rDr4g0n
Well-Known Member
so i went to the beach last weekend. i didnt take a camera because i wanted to collect and observe, and wrestling with a camera, and keeping it dry is just too much work.
so it was low tide, which is good because many of the rocks that are usually covered are exposed. the rocks on the jetti are much to solid to be used as live rock, but there is some pretty interesting life on them. i observed some bright red/orange coralline as well as numerous macro algaes. there were a few that were really pretty looking, but i didnt bother to grab any samples of those because i dont really have adequate lighting for them.
also attached to many of the rocks were yellow, red and orange sea whips! pictured below is one of the red ones i kept. you can see a yellow one in the background of the pic.
sea whips are gorgonian corals. they are kinda like sponges with polyps, except the sponge grows up a long thin "skeleteon" that is really just a thin strand of ultra tough something... it feels like fishing line when there is no coral tissue on it. since they are sponge like, they cant be exposed to air (i was careful to keep them submerged while collecting them.). if they are, the air will clog the intricate spongelike structure, thus not allowing them to absorb food. finally, these are not photosynthetic (though some gorgonians are). they rely on food in the water to survive.
there were tons of tangles of sea whips washed up on shore. it looks like knots of brightly colored nylon rope. it was kinda sad to see so many of them dying, but i guess the ocean knows what its doing.
next, i sifted through some sargassum. sargassum is a seaweed that grows in floating clumps. each clump is home to a tremendous number of organisms. mostly what i found were shrimp, crabs, snail or crab eggs (strange geometrical patters, or just blobs with tiny dots in there), and tiny fish. i kept a few of the tiny fish and a few shrimp. during the right season, you can find sargassum fish!
a pic of a sargassum fish hiding in sargassum weed. the blend perfectly! pic taken from http://www.naturalsciences.org/education/deepsea/images/sargassum_fish.jpg
these fish are a type of anglerfish and are extremely cool looking. they have no swim bladder, so they have to hang onto things since they cant regulate their height in the water. they are actually kinda easy to keep in a tank too. back before i was into reefing, my parents set up a tank and we put whatever we collected in there. we did everything completely wrong lol, but those sargasm fish survived forever. only thing is, they ate every other fish in the tank.
anyway, i would net a clump of sargassum and drop it into a glass jar. i could then observe it carefully and look for life. finally, i would shake the sargassum over the jar before discarding it. this usually yielded a shrimp or 2 that was camoflauged in the sargassum.
so the tiny fishies and the shrimp ended up making yummy meals for my hungry male cardinal
and finally, while looking through the rubble in the jetti, my wife found some beautiful rock anemones. rock anemones are, of course, the devil, but these looked awesome. they were also in a position where i could collect them. i carefull collected 2 of the 6 or so that we found in a bunch there.
the pics dont really do them justice. they have a striking blue and reddish/orange tint to them. if i had some metal halides, i bet they would become brilliantly colored... anyone wanna make a donation in the name of science?
i set up a 10 gallon tank for all the samples i collect to hang out in for observation. after letting them sit there for a week, i decided there wouldnt be much harm in moving some of them to my main display. i plan to try to collect some of the oyster beds around here and use it as live rock in that 10 gallon observation tank. oyster beds are very porous, and are probably full of interesting life as well.
also, i found a sand dollar, which id never seen before down here. i observed quite a few hawksbill sea turtles, and also a school of needlefish.
and now for the grand finale for those who have read this far. the offroading segment!
my wife is going to start working with a project down here that measures trends in the water and sand around a local shipping channel from the ocean. in order to really get back there, you need a 4 wheel drive vehicle. we recently bought an 89 jeep cherokee for her, and it was high time she learned how to use 4 wheel drive. further back from the channel is where the sand and dirt mix and produce some pretty thick nasty mud. the journey to that further back mud swap was littered with loose sand and some mud puddles. it took a tremendous amount of effort to convince her that she would be able to get through the loose sand and mud puddles. she was so nervous it was hilarious. i just kept telling here "just keep momentum and youll be fine"
so we reach the deep muddy area and shes freakin out. she insists that she cant do it and that the jeep wont make it, blah blah blah. after 10 minutes of deliberation she finally got the guts to do it. mud was flying everywhere and she was shrieking like a crazy monkey. you shoulda seen her! she looked like she was gonna explode! we were ripping through the mud, and she was finally relaxing a tiny bit (or at least, screaming a little less) when she hit a really deep mud puddle. the whole jeep learched to the left and send mud and water everywhere. the deep mud reduced traction and caused the jeep to move nearly sideways. she freaked and started to break. "No!!" i was yelling "floor it! keep momentum!!!" she must have heard me over her own screaming because she did just that.
we made it out alive. she jumped out yelling "OH MY GOSH THAT WAS AWESOME I WANNA DO IT AGAIN!!!"
so thats my trip...
so it was low tide, which is good because many of the rocks that are usually covered are exposed. the rocks on the jetti are much to solid to be used as live rock, but there is some pretty interesting life on them. i observed some bright red/orange coralline as well as numerous macro algaes. there were a few that were really pretty looking, but i didnt bother to grab any samples of those because i dont really have adequate lighting for them.
also attached to many of the rocks were yellow, red and orange sea whips! pictured below is one of the red ones i kept. you can see a yellow one in the background of the pic.
sea whips are gorgonian corals. they are kinda like sponges with polyps, except the sponge grows up a long thin "skeleteon" that is really just a thin strand of ultra tough something... it feels like fishing line when there is no coral tissue on it. since they are sponge like, they cant be exposed to air (i was careful to keep them submerged while collecting them.). if they are, the air will clog the intricate spongelike structure, thus not allowing them to absorb food. finally, these are not photosynthetic (though some gorgonians are). they rely on food in the water to survive.
there were tons of tangles of sea whips washed up on shore. it looks like knots of brightly colored nylon rope. it was kinda sad to see so many of them dying, but i guess the ocean knows what its doing.
next, i sifted through some sargassum. sargassum is a seaweed that grows in floating clumps. each clump is home to a tremendous number of organisms. mostly what i found were shrimp, crabs, snail or crab eggs (strange geometrical patters, or just blobs with tiny dots in there), and tiny fish. i kept a few of the tiny fish and a few shrimp. during the right season, you can find sargassum fish!
a pic of a sargassum fish hiding in sargassum weed. the blend perfectly! pic taken from http://www.naturalsciences.org/education/deepsea/images/sargassum_fish.jpg
these fish are a type of anglerfish and are extremely cool looking. they have no swim bladder, so they have to hang onto things since they cant regulate their height in the water. they are actually kinda easy to keep in a tank too. back before i was into reefing, my parents set up a tank and we put whatever we collected in there. we did everything completely wrong lol, but those sargasm fish survived forever. only thing is, they ate every other fish in the tank.
anyway, i would net a clump of sargassum and drop it into a glass jar. i could then observe it carefully and look for life. finally, i would shake the sargassum over the jar before discarding it. this usually yielded a shrimp or 2 that was camoflauged in the sargassum.
so the tiny fishies and the shrimp ended up making yummy meals for my hungry male cardinal
and finally, while looking through the rubble in the jetti, my wife found some beautiful rock anemones. rock anemones are, of course, the devil, but these looked awesome. they were also in a position where i could collect them. i carefull collected 2 of the 6 or so that we found in a bunch there.
the pics dont really do them justice. they have a striking blue and reddish/orange tint to them. if i had some metal halides, i bet they would become brilliantly colored... anyone wanna make a donation in the name of science?
i set up a 10 gallon tank for all the samples i collect to hang out in for observation. after letting them sit there for a week, i decided there wouldnt be much harm in moving some of them to my main display. i plan to try to collect some of the oyster beds around here and use it as live rock in that 10 gallon observation tank. oyster beds are very porous, and are probably full of interesting life as well.
also, i found a sand dollar, which id never seen before down here. i observed quite a few hawksbill sea turtles, and also a school of needlefish.
and now for the grand finale for those who have read this far. the offroading segment!
my wife is going to start working with a project down here that measures trends in the water and sand around a local shipping channel from the ocean. in order to really get back there, you need a 4 wheel drive vehicle. we recently bought an 89 jeep cherokee for her, and it was high time she learned how to use 4 wheel drive. further back from the channel is where the sand and dirt mix and produce some pretty thick nasty mud. the journey to that further back mud swap was littered with loose sand and some mud puddles. it took a tremendous amount of effort to convince her that she would be able to get through the loose sand and mud puddles. she was so nervous it was hilarious. i just kept telling here "just keep momentum and youll be fine"
so we reach the deep muddy area and shes freakin out. she insists that she cant do it and that the jeep wont make it, blah blah blah. after 10 minutes of deliberation she finally got the guts to do it. mud was flying everywhere and she was shrieking like a crazy monkey. you shoulda seen her! she looked like she was gonna explode! we were ripping through the mud, and she was finally relaxing a tiny bit (or at least, screaming a little less) when she hit a really deep mud puddle. the whole jeep learched to the left and send mud and water everywhere. the deep mud reduced traction and caused the jeep to move nearly sideways. she freaked and started to break. "No!!" i was yelling "floor it! keep momentum!!!" she must have heard me over her own screaming because she did just that.
we made it out alive. she jumped out yelling "OH MY GOSH THAT WAS AWESOME I WANNA DO IT AGAIN!!!"
so thats my trip...
Wish I could have been a fly wall! Also, great finds. Keep us posted on how they do!
