35 replies to this topic

[gcbryan]

What marine life have you seen that was relatively rare for your area?

Recently a friend of mine (and others that may be on this board) saw a Pacific Electric Ray locally at Redondo.
I've never seen one and didn't even know that it was possible to see up here. He has pictures.

According to the marine life identification books the rarest creature I've seen up here is a Quillfish (not to be confused with a Quilback Rockfish).

What have you seen that would be considered rare for your area?

[WreckWench]

Well they used to be rare about 2 years ago...of course you know I dive in NC alot...and well about 2 years ago we started spotting Indio Pacific LionFish (see below) and NO they don't belong there. Now they are everywhere and growing at an alarming rate. It appears that they do not have any natural preditors so they are now on almost every wreck, can be seen in small schools and are growing quite large in size.

Here is one off Morehead City, NC:

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[gcbryan]

Well they used to be rare about 2 years ago...of course you know I dive in NC alot...and well about 2 years ago we started spotting Indio Pacific LionFish (see below) and NO they don't belong there. Now they are everywhere and growing at an alarming rate. It appears that they do not have any natural preditors so they are now on almost every wreck, can be seen in small schools and are growing quite large in size.

Here is one off Morehead City, NC:

That's amazing. I hadn't heard about these fish being in the Morehead area. Someone dumped their home aquarium and voila?

[WreckWench]

That's amazing. I hadn't heard about these fish being in the Morehead area. Someone dumped their home aquarium and voila?

One theory is the home aquarium and the other is that they came in via the bilge water on some of the commerce ships from the far east. That area is a very busy shipping/military area.

[Latitude Adjustment]

I took a picture of a sailfin tang in Key Largo, Ladie Atkins at REEF tried to tell me it was an old picture from a Pacific trip but that camera had never been in the Pacific!

[drbill]

With the unseasonably warm waters off SoCal, I'm seeing a lot of Warm Water Wussies in our otherwise cool waters. Now that's unusual!

[WreckWench]

With the unseasonably warm waters off SoCal, I'm seeing a lot of Warm Water Wussies in our otherwise cool waters. Now that's unusual!

I'm guessing you are not talking about the critters...but the 2 legged wussies eh???

[blacktar]

Well they used to be rare about 2 years ago...of course you know I dive in NC alot...and well about 2 years ago we started spotting Indio Pacific LionFish (see below) and NO they don't belong there. Now they are everywhere and growing at an alarming rate. It appears that they do not have any natural preditors so they are now on almost every wreck, can be seen in small schools and are growing quite large in size.

I have been seeing Lionfish here in Bermuda as well. They are not common, but I keep on finding more and more.

I did my first Bermuda cave dive today. I count that as quite rare, because most of the caves are on private property and it is very difficult to locate and gain access to them. The entrance to the cave is a good ten minute walk from where we parked the bikes. A pain wearing full gear. The dive was 44 minutes long. The temp was from 25-28 C, with a max depth of 14 meters. This cave has a very thick layer of silt on the bottom. Greater than two feet. But there are several very large air pockets with stunning formations. Lots of soda straws and stalactites. It was a very beautiful dive, and I can't wait to go back next week.
Patrick

[Brinybay]

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What have you seen that would be considered rare for your area?

With out a doubt, this one. Only been seen in Puget Sound twice, and only in the summer, around June.

[tonyinasia]

One of the neatest things I've seen over the last few years was this Ribbon Eel. Have only seen one.

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[Travelnsj]

Two very unusual things I have seen were a Sea Hare at the Jake Plane in Palau and Dragon eels at Christmas Island.

With the unseasonably warm waters off SoCal, I'm seeing a lot of Warm Water Wussies in our otherwise cool waters. Now that's unusual!

Bill call us 80+ people what ever you like...you....you....Cold water Macho Man .....I have not had my pinkie in that cold water in years...and until it turns 80 at 60' probably.....never will again.....you should try 80+..you will never go back

[PerroneFord]

I don't know enough about fish to know what's rare and what is not. But I have a feeling I am going to get a FAST education on extremeophiles in the next year. Looking at incredibly rare species that exist in caves. There is a lot of work being done on this in Florida, Mexico, and the Carribean at the moment.

I lucked out in that one of the worlds foremost researchers in this area of bioligy, uses our dive shop as a base of operations for florida work.

I'll get to carry tanks!! (at least until I can get rebreather certified)

[drbill]

Two very unusual things I have seen were a Sea Hare at the Jake Plane in Palau and Dragon eels at Christmas Island.

With the unseasonably warm waters off SoCal, I'm seeing a lot of Warm Water Wussies in our otherwise cool waters. Now that's unusual!

Bill call us 80+ people what ever you like...you....you....Cold water Macho Man .....I have not had my pinkie in that cold water in years...and until it turns 80 at 60' probably.....never will again.....you should try 80+..you will never go back

Hey, I'd go to warm water every winter if I could afford it, Scott. I miss the tropics... done a fair bit of diving near the equator in the past. However, they'll have to wait until my TV show and newspaper column catch on on the mainland!

79 at the surface here and it is just mid-August! We're on our way to 80 F.

[Dive_Girl]

What marine life have you seen that was relatively rare for your area?

Recently a friend of mine (and others that may be on this board) saw a Pacific Electric Ray locally at Redondo. I've never seen one and didn't even know that it was possible to see up here. He has pictures.

According to the marine life identification books the rarest creature I've seen up here is a Quillfish (not to be confused with a Quilback Rockfish).

What have you seen that would be considered rare for your area?

Everytime I think I see something rare, Janna Nichols (REEF expert) corrects me, tells me I need to work on my Fish ID, tells me I'm nuts, and then asks to check the "air" in my tank! Actually I have been fortunate to make repetitve sightenings of the critters I have seen. Those that are less common for me (and maybe other divers), however, are the Grunt Sculpin (but I did spot one again on the North Wall to show my students this past weekend - I am starting to recommend that site as a place to see them) and the Leopard Dorid (I have seen less than 5 of these, all in Hood Canal and twice at Mike's Beach in about 20fsw) - they have cool purple spots!

Then there was this one time I thought I spotted a China Rockfish in the Puget Sound....

[gcbryan]

What marine life have you seen that was relatively rare for your area?

Recently a friend of mine (and others that may be on this board) saw a Pacific Electric Ray locally at Redondo. I've never seen one and didn't even know that it was possible to see up here. He has pictures.

According to the marine life identification books the rarest creature I've seen up here is a Quillfish (not to be confused with a Quilback Rockfish).

What have you seen that would be considered rare for your area?

Everytime I think I see something rare, Janna Nichols (REEF expert) corrects me, tells me I need to work on my Fish ID, tells me I'm nuts, and then asks to check the "air" in my tank! Actually I have been fortunate to make repetitve sightenings of the critters I have seen. Those that are less common for me (and maybe other divers), however, are the Grunt Sculpin (but I did spot one again on the North Wall to show my students this past weekend - I am starting to recommend that site as a place to see them) and the Leopard Dorid (I have seen less than 5 of these, all in Hood Canal and twice at Mike's Beach in about 20fsw) - they have cool purple spots!

Then there was this one time I thought I spotted a China Rockfish in the Puget Sound....

Maybe we'll see a Grunt Sculpin and a Leopard Dorid Saturday. They are around from time to time at Cove 2.

That's funny about the China Rockfish. They're one of my favorite fish and are only seen near areas exposed to the open ocean/coast. There is a local book called "Northwest Boat Dives-60 dives in Puget Sound and Hood Canal". The author says that you may see China Rockfish in almost every dive site he reports on.

They are easy to see on boat dives from Neah Bay on out to the coast. I've even seen a few hidden away on a shore dive at Sekiu. Unless someone brought one from the coast and dropped it off in Puget Sound you won't be seeing one here.

It is easy to initially mistake certain specific Quilback Rockfish for China's when their coloration is just right but if you either have seen many China's or look for the yellow checkmark feature on their sides you will easily be able to distinguish the two.