scallops, and he mentioned that he wouldn't eat anything that had eyes. I told him scallops had eyes and he stopped eating them there and then.
I will say this about Maine, it's probably the most tightly regulated fishery in the world. Wardens board the boats all the time. The lobster fishery is the only one in the area that has actually been improving, and the fishermen generally co-operate with the scientists doing population studies, etc. Try getting your average fisherman to tell the truth about anything, let alone how many and where their catches are, but they saw the importance of conservation efforts, if only to protect their livelihood.
"if only to protect their livelihood". Conservation is the only way to protect us all! I know what you mean about the average fisherman. But for the most part, I think they too are beginnning to see that we have to learn more about the bounty of the ocean, or it won't be bountiful much longer. Look how long it took farmers to realize the importance of crop rotation! Out here we see it much closer than say, mid-westerners would, but I think people are finally starting to wise up.
this is the sickest thing...i am ashamed that this has happened on this island. not to mention,in my district...
http://caycompass.com/cgi-bin/CFPnews.cgi?ID=1024077
boycott black coral jewelry
john
sorry to post this but it's not all paradise in the tropics.....
j
could you slaughter this...and all the eggs.....
I urge anyone reading this post to send a letter to the editor at the cayman net news and express your feelings and thoughts...maybe some folks enjoy turtle meat as i do,but, not at the expense of a female trying to lay her eggs on the beach....
smoke is coming out of my ears and nose and everywhere about this...sometimes the only time action is taken is when foreigners proclaim their disgust and tourism takes a hit because of inaction on a hideous crime such as this...
i have to go now because i can't even think straight
Oh John, how horrible! I won't even eat turtle meat. Never have, hope to never will. They are severely protected here as well. But it sounds like the DoE folks are really trying to nail the beasts that did that. And if everyone cooperates, hopefully they will be caught and punished. We have a turtle pond here, that is part of the island orientation for all new -comers....it helps to instill a respect for the law that they are not - NOT - to be touched. Maybe something similar, that people could go visit and learn from would be beneficial on your island.
Thanks Shari....all of that stuff is in place...5000 US if you are caught molesting a turtle, snorkeling, diving, partying on the beach, etc....rules and fines are in place, but not if you don't get caught....please, submit letters to the editor of the caymanian compass and the cayman net news....the legislation is in place but no one ever seems to get caught breaking the rules....
a foreigner in a foreign land....
John, that is soooooooo sad! I just don't understand how someone could be so cruel to animals and careless with nature in general. I do hope they get caught!
They should have to pay for what they have done! It's horrible!
I did as you asked and posted a reply John. I had to edit it a few times to allow it to be publishable though......... Is there some kind of large predator that prefers this turtle and would be thrilled to have a large one (say the person that killed the turtle after they have been strapped into what was left of it??) I know that you guys must know how to tie some good knots............
John, I have sent a letter to the editor. Sure I have no clout but have had my say. It feels as though I have been raped and beaten. Texas has had a turtle lady that has helped to restore them for years. I think she passed away a couple of years ago. These kind of people have no conciense.(sp) Please keep us updated. Do you believe that the authorities really make any attempt to apprehend the culprits? You are not alone in your rage and disgust. The people of DG love God's creations are trying to do all they can to protect nature.
John, I also submitted a comment. I sure hope they catch and publically castrate these monsters!
I tried to go to the link but it seems to be down. Hopfully because they have been inundated with angry responses!