The Marine Detective

Otherworldly Drifter. Mind Blown.

Today was the first time ever that, while diving, I made a gesture to my dive buddy indicating that my brain had exploded.

We weren’t deep; the remarkable find that had me awestruck was at 3 to 5 metre depth. It’s a known species and is found throughout the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans but . . . . it’s certainly extremely rare here around NE Vancouver Island and it is SO otherworldly.

Let me take you on a short journey of discovery.

I was already pretty excited when I found the organism in the photo below. I knew it to be a salp “aggregate” and was delighted that there was an amphipod hitchhiker. See it?

Cyclosalpa bakeri with amphipod hitchhiker ©Jackie Hildering; www.themarinedetective.ca

Cyclosalpa bakeri with amphipod hitchhiker.
©Jackie Hildering; http://www.themarinedetective.ca

Salps are such unique gelatinous animals! They belong to the group of highly evolved invertebrates known as tunicates. Most tunicate species live attached to the bottom when they are adults but salps remain Ocean drifters for their whole lives. Because of their gelatinous “tunic” they have even been referred to as Ocean Gummy Bears.

Their reproduction is totally otherworldly! They alternate between two forms. The image above is of the “aggregate” form or “salp chain” that, dependent on species, can be made up of millions of individuals. The aggregate form reproduces sexually to form a barrel-shaped solitary form. The solitary form buds off (asexually) to produce the individuals that make up the aggregate form and so on! Salps apparently grow faster than any other multicellular organism! (Source: JelliesZone).

Back to the dive . . . so I was already pretty thrilled to have seen the salp chain of this unique species and THEN I saw something hovering above me, zeppelin like.

Brain exploded. WHAT was this?!

It was about 25 cm long.

It had openings on both ends.

It clearly had internal organs.

And it had unique projections on what I assumed was its back end.

The look on my dive buddy Natasha Dickinson’s face in the image below says it all!

Dive buddy with Thetys. ©2015 Jackie Hildering

I was pretty sure that it was the solitary form of some species of salp but . . . so big?

Pelagic tunicate. Salp species - Thetys, solitary phase. To 33 cm. ©2015 Jackie Hildering

As soon as I got home I grabbed my copy of Wrobel and Mills’ “Pelagic Coast Pelagic Invertebrates” and emailed a few photos of this unique find to Andy Lamb, co-author of Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest.

Ahh – it’s wonderful to have friends in deep places. Andy came back very quickly with the ID. It was a salp indeed, in fact, the world’s biggest. Thetys* in the solitary form can grow to 33 cm! The common name is the Twin-sailed Salp.

From Dave Wrobel’s The JelliesZone webpage: “Thetys is truly an impressive member of the zooplankton. It is the largest species of salp along the West Coast and is relatively easy to distinguish from all others. Unlike most gelatinous animals, the body is relatively firm due to the thick spiny test (the test, or tunic, is the hard outer covering typical of many tunicates, hence the name for the group). It retains its shape even when removed from the water. Solitary individuals have 20 partial muscle bands . . . that are used for constricting the body while pumping water for feeding and locomotion. A pair of pigmented posterior projections are very distinctive, as is the darkly colored, compact gut . . . Like other salps, Thetys continuous pumps water through a mucous net to extract phytoplankton and other small particles. Although relatively uncommon in Monterey Bay [and therefore very uncommon so much further north where I sighted this individual], this widespread species can be found in temperate and tropical waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, to depths of about 150 meters.”

I was intrigued how an animal that lives in the open Ocean and depends on plankton could be so big?

How could it filter enough plankton out of the water?

I came upon research from MIT (2010) that revealed how salps could get enough nutrients to be so big and fast growing. Their mucus nets are astounding in how they are able to trap incredibly small-sized plankton. With this find, the researchers referenced salps as “the vacuum cleaners of the ocean” and confirmed how important they are because of what they do to huge volumes of climate-changing carbon.

In the Oceanus Magazine article Salps Catch the Ocean’s Tiniest Organisms, the researchers explain “As they eat, they [the salps] consume a very broad range of carbon-containing particles and efficiently pack the carbon into large, dense fecal pellets that sink rapidly to the ocean depths, Madin said. “This removes carbon from the surface waters,” Sutherland said, “and brings it to a depth where you won’t see it again for years to centuries.” And more carbon sinking to the bottom reduces the amount and concentration of carbon in the upper ocean, letting more carbon dioxide enter the ocean from the atmosphere, explained Stocker” [thereby reducing the amount in the atmosphere where it impacts climate.]

I of course also hoped to find a good photo or video of the salp chain of this species (the aggregate form) and came upon this 1-minute clip by Patrick Anders Webster (taken off the coast of central California).

Wow!!! Mind-blown again.

And below, an additional video from Patrick from May 2016, also off the coast of California.

[*You may have noticed that the full scientific name for this tunicate species is Thetys vagina as assigned by the German naturalist Wilhelm Gottlieb Tilesius von Tilenau in 1802. Likely at that time, “vagina” did not yet have its anatomical meaning and the species name was chosen for the Latin origin of the word meaning “wrapper” / “sheath”.]

Further information:

Scripps zooplankton guide – https://scripps.ucsd.edu/zooplanktonguide/species/thetys-vagina

Jelly Zone – http://jellieszone.com/pelagic-tunicates/thetys/

Rub Me Right – “Beach-Rubbing” Behaviour of Northern Resident Orca

[Update September 2020: Click here for OrcaLab’s live cameras and video highlights of Northern Resident Orca rubbing at the Strider Beach in the Robson Bight Ecological Reserve, NE Vancouver Island.]

Likely you’ve seen it – Chris Wilton’s video of Killer Whales* / Orca rubbing on a beach in the Discovery Islands on January 29th, 2015, the whales only within ~1.5 metres of the incredibly fortunate humans’ feet?

[Video used with permission. For licensing / permission to use: Contact – licensing(at)jukinmediadotcom]

I became a resource to the news for interpreting the whales’ behaviour in this video as a result of my posting their IDs and commenting on the behaviour on social media. However, it proved difficult to extinguish some misinterpretation and misinformation, for example, the notion that the behaviour captured in the video was rare e.g. “B.C. orcas’ rare beach-rubbing behaviour caught on video” (CBC News. January 31, 2015).

It’s not rare behaviour at all. It is rare that people get to see it.

Big difference!

That’s what has motivated me to write this blog but before I proceed let me qualify that while I have spent a lot of time staring at Killer Whales through binoculars, I am a Humpback Whale researcher and marine educator. Everything that is known about Killer Whales is due to the long-term population study by DFO’s Cetacean Research Program. It began in 1973 with the late, great Dr. Michael Bigg and as a result, the Killer Whales of British Columbia have been studied as individuals longer than any other marine mammals in the world.

Thanks to the Cetacean Research Program’s work, identifying the whales in Chris’ video was easy. I recognized that they were beach-rubbing and, therefore, they had to be members of the threatened Northern Resident population. “Resident” Killer Whales are inshore, fish-eaters who can best be described as “Chinook-aholics”. The Northern Residents are the only Killer Whales of BC’s four distinct populations that rub on smooth pebble beaches.

When the video was brought to my attention, I was with two fellow Humpback Whale researcher friends, and we laughed aloud at about 1:56 in the video because there was mature male A66 (“Surf”), almost stationary on the beach. His left side was facing Chris’ camera, making it so easy to see his distinct saddle patch and the nick in his dorsal fin. It simply could not have been easier to identify him.

Screen grab from Chris Wilton’s video showing why it was so easy to identify A66 / Surf. Used with permission.

Ah ha! If Surf was there, his mother and three siblings had to be there too for such is the way of “Resident” Killer Whales; they stay with their mothers for their entire lives, seldom separated by more than a short distance. If the mother dies, the remaining family members stay together. Northern Resident families are in fact named for the eldest female who is believed to be the leader, A42 in this case, and the families are known as “matrilines”. This term loosely translates into “follow your mother”.

Upon viewing the rest of the video, we could confirm that all five member of the A42 matriline were indeed there. Surf was with his mother, Sonora, and her three other offspring.

Updated: Shows the A42 matriline in 2019. Source: Towers, J.R., Pilkington, J.F., Gisborne, B., Wright, B.M., Ellis, G.M., Ford, J.K.B., and Doniol-Valcroze, T. 2020. Photo-identification catalogue and status of the northern resident killer whale population in 2019. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 3371: iv + 69 p.

So what’s with the beach-rubbing?

Absolutely essential to understanding this behaviour is to know that the Killer Whales of the world have culture. Like humans, they have specialized to make use of certain prey and the geography of their area e.g. specializing in eating salmon vs. marine mammals.

In BC, the four Killer Whale populations (Northern Resident; Southern Resident; Offshore; and Bigg’s / Transients), overlap in their ranges but the populations have different languages and do NOT mate with one another. Thereby, they preserve the culture and traditions of their populations. To emphasize just how long-lived these cultural differences and specializations are, know that the mammal-hunting Bigg’s / Transients diverged from the other kinds of Killer Whales 700,000 years ago!

As mentioned, throughout the Northern Resident Killer Whales there is the culture of skidding their bodies over sloping beaches of smooth pebbles. None of the Killer Whale populations with which they have overlapping range in British Columbia have this behaviour. (Note: The AK Pod of Alaskan Residents is also known to beach rub. Please see detail at the end of the blog). As you can see in Chris’ video, in order to get down low and in contact with the rocks, they often super-deflate their lungs to reduce buoyancy, releasing a gush of bubbles. They rub all parts of their bodies. Sometimes they do this for a few minutes, and sometimes for more than an hour.

In OrcaLab’s video below, you can see underwater footage of the behaviour. Video was taken with remote underwater cameras under permit from Fisheries and Ocean’s Canada.

The behaviour can’t be about rubbing off parasites! The skin of Killer Whales sloughs off like ours does and therefore there’s no “fouling” of barnacles like there is on Humpbacks and Grey Whales. And hey, if it was due to ectoparasites, the other Killer Whales in BC would have them and be beach-rubbing too!

Beach-rubbing by the Northern Residents must be a social and recreational behaviour. A whale massage? Certainly it must feel good. Maybe, as an additional benefit, doing something you enjoy together also further solidifies family bonds (social cohesion being needed for community maintenance)? Reportedly, the vocals sometimes made by the Northern Residents while beach-rubbing support that this is a social behaviour since they are the same “looney tunes” made when Northern Resident families reunite.

Again, it is not rare for the Northern Residents to beach-rub at all. It is a regular social behaviour. What’s quite rare is that there were humans present on a beach when the behaviour was happening since where the whales most often are known to rub is a no-go zone.

These best known rubbing beaches are on NE Vancouver Island, in the Michael Bigg Ecological Reserve at Robson Bight in Johnstone Strait. The Northern Resident matrilines that most often feed in this area use these beaches to rub with incredible regularity, including the A42s – the whales that Chris videoed beach-rubbing much further to the south, around central Vancouver Island. These Robson Bight beaches are within recognized critical habitat for this population and are fully protected. The waters around these beaches are a restricted area as well.

But Northern Resident rubbing beaches are found all along our Coast and I believe that individual families have preferences, places they have been rubbing generation after generation after generation. There are Northern Resident families that rarely come into Johnstone Strait and they must have their equivalent of a Robson Bight somewhere else on our coast.

As confirmed by Dr. John Ford, head of DFO’s Cetacean Research Program, the Strait of Georgia where Chris got the video has been known to be part of the range of the closely related families to which the A42s belong (the A5s) since the 1960s and likely for many, many years further back. However, at that time, we would not have been collecting the data.

In 1961, near to where the video was taken, a 50-calibre machine gun was positioned for the purposes of executing Killer Whales and, as of 1964, it became common to attempt to capture them for captivity.

Just 55 years later, in January 2015, Chris and others stood on a beach in the Discovery Islands marvelling at what they were witnessing, recognizing their good luck to see this wild behaviour, and being able to record it in the video that has now gone viral.

Thank goodness that we have this capacity for positive change and that it’s now NOT rare that people feel a strong concern for and connection to Killer Whales. I believe that the wide reach of Chris’ video has led to raised awareness about how cultured and social Killer Whales are and how lucky we are to have them as our marine neighbours. Maybe that awareness will be reflected in further changes that benefit the whales and the marine ecosystem for which they are ambassadors?

Then we’d be rubbing the right way and have more reasons to bubble with happiness.

Northern Residents using a rubbing beach on Malcolm Island off NE Vancouver Island. For more information on these beaches see Friends of the Wild Side.

_________________________________

Additional Videos of Beach-Rubbing of Northern Residents:

Video 2021 of the A42s rubbing near Sechelt

Video 2015 by – beach rubbing by A42s near Powell River.

Video January 27, 2018 by Sasha Koftinoff – beach rubbing by A42s near Sechelt.

Video January 27, 2018 by Martin Michael – beach rubbing by A42s + other Northern Residents near Sechelt.

Video January 27, 2018 by Bruce Robinson – beach rubbing by A42s + other Northern Residents near Sechelt.

Video – Feodor Pitcairn’s 2001 “Realm of the Killer Whales” with underwater footage of the beach-rubbing as of timestamp 48:15. This footage was obtained as a result of a special DFO permit.

Notes and Sources:
*Scientific convention is to reference Orcinus orca as Killer Whales. Many prefer “Orca” but please know that Orcinus orca loosely translates into “demon of the underworld”. The whales did not name themselves, we did and locked within the names is our misunderstanding and complex history with these remarkable, social, intelligent, big dolphin.

For more information on the BC’s Killer Whale populations see this previous blog or Dr. John Ford’s book Marine Mammals of British Columbia, 2015.

For more footage from the OrcaLab cameras and hydrophones from NE Vancouver Island click here. You can sign-up for text alerts by scrolling down at that link and filling in the field on the bottom left.

For potential impact of boat presence on rubbing behaviour, see Estimating relative energetic costs of human disturbance to killer whales (Orcinus orca). Rob Williams, David Lusseauc, Philip S. Hammonda (2006).

This blog led to my being interviewed for BBC’s “Ingenious Animals”. The episode includes a compilation of video of Northern Resident matrilines beach-rubbing. Available at this link as of 41 min.

Information on Beach-Rubbing in Alaskan Residents:

Members of AK pod are known to beach rub using “several different rubbing locations in Prince William Sound as well as in Kenai Fjords and Resurrection Bay.” Source: North Gulf Oceanic Society.
Alaskan Residents’ range overlaps with that of the Northern Residents, especially in Frederick Sound. It is unknown how often the Northern Residents and the AK pod of Alaskan Residents do or do not overlap in their ranges.
Video below shows beach-rubbing in what is very likely Alaskan Residents (members of AK pod) by Eric Eberspeaker – August 2015; Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge on the shore of Fox Island. You’ll note there are some very unique human vocals resulting from witnessing the beach rubbing.

The Best Diet Ever!

Got your attention didn’t I?

Breathe in the beauty and the health benefits. Lose heaviness. Gain happiness. [Kayaking with Jacqui Engel. ©Jackie Hildering.]

It’s December 31st, a time when many of us are reflecting on how we want to feel in the new year.

Do you want to . . . .

Lose heaviness?
Gain optimism?
Be more empowered?
Feel happier?
Change the world for the better?

Me too and in my year-end reflections, I have reminded myself that I know the science of how this can be achieved and have had the privilege of living the experience.

More Nature = More Happy. [Friend Natasha Dickinson after a dive. ©Jackie Hildering.]

Let me share the secret that could lead to such profound positive change – for you, for me and for generations to come.

Do NOT count the calories in your food intake.

Rather, LOSE heaviness and GAIN health and happiness by . . . drinking in more Nature.

What to measure?

How little garbage you produce;
How little “stuff” your purchase;
How low your fuel costs are (home and vehicle); and
Most importantly, how much time you spend outdoors.

Spend more time on the water, under the water, atop a mountain or beside a tree.

Even the smell of the forest creates health benefits. [Forest walk with friend Jacqui Engel. ©Jackie Hildering.]

It’s that easy and yes, this is science-based.

Research has shown that the Japanese practice of “forest bathing” (Shinrin-yoku) measurably increases well-being and decreases our eating ourselves up inside. Even the smell of the forest reduces blood pressure, heart rate and stress hormone production; and increases the production of natural killer cell (NK cells) which combat infections and tumour cell activity (Lee et al).

It’s not really a surprise that being outside and caring for Nature is, well, our natural state of well-being.

It’s where our happiness lies and thereby, the name of this heaviness losing regime is – The Happiness Diet.

Because what’s good for the planet and all the beings we share it with is also good for you. Of course it is.

Grandma Cedar and I. Lots of happy and health going on here.

Grandma Cedar and I. Lots of happy and healthy going on here.

Truly thrive. Feel more alive.

Use less. Care more.

And when you shine with lightness and people ask, “What’s your secret?”, please, please, please – tell them!

For this is a secret that could truly change the world.

Wishing you health, happiness, and WILD adventure in 2015 and beyond.

Source:
J. Lee, Q. Li, L. Tyrväinen et al., “Nature therapy and preventive medicine,” in Public Health-Social and Behavioral Health, J. Maddock, Ed., chapter 16, pp. 325–350, Intech, Rijeka, Croatia, 2012.

Rainbow and Pacific White-Sided Dolphins. ©Jackie Hildering.

Thank Goodness for Second Chances . . . .

It’s Canadian Thanksgiving and I am overwhelmed with depth of gratitude and purpose.

It is an extraordinary privilege to be able to live the life I do and I want so much for it to count.

Thank you dear readers for helping to amplify the beauty, mystery and fragility into the world so that there may be more understanding that there is no divide between land and sea and how our daily actions regarding chemical and energy use connect us – no matter how far away from this place you are.

The photo below is from two days ago – “Frosty” the Humpback Whale in Johnstone Strait, NE Vancouver Island.

To think we could have lost these glorious, majestic, mysterious, winged, singing, acrobatic ambassadors of our life-sustaining seas . . . .

Thank goodness for second chances.

Frosty the Humpback Whale (BCX1187) in Johnstone Strait, October 11, 2014. Just outside Telegraph Cove. Blinkhorn Light in the background. ©Jackie Hildering.

Look Up! Way Up! – “Hexacopter” soars high above killer whales to study their fitness

[Update summer 2016 – research team is now applying this technology to Humpback Whales – both photogrammetry and collecting blow samples. See here for video of the research.]

Whale researchers generally have some pretty lofty goals but the methodology being used to study the health of at-risk Killer Whales might have the highest standard of all – literally.

With Johnstone Strait being one of the most predictable and sheltered places to see Killer Whales, many of us seafarers on Northern Vancouver Island had a front row seat in seeing what was “up” with this research. A marine “hexacopter” was used, a drone with a camera mounted to it that soars 30m or more above the whales to obtain high quality video and photos that provide very valuable information about the whales’ fitness.

Ready for take-off: Olympus E-PL2 camera mounted to the APH-22 marine hexacopter. Photo Hildering.

Researchers Dr. Lance Barrett-Leonard, Head of the Cetacean Research Program at the Vancouver Aquarium, and Dr. John Durban and Dr. Holly Fearnbach of United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) were very generous in sharing information about their high-flying research with our community. (Are you getting tired of my clever puns referencing height yet?!)

Dr. Holly Fearnback releasing the helicopter. Dr. John Durban centre and Dr.Lance Barrett Leonard on the right. Photo: Hildering.

Dr. Holly Fearnbach releasing the helicopter. Dr. John Durban centre and Dr.Lance Barrett Leonard on the right. Photo: Hildering.

Photo by Suzanne Burns showing how benign this method of study is - the research boat is more than 100m away and the hexacopter with camera is 30 m or move above the whales.

Photo by Suzanne Burns showing how benign this method of study is – the research boat is +/- 100m away and the hexacopter with camera is 30m or move above the whales.

All Killer Whales in BC are all at risk (Threatened or Endangered) and by getting the images from on-high, it is possible to better determine if the whales are thin and even if they are pregnant. This provides vital data such as being able to know if pregnancies did not go to term and how much the fitness of “Resident” Killer Whales depreciates in years of low Chinook salmon abundance. “Resident” Killer Whales are inshore fish-eating populations culturally programmed to be “Chinook-aholics” and their survival has been proven to be directly correlated to the abundance of Chinook salmon.

Here are some examples of the data obtained via hexacopter, revealing good news and bad news.

The bad news first . . .

When Killer Whales are in dire condition and lose too much fat, this manifests as “peanut head”, sunken areas near the eye patches. I see this as the equivalent as sunken cheeks in the gaunt faces of underweight humans.

A Killer Whale with "peanut head" where the extreme loss of fat around the head causes sunken areas in the whale's head = the equivalent of gaunt cheeks in underweight humans. Photo taken during presentation by Dr. Lance Barrett Leonard, Dr. John Durban and Dr. Holly Fearnbach at Telegraph Cove's Whale Interpretive Centre on August 25th, 2014. Photo: Jackie HIldering

A Killer Whale with “peanut head” where the extreme loss of fat around the head causes sunken areas in the whale’s head. This is a photo of a slide from the presentation given by Dr. Lance Barrett Leonard, Dr. John Durban and Dr. Holly Fearnbach at Telegraph Cove’s Whale Interpretive Centre on August 25th, 2014.

The images obtained with the hexacopter revealed that “Northern Resident” Killer Whales A37 and I63 were in extremely poor condition and, in fact, the whales disappeared from their matrilines (families) shortly after the images were taken. “Resident” Killer Whales stay with their families their entire lives so absence from the matriline most often means death.

The cause of death cannot be determined but know that when fat stores are get used up, manmade fat-soluble persistent organic pollutants (such as brominated fire retardants, PCBs, dioxins, etc) are released and affect the whale’s immune system. The mammal-eating Killer Whale of BC are known to be the most contaminated animals on earth.

In the presentation the research team provided in Telegraph Cove, I was gutted by the images of “Plumper” (A37 of the A36s) and I63 which showed concave eye patches and a tadpole-like body shape. The image of Plumper was contrasted to a healthy mature male Killer Whale (see below). As explained by Dr. Durban, Killer Whales when faced with fat loss, put water into the blubber layer so that they remain stream-lined. Plumper had lost so much fat, that it appeared he had to keep his pectoral fins extended to remain buoyant. Ugh.

Image taken from the hexacopter revealing A37’s very poor condition. He disappeared about 10 days after this photo was taken. A37 aka “Plumper” was one of the last 2 remaining whales in the A36 matriline of “Northern Resident” killer whales. He was 37 years old. The hexacopter study reveals that his brother A46 aka “Kaikash” is in good condition and he has been seen travelling with members of closely related matrilines. The above is a photo of a slide from the presentation by Dr. Lance Barrett Leonard, Dr. John Durban and Dr. Holly Fearnbach at Telegraph Cove’s Whale Interpretive Centre on August 25th, 2014.

Image taken from the hexacopter revealing I63's very poor condition. She disappeared from her matriline about a week after this photo was taken (I15 matriline of Northern "Resident" killer whales). She was 24 years old. Photo taken during the presentation by Dr. Lance Barrett Leonard, Dr. John Durban and Dr. Holly Fearnbach at Telegraph Cove's Whale Interpretive Centre on August 25th, 2014. Photo: Jackie HIldering

Image revealing I63’s very poor condition. She disappeared from her matriline about a week after this photo was taken (I15 matriline of “Northern Resident” killer whales). She was 24 years old. The above is a photo of a slide from the presentation by Dr. Lance Barrett Leonard, Dr. John Durban and Dr. Holly Fearnbach at Telegraph Cove’s Whale Interpretive Centre on August 25th, 2014.

The good news . . .

Data collected also revealed fat calves, robust nursing mothers, and pregnant females. Below, Dr. John Durban shares an image of 34-year-old “I4” of the I15 matriline of “Northern Residents” revealing that she is pregnant again.

Happy news! Photo taken from the hexacopter revealing reveals that I4 is pregnant. Photo taken during presentation by Dr. Lance Barrett Leonard, Dr. John Durban and Dr. Holly Fearnbach at Telegraph Cove's Whale Interpretive Centre on August 25th, 2014. Photo: Jackie HIldering

Happy news! Photo taken from the hexacopter revealing that I4 is pregnant again (she is the whale at the bottom of the image). With gestation being 17.5 months in killer whales and that, around the world killer whales give birth in the winter, I4 is likely about 1 year pregnant in this photo. Photo taken during presentation by Dr. Lance Barrett Leonard, Dr. John Durban and Dr. Holly Fearnbach at Telegraph Cove’s Whale Interpretive Centre on August 25th, 2014. Photo: Hildering.

I am in no way advocating for the unregulated use of drones for viewing whales. The researchers reported that the regulatory paperwork needed to get approval for this research weighed more than the hexacopter did and that they were glad that this was the case.

This research methodology, when applied correctly, is a wonderful example of how advances in technology can lead to advances in knowledge in a way that is benign to wildlife. The sky’s the limit in how we let this knowledge impact our day-to-day actions to improve the health of the marine environment for which Killer Whales serve as powerful sentinels.

How high will you go for the sake of Killer Whales and what they are revealing about the health of our life-sustaining oceans?

Video taken with the Olympus EPL2 camera mounted to the APH-22 marine hexacopter. Note that the whales would not hear what you are hearing in this video as the camera is 30m or more above the whales. If video does not load go to http://tinyurl.com/pjz3hpf

Research methodology allowed for an assessment of the fitness of 77 "Northern Resident" Killer Whales (inshore fish-eaters) and 7 "Bigg's" Killer Whales (mammal-eaters aka "Transients"). Here, mature male mammal-eating killer whale T060s is being photographed from on high.

The hexacopter research allowed for an assessment of the fitness of 77 “Northern Resident” Killer Whales (inshore fish-eaters) and 7 “Bigg’s” Killer Whales (mammal-eaters aka “Transients”) by the research team during 2 weeks in August. Here, mature male mammal-eating killer whale T060C is being photographed from on high. Photo: Hildering.

Photo by Laurie Sagle showing how high the hexacopter is above the whales.

The research team: Dr. Holly Fearnback; Dr. Lance Barrett-Leonard; and Dr. John Durban. Photo: Hildering.

The research team: Dr. Holly Fearnbach; Dr. Lance Barrett-Leonard; and Dr. John Durban. Photo: Hildering.

For more information:

Gallery of photos from this research
Global News, December 1, 2016; “Drones helping humpback whale research“
Chek News; December 3, 2016; “Vancouver Aquarium using drones to conduct research on humpback whales“
CNN; October 16, 2014; “Drone shows life and death of killer whales”
DFO webpage with the research of Dr. Peter Ross on contaminants in Killer Whales. Note that Dr. Ross is no longer with DFO as a result of what is essentially the disbanding of ocean contaminants research by the federal government; he is now head of the Ocean Pollution Research Program at the Vancouver Aquarium
CBC News; September 22, 2014; Vancouver Aquarium uses hexacopter drone to monitor whale pods – Drones give biologists new insight into health of killer whales
Ford, J.K.B., G.M. Ellis, P.F. Olesiuk, and K.C. Balcomb. 2009. Linking killer whale survival and prey abundance: food limitation in the oceans’ apex predator? Biol. Lett. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2009.0468
Vancouver Sun; August 22, 2014; Hexacopter gives B.C. orca researchers a new view
CTV News; August 2, 2014; Drone lets orca researchers monitor whales off B.C. coast

Out There – Buoy Barnacles and Sailed Jellies? And a couple of Blue Whales.

Having finally recovered from having a crashed computer hard drive, I can now share with you some of the wonder and discovery from being on DFO’s offshore survey to aid the recovery of whales.

This past July, the Cetacean Research team went as far as 200 nm (370 km) off BC’s shore and it was a great success. The team sighted over 3,000 cetaceans including two endangered Blue Whales (the biggest animal that ever lived).

One of the 2 sightings made of endangered Blue Whales. Photo ©Brianna Wright.

One of the 2 endangered Blue Whales found on DFO’s offshore survey to aid the recovery of whales. The very small dorsal fin is a discerning characteristic for Blue Whales. Our research vessel the CCGS Tully is in the background. Photo ©Brianna Wright.

And there were around 150 observations of threatened Fin Whales (the second biggest animal that ever lived).

One of the +/- 150 sightings made of threatened Fin Whales. Photo ©Bruce Paterson.

Threatened Fin Whale. Note the white lower right jaw. This is a discerning feature of Fin Whales. The lower right jaw is white (and the lower left jaw is black!) ©Jackie Hildering.

Threatened Fin Whale. Notice the white lower right jaw? This is a discerning feature of Fin Whales. The lower right jaw is white (and the lower left jaw is black!) ©Jackie Hildering.

There were so many Dall’s Porpoises out there; some Northern Right Whale Dolphins (I promise that, one year, I will get a good photo) and even a Pacific White-Sided Dolphin with very unique markings.

Pacific White-Sided Dolphin on the left has anomalous colouration - see the marking around his/her eye? ©Jackie Hildering

Pacific White-Sided Dolphin on the right has anomalous colouration – see the markings around his/her eye? ©Jackie Hildering

We had many sightings of threatened populations of Killer Whales – Offshore Killer Whales (offshore fish-eaters); Resident Killer Whales (inshore fish-eaters); and Bigg’s/Transient Killer Whales (mammal-eaters). There was even data collected on some pelagic Bigg’s/Transients that have never before been identified in BC.

These are Bigg’s/Transient Killer Whales that have never before been identified in BC (or probably anywhere) due to their being among the mammal-eating killer whales that have a preference for pelagic waters. Jared Towers, in his role with DFO, is the authority in BC on mammal-eating killer whales and it is he who immediately recognized that these individuals have not been previously identified and who will assign identification names for them. The data obtained on the survey builds on DFO’s 40+ years of population studies on killer whales in BC. ©Jackie Hildering

These are some of the Bigg’s/Transient Killer Whales that had never before been identified in BC (or probably anywhere) due to their being among the mammal-eating Killer Whales that have a preference for pelagic waters. Jared Towers, in his role with DFO, is the authority in BC on mammal-eating killer whales and it is he who immediately recognized that these individuals have not been previously identified and who will assign identification names for them. The data obtained on the survey builds on DFO’s 40+ years of population studies on Killer Whales in BC. ©Jackie Hildering

There were Sperm Whales, Cuvier’s Beaked Whales (!!!) and threatened Fur Seals . . .

Inquisitive Northern Fur Seal (Threatened). Many young Northern Fur Seals, after weaned, remain at sea for 22+ months (really). ©Jackie Hildering

. . . remarkable pelagic birds;

Laysan’s albatros (red-listed in BC). ©Jackie Hildering

Mola mola and a variety of species of sharks.

Blue shark. ©Jackie Hildering.

To see the big marine animals was astounding especially considering how at-risk many of the species are due to past whaling/hunting and current threats like vessel-strike, prey-availability, and entanglement.

Seeing +/- 60 Humpback Whales flick-feeding together, birds all around them, made me go quiet in sheer wonderment at the beauty of it . . . blows as far as the eyes could see. To think that we could have lost them due to whaling . . . .

But look closely at the image below. Yes, it’s a humpback with a rainbow blow (rain-blow?) but look more closely. See the little white circles? This is one of the little guys that put me in the same state of rapturous awe as seeing the giants. All around the humpbacks, in fact, over almost ever square meter of ocean out there, there were sailed jellies known as “By-the-Wind Sailors” (Velella velella).

Yes the rainbow in the humpback's blow is stunning but look at all the Vellela vellela around the humpback! ©Jackie Hildering.

Yes the rainbow in the humpback’s blow is stunning but look at all the Velella velella around the humpback! ©Jackie Hildering.

This species of hydroid has a buoyant air-filled float and a triangular, stiff sail. It is a colonial animal with a central mouth under the floats. The tentacles trap fish and invertebrate eggs, small crustaceans (copepods) and species of free-swimming tunicates.

Vellela vellela - see the feeding tentacles? Photo ©Jackie Hildering.

Velella velella – see the feeding tentacles and deep blue pigment of the polyp? Photo ©Jackie Hildering.

To add to how remarkable this species is, some have the sail facing one way where others in the population have their sail facing the other way – so that they get blown in different directions. (For more species information see the JelliesZone).

Vellela vellela. Photo ©Jackie Hildering.

Velella velella. Photo ©Jackie Hildering.

Velella velella are a species common to our Coast and harmless to humans. However, their numbers this year were extraordinary.

Dense concentrations of Vellela vellela. Photo ©Lisa Spaven.

Dense concentrations of Velella velella. Photo ©Lisa Spaven.

If you live on the Coast, maybe you’ve seen them too this year, washed up on the beach?

The media has been full of articles about them with titles like: “Velella velella turn Tofino, B.C., shore into sea of blue“; “Mysterious Blue Jellyfish-Like Creatures Invade West Coast Beaches“; and “Thousands Of These Bizarre Blue Animals Wash Up Along California Shores“.

Vellela vellela (By-the-Wind-Sailors) washed ashore. Only their chitinous-like sails remaining, the scarlet blue floating polyp having rotted away. Photo: ©Jackie Hildeirng

Velella velella (By-the-Wind Sailors) washed ashore. Only their chitinous-like sails remaining, the scarlet blue floating polyp having rotted away. Photo: ©Jackie Hildering

But there was another smaller organism way out there that is even more other-worldly, surreal and absolutely mind-blowing – the Buoy Barnacle (Dosima fascicularis).

This species of barnacle is the only one in the world known to secrete its own float. This allows the barnacle to hang downward feeding on plankton, drifting along in the high seas. The float is gas filled and looks like polystyrene.

Buoy Barnacle with the float it has secreted itself. The smaller barnacles attached are juveniles of another species – Pelagic Gooseneck Barnacles (Lepas anatifera). Photo: ©Jackie Hildering.

The little barnacles you see on the outside of the Buoy Barnacle in the above image are another species. They are juvenile Pelagic Gooseneck Barnacles (Lepas anatifera). This species attaches to anything that drifts. See below for a good example of that.

Glass ball covered with Pelagic Gooseneck Barnacles (Lepas anatifera). Photo: ©Bruce Paterson.

One of the glass balls the team found – covered with an astounding mass of Pelagic Gooseneck Barnacles (Lepas anatifera)! And notice the Velella Velella around the glass ball?! Photo: ©Bruce Paterson.

Imagine, imagine learning about this species out on the open sea while helping to take ID photos of threatened Fin Whales, Velella velella EVERYWHERE their sails glistening in the sun as they are propelled over the swell, and among them, these upside down barnacles travelling even faster by wind and current.

Imagine my further delight when, while still at sea, just after I had observed this species for the first time, I got an email from children back home in Telegraph Cove (via the wonderful interpreters at the Whale Interpretive Centre) wanting to know what the mystery organism was that they had found. It was the Buoy Barnacle. They had even found two attached to one buoy.

Here is the video of their find.

From Blue Whales to Buoyed Barnacles, the biodiversity, mystery and fragility of this Coast is simply staggering.

There’s so much to protect.

Sadie holding a Buoy Barnacle that we found on the beach north of Klemtu.

Buoy Barnacle found on the beach north of Klemtu in August. The exoskeleton of the foot is what is extended on the right. Smaller species attached are Pelagic Gooseneck Barnacles. ©Jackie Hildering (thanks Sadie!)

For the biggest marine bio nerds: Design of a Small Cantilevered Sheet: The Sail of Velella velella.

Whale Watching – Not “Up-Close-and-Personal!” How to make a good choice?

Click here to jump to the summary of points to consider in making the best choice for a whale-watching company.

This blog is catalyzed by advertisements for whale watching that I perceive to be extremely exploitive of whales, suggesting high adrenaline “up-close-and-personal” encounters.

The problem with such marketing, where boats are in very close proximity with whales, is threefold:

1. It feeds consumer demand for a whale watching experience that is not good for the whales. Close boats (including kayaks) have greater potential for stressing whales; disturbing whales’ natural behaviour; and increasing habituation to vessels whereby risks such as vessel strike are increased. These potential effects have been proven through scientific peer-reviewed research (see references below).

Pacific White-Sided Dolphins with newborn calves. ©Jackie Hildering; telephoto and cropped image.

2. It creates false expectations and miseducates people. There are Marine Mammal Regulations and guidelines for respectful, legal and safe marine mammal viewing which include distance limits (200m for Orca and 100m for other cetaceans). However, if people see advertising promoting close interactions between boats and whales, they may believe this is what is to be expected on their tour. Thereby, companies who choose to use this marketing approach are creating increased pressure on whale watching boat operators to fulfill these expectations. And note, it is NOT okay to position your boat in order to “have the whales come to us.”

There will be those who succumb to such pressure, and who will conduct their vessel in a way that violates the regulations and thus creates greater disturbance for the animals. I solidly believe that the average consumer wishes to marvel at whales in the wild in a way that is as benign and natural as possible. Were they to know the potential impacts of close encounters or that the company they had chosen was “blurring” what is right, it would very much taint the experience for them.

Pacific Habour Seal mother nursing her newborn. The pup is so young you can see his/her umbilical cord. ©Jackie Hildering

Pacific Harbour Seal mother nursing her newborn. The pup is so young you can see his/her umbilical cord. ©Jackie Hildering; telephoto and cropped image.

3. It creates a “marketplace” where other companies with more solid ethics face the dilemma of how to counteract such advertising and aid consumers in making a better choice. Sometimes, unexpectedly whales do surface within the viewing distance limits but to promote this feeds the “get-up-close-and-personal” monster.
In order to solve this dilemma and counteract the above two points as well, there are whale watching associations where operators have agreed not to show their boats in close proximity to whales.

Resting line of the A12 matriline of “Northern Resident” orca (inshore fish-eating population). ©Jackie Hildering; telephoto and cropped image.

Granted, we’ve come a long, long way. Public attitude towards whales has changed drastically. We’re not shooting whales anymore and we’re not putting them in captivity. Whaling only ended in British Columbia in 1967 and the live capture of orca only ended in 1973/74 (thank you Dr. Michael Bigg).

Now, thankfully, our values and knowledge have largely evolved to where we respect whales as sentient, social, intelligent animals with culture.

So how to make a good choice?

How to choose a whale watching experience that has the least impact on the environment with the greatest potential for learning and conservation? How to navigate the sea of choice when confronted with the vast array of variables such as location, vessel type, crew, and advertising strategies?

Humpback Whales resting at the surface. ©Jackie Hildering

Know that the great truth is that the best possible experience is that your viewing of wildlife happens as if you were not there.

The ideal would be to watch cetaceans from land with interpretation from a knowledgeable guide but there are very few places where whales pass by with predictability.

Going out in a private motorized vessel is also an option but most often means a larger noise and fossil fuel footprint per person and not having the many benefits of knowledgeable crew who can educate and operate the vessel in a way that is more benign. Data collected by the Cetus Research and Conservation Society supports that it is by far more often the case that recreational boaters violate the guidelines / regulations than do commercial whale watch operators.

See the little fin at the far left? That is "Cutter" (A86) as a calf in 2006 nursing mother "Clio" (A50). Sibling "Bend" (A72) is the whale with the injured dorsal fin. Bend now has a calf of her own. A30 matriline of "Northern Resident" orca population (inshore fish- eaters) ©Jackie Hildering.

See the little fin at the far left? That is “Cutter” (A86) as a calf in 2006 nursing mother “Blinkhorn” (A54). Sibling “Bend” (A72) is the whale with the injured dorsal fin. A30 matriline of “Northern Residents (inshore fish- eaters) ©Jackie Hildering; telephoto and cropped image.

Of course, it would help consumers and marine wildlife greatly if there were a effective system in place that guarded high standards of operation and that sufficient resources were made available for effective monitoring, education and enforcement of boaters around marine wildlife. Sadly, these resources are not available whereby consumer awareness and operator ethics become all the more important, as does reporting violations to the DFO Incident Reporting Line at 1-800-465-4336.

Steller Sea Lions socializing at the haul-out. ©Jackie Hildering.

So, here we go . . .

Summary of points for consideration in making a whale watching choice that is better for the whales and environmental sustainability in general.

1. Location:

How close is the vessel departure point from the area where whales are likely to be i.e. how long and how fast will you need to travel? This affects how large your fossil fuel and noise footprint will be.

2. Crew:

How much successful experience and training and what qualifications does the crew have in:

Operating vessels around whales?
Providing science-based information that would make whale-watching count for the sake of inspiring greater conservation efforts rather than just be about opportunities for photography?

3. Vessel Related:

Does the vessel type allow for effective delivery of educational information?
How large is the vessel? This is highly relevant in determining the noise and fossil fuel footprint per person as is the fuel efficiency of the vessel and the engine type.
Usually more difficult to determine unless specified on the company’s website: Is the engine of a design where noise is reduced? Do operators shut off the engine whenever possible?

4. Ethics and Approach:

Does the company:

Have a holistic and comprehensive approach to environmental sustainability e.g. noise reduction measures, avoiding disposable goods, use of organic, energy-efficient, and biodegradable products, etc?
Contribute to marine conservation and research efforts e.g. sightings data being relayed to research initiatives, financial or in-kind support, etc.
Use language and images, in advertising and social media, that are respectful of the marine wildlife and the guidelines for viewing them? This includes NOT including imagery that feeds the “up-close-and-personal” monster.

Mammal-eating orca T39 just having successfully killed a Pacific White-Sided Dolphin. Splash on the left is her calf just having entered the water before her. Splashes in the background, right in front of Telegraph Cove, are the dolphins that got away. ©Jackie Hildering

Mammal-eating orca T39 just having successfully killed a Pacific White-Sided Dolphin. The splash on the left is her calf just having entered the water, learning to hunt alongside her. The splashes in the background, right in front of Telegraph Cove, are the dolphins that got away. ©Jackie Hildering; telephoto and cropped image.

My life radically changed after going on just one whale-watching trip many years ago. I certainly know how profoundly transformative and powerful an experience it can be.

When done right, ensuring guidelines / regulations are adhered to and solid conservation messaging is shared, whale-watching guests are able to have the best possible experience. An experience that is benign and respectful can lead to greater caring; a sense of connection to the animals and the life-sustaining ocean for which they are ambassadors; and the inspiration to undertake action that is better for the environment (and therefore, ourselves).

Consumers have very significant power to shape how whale watching is conducted. By supporting companies striving to operate in a way that is best for the whales and the environment at large, you are not feeding the “get-up-close-and-personal” monster. The resulting reward is to know that your experience will be as wild as can be – best for you, best for the whales and best in not rewarding those who compromise their ethics and the privilege of being a conduit for people to experience the raw beauty of seeing whales in the wild, where they belong.

So please, consider the above points and take particular notice of whale watching companies’ advertisements. Choosing a company whose marketing reflects respectful whale watching is the first step to ensuring your experience will be as good as you want it to be.

Pacific Harbour Seal about to give birth. ©Jackie Hildering

If you witness an incident of concern regarding marine life, please call the DFO Incident Reporting Line at 1-800-465-4336.

Resting line of "Northern Resident" orca (inshore fish-eaters). ©Jackie Hildering

Pacific Habour Seal resting at the surface. ©Jackie Hildering

References:

BC Cetacean Sightings Network; Boat Disturbance
BC Cetacean Sightings Network; Be Whale Wise Guidelines
Be Whale Wise – New Regulations (USA)
Canada Gazette, June 2018, Regulations Amending the Marine Mammal Regulations
Fisheries and Oceans Canada. 2009. Management Plan for the Pacific Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) in Canada. Species at Risk Act Management Plan Series. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Ottawa. v + 49 pp.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada; 2018; Northern and Southern Resident Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) Recovery Strategy (2018). Species at Risk Act Management Plan Series. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Ottawa.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada; 2007; Recovery Strategy for the Transient Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) in Canada. Species at Risk Act Management Plan Series. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Ottawa.
Holt, M.M, Noren, D.P., Viers, V., Emmons, C.K., Veirs, S. 2009. Speaking up: Killer whales (Orcinus orca) increase their call amplitude in response to vessel noise. Journal of Acoustic Society of America. 125 (1):
Lachmuth, C., Barrett-Lennard, L.G., Steyn, D.Q., Milsom, W.K. 2011. Estimation of southern resident killer whale exposure to exhaust emissions from whalewatching vessels and potential adverse health effects and toxicity thresholds. Marine Pollution Bulletin 62: 792-805.
Lusseau, D., Bejder, L. 2007. The long-term consequences of short-term responses to disturbance experiences from whalewatching impact assessment. International Journal of Comparative Psychology 20: 228-236.
Marine Education and Research Society; See A Blow? Go Slow!
North Island Marine Mammal Stewardship Association (NIMMSA); The Whale Watch Flag
Williams, R., Lusseau, D., Hammond, P. 2006 Estimating relative energetic costs of human disturbance to killer whales (Orcinus orca). Biological Conservation 133(3): 301-311.

“Posturing” Humpback Whales?

Some experiences are best shared in photos. So here you have 20 images documenting the marvel of how 2 humpback whales interacted with one another for more than an hour. Huge energy was expended by both whales in head lobbing, lobtailing, pectoral fin slapping, and breaching. Back and forth it went, the sounds resounding above and under the water in the Great Bear Sea around Caamano Sound (proposed tanker route).

I witnessed this while with Pacific Wild as an educator for the SEAS program (Supporting Emerging Aboriginal Stewards).

What was this humpback whale exchange about? In this case, I really don’t know.

One of the two humpbacks that was incredibly surface active ©Jackie Hildering. All photos Telephoto and cropped.

I have had the privilege of learning from these giants for more than a decade now and have seen such exchanges in all sorts of contexts.

I reference the behaviour as “posturing” since the whales appear to making a display to one another. Outside of play behaviour and learning in young animals, my interpretation is that these incredibly powerful surface active displays between whales may serve the purpose of:

Delivering a clear “I’m big don’t mess with me” message to a perceived threat e.g. the presence of mammal-eating killer whales (“Bigg’s”/”transients) or the vocals of fish-eating killer whales (“residents”) to which the humpbacks are not habituated;
Communicating the presence of a perceived threat to other humpback whales since the slaps of humpback fins and bodies resound underwater;
Striving to display dominance / greater vigour to other humpbacks which may be particularly relevant for mating;
Possibly establishing spacing between humpbacks; and/or
Some sort of social function that leads to them ultimately joining up and swimming away together as was the case in exchange for which I provide the photos below.

Here we go. Photos provided in chronological order.

Almost simultaneously, when both whales were within 200 m of one another, Humpback 1 (lots of barnacles and smaller but too big to be the 2nd whale’s calf) started breaching and Humpback 2 (larger) started lobtailing. [Note, there were also two other humpbacks in the area but at a greater distance away and they were not surface active.]

©Jackie Hildering. Telephoto and cropped.

Humpback #1 then began repeatedly head-lobbing, advancing away from Humpback 2.

All photos telephoto and cropped ©2014 Jackie Hildering.

Leandrea, intern at Pacific Wild, listening to how the slaps of fins and body could be heard underwater.

Half an hour later, Whale 2 advanced from the position where the exchange with Whale 1 began. S/he head-lobbed and breached down the same track as Whale 1.

Humpback 2 head-lobbing, advancing down from where the exchange with Whale 1 began. ©Jackie Hildering. Telephoto and cropped.

Humpback 2 only stopped this highly surface active behaviour after half an hour when close to Humpback 1. And then . . . . then they joined up very close together and swam back in the direction that exchange had begun. What was it all about?!

With these whales being on the Central Coast, I am relaying fluke and dorsal photos to the wonderful Janie Wray and Herman Meuter of Cetacea Lab to find out if they might know the identities of the whales involved in this exchange. They are not known to us at the Marine Education and Research Society.

But will we ever know for sure what such a display was about? In having the extraordinary privilege of learning from the marine environment, one of my most valued lessons is to recognize how little we know and thereby to have the correct humility and precaution in decisions about marine resources.

Humpback whales are giants, they are easy to identify as individuals, they have been studied for some 40 years and still there is so very much we don’t know – including the benefit of expending so much energy in such an exchange.

_________________________________________

For related information see my previous blog “Might As Well Jump”

For an ethogram of humpback whale behaviours from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, see here.

Reaching New Heights? A Sea Cucumber Mystery.

This is an open case; one that has me bemused and amused.

While diving near the Great Bear Rainforest in Jackson Narrows, my buddy Tavish Campbell came upon a Giant Sea Cucumber in this very unusual position (Apostichopus californicus, aka California Sea Cucumber).

It was stretched straight up and down, head end up.

Giant Red Sea Cucumber reaching for new heights? Dive buddy - Tavish Campbell. ©Jackie Hildering

As you likely know, this species is most often horizontal; “face” down cruising up to around 4 meters a day along the ocean bottom, mopping up nutritious particles with mucus-covered bushy white tentacles. When there is good stuff stuck on the tentacles, these retract into the mouth (with sandy casts coming out the other end).

A Giant Red Sea Cucumber in its usual position, horizontal so that it can feed by mopping up particles. This one has a nudibranch crossing over it (Flabellina trephine). ©Jackie Hildering

A Giant Sea Cucumber in its usual position, horizontal so that it can feed by mopping up particles. This one has a nudibranch crossing over it (Flabellina trophina). ©Jackie Hildering

So why would this individual assume such a remarkably vertical position? Could it be feeding related? It was extending and retracting its mouth tentacles repeatedly but clearly this was not effective in gathering any snacks.

Giant Red Sea Cucumber with buddy Tavish Campbell. ©Jackie Hildering

Giant Sea Cucumber with buddy Tavish Campbell. Mouth tentacles extended. Note all the tube feed revealing its relatedness to sea stars and sea urchins (phylum Echinodermata). ©Jackie Hildering

My best hypothesis is that this was mating related. Giant Sea Cucumbers have separate sexes and rise up in a python-like position to release their sex cells (see figure below from A Snail’s Odyssey). This pose reduces the number of sex cells that settle to the ocean bottom, unfertilized.

Giant Sea Cucumbers spawning in python-like pose. Source: A Snail’s Odyssey.

Additional strategies to enhance the chances of fertilization are to twist back and forth and/or intertwine with a partner while releasing gametes. (This species will also catapult back and forth when trying to escape predation by Sunflower Stars).

Striving to ensure your DNA gets passed on does not happen randomly however. As with all broadcast spawners, there is a cue so that the release of sex cells is coordinated. (See my other blog “Sea of Love – Broadcast Spawning“). Giant Sea Cucumbers are known to mate in the shallows from April to August repeatedly “dribble spawning”.

Our high-reaching Giant Sea Cucumber friend was indeed in the shallows and it was significantly warmer there. Was the temperature a cue that it was time to mate? Was s/he trying to sense the presence of a partner or others of his/her kind already broadcasting?

Was s/he reaching to new heights to allow even better distribution of sex cells than the python pose?

Was this individual even old enough to mate as they do not sexually mature till age 4? It’s size certainly suggested it was older since maximum size for the species is reported to be 50 cm.

Had we had more air we could have waited and likely concluded what was up with this behaviour.

As is so often the case however I surfaced with even more questions and a greater sense of wonder about the life below. And yes, this time it may be that I was laughing so hard I was sputtering sea water as well.

More on the species’ spawning:
From the University of Oregon: Adult A. californicus reach sexual maturity after four years and will typically migrate to shallow waters to spawn from late April to August (Lambert 1997) . . . During spawning, A. californicus will lift the anterior one-third to one-half of the body in a cobra-like manner and release strings of white sperm or light orange eggs from the gonophore just behind the dorsal tentacles (Lambert 1997). The eggs are small and negatively buoyant. Fertilization occurs in open water, and large females typically have fecundities up to 8.92 x 106 (Strathmann 1987).
Larva: Apostichopus californicus is the only local species with pelagic planktotrophic development in which a feeding larva develops in the plankton (Strathmann 1987). This development includes a feeding auricularia larva that swims from 35-52 days (Strathmann 1987).

From A Snail’s Odyssey: “The gametes stream from a single gonopore within the ring of tentacles and fertilisation takes place in the open water. The eggs are relatively large and yolky in sea cucumbers, and develop to a feeding larval stage known as an auricularia. After a 3 to 5 week period floating in the plankton, the larvae metamorphose and settle to the sea bottom.”

Two Giant Sea Cucumbers in spawning position, April 2021 ©Jackie Hildering. The orange animals are Orange Sea Cucumbers and they were spawning too and what a spectacular spectacle that is.

Sources / more information:

A Snail’s Odyssey; Learn About Sea Cucumbers
Giant Sea Cucumber Walla Walla Edu
University of Oregon – Apostichopus californicus
The Marine Detective: Sea of Love – Broadcast Spawning
The following photos were added April 1, 2024.

We are Wholly Dependent and Connected to the Ocean

Reflections for Oceans Day 2014.

We are wholly dependent and connected to the Ocean.

Life on land cannot survive without the Ocean.

It is life in the Ocean that will testify to magnitude of environmental problems first.

Change is needed; and we humans have an astounding capacity to make a positive difference.

Likely as a reader of “The Marine Detective”, you already share the following perspective:

The majority of messaging we get is controlled by those with power in the current paradigm not wanting us to change our value systems, and consumer and voter behaviour.

Therefore, they perpetuate:

Fear;
Ignorance, uncertainty and inaction by limiting access to independent science;
The notion that it is jobs OR the environment;
The fallacy that being good for the environment is about loss rather than joy; and
The mythology that consuming more will certainly make us happier and more “successful”.

What a different world it would be if:

More of us were to consume less and care more;
Value time and health over possessions;
Think in terms of an economy of chemicals and energy use instead of just money;
Know that there is no divide between land and sea and that Ocean sustains human life;
Be empowered;
And . . . . be happier.

Spread the word?

Happy Oceans Day.