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What I Didn’t See . . .

This blog contains a wee bit of self-mockery as well as a LOT of joy at what others saw during the most recent dive trip I organized to God’s Pocket Resort.

*The October 2023 gang at God’s Pocket. Yes, that’s me gracefully gliding into the image after setting the timer on my camera.*

There is so much I DID see and learn from when on this dive trip about 40 km north of my home on northern Vancouver Island. But there are three sightings by others that led to an unfamiliar upwelling of emotions for me and strange contortions near my jaw line. I think I may have been pouting. Not a good look!

Why? Let’s look at this case by case.

Sighting Number 1 – Mola / Sunfish documented by Timothy Manulides
I had a brilliant dive and was back on the dive boat. Timothy walked over and said, “I think I saw Sunfish.” I am sure my initial reaction. was to blank-stare him. I thought he was joking and poking a little bit of fun, knowing how much I would be happy for him, but sad for me.

Super biologist Isabelle Cote was also on this trip and said, “I saw them too!”.

It’s not that it’s impossible to see Mola (aka Sunfish) in this area. This year in particular has been remarkable for how many sightings there have been by scuba divers in the Browning Pass area (with possible repeat sightings of the same Mola).

Timothy may also have said: “I’ve never seen one before” to which there may have been the response: “Neither have I and I live here and we study them!”

We at the Marine Education and Research Society are involved with a study into the two species of Mola off the coast. While I have seen them while doing surveys from a boat, I have never seen one while diving.

I was on the same dive and very near to where Timothy and Isabelle sighted them! Thank goodness Timothy managed to get this video.

Here’s what I posted about this sighting on our Marine Education and Research Society social media:

“So thrilled that Timothy did see and document them so that we know (thanks to Dr. Marianne Nyegaard) that these are most likely juvenile Mola mola (Ocean Sunfish), not the other Mola species found in these waters Mola tecta (Hoodwinker Sunfish).

From Dr. Nyegaard about this sighting: ” . . . they look to me like very young Mola mola – the belly curve still has that angular look to them, which is the last remnant of the babyness.”

You may note that the Mola on the right has an injury on their tail. These juveniles were about 60 cm across.

The video also gives you a sense of how fast Mola are. They are often erroneously thought to be slow because, when at the surface, they are “sunning” to warm up from being in colder, deeper water. They can also be fairly stationary at the surface to present themselves for parasite removal by birds like albatross.

The other fish species in this video are Widow Rockfish and Yellowtail Rockfish.

This year it is extraordinary that we know of about 7 sightings of Mola in the Browning Pass area by scuba divers. We will be reporting on the other sightings once we have some more information. We will try to determine if they are repeat sightings of the same fish.

To report a sighting (with photo and/or video) and read about the differences between the two species, see www.mersociety.org/mola.

As the name “Hoodwinker” suggests, Mola tecta was hiding in plain sight. (“tecta” also means “hidden” in Latin).

It was only in 2017 that research was published on the very existence of the species and it was thought to only range in the temperate waters of the southern hemisphere. Only since 2019 has it been questioned whether they are found in colder waters and – they sure are! They’ve been mistaken as being Mola mola, the Ocean Sunfish.

We are collaborating and collecting the data for Ocean Sunfish Research.“

Sighting Number 2 – Medusafish seen by Shireen Shipman.
On one day of our dive trip, the wind was howling so fiercely that we could not get out in the boat. Thankfully, we could dive in the bay right in front of God’s Pocket. After one of these dives, Shireen showed me her stunning pictures and asked me if I knew the species.

My jaw may have dropped. Yes, my face got a good workout on this trip.

I thought this may be a Medusafish (Icichthys lockingtoni to 46 cm). But I had to check with expert Andy Lamb. I have never, knowingly, seen one. Their range does include where I often dive but sightings and photos of them by divers are rare. As the reference to “Medusa” suggests, these fish often are in amongst the tentacles of large jelly species. Even in Andy Lamb and Phil Edgell’s fish ID book, the only photo of a Medusafish is of a dead individual at the surface.

Andy confirmed this was a juvenile Medusafish and I am sure he is keen to use Shireen’s photo in future to help others ID the species.

*Diver in the background is Shireen’s buddy, Melissa Foo*.

The known range of Medusafish is the North Pacific Ocean: Japan and Gulf of Alaska to central Baja California, Mexico.

How wonderful that Shireen noticed that this was a unique fish and took beautiful photos. You can see how shallow they were. Oh and did I mention? I was on this dive.

Sighting Number 3 – Male Rock Greenling seen by John Congden and Janice Crook
I was to dive with Janice and John but I could not clear my one ear. So I dived very near the surface telling myself that a byproduct could be . . . seeing a male Rock Greenling (Hexagrammos lagocephalus to 61 cm)! One had repeatedly been seen at this site. They are highly territorial AND in the shallows in sites with high surge like this.

There appears to be little known about Rock Greenlings and there is even scientific debate if the Rock Greenlings seen in Russia are the same species as those along the North American side of the North Pacific Ocean. Dr. Milton Love discusses how observations of this species from eastern Kamchatka and the Sea of Okhotsk are that they are in schools. While over on this side, they are observed to be solitary and very territorial.

Back to me diving . . . in the surge. I spend an hour at no more than 6 metres depth and looked, and looked for the male Rock Greenling. I was back on the dive boat when my beloved dive buddies, Janice and John, surfaced from their dive ecstatic because . . . the fish was where they had done their safety stop. Janice and John’s photos of the male Rock Greenling follow.

You can see how astoundingly, flamboyantly coloured mature male Rock Greenlings are and yet, also despite their territoriality, they can clearly be so difficult to spot.

I was so lucky to later see a mature female Rock Greenling on another dive, darting in and out of the Surfgrass. My photos of the female Rock Greenling are below.

There is much discussion about how territorial mature male Rock Greenlings are. But the mature females sure seem territorial too (based on my sample size of exactly ONE observation of a mature female Rock Greenling). 🙂

So why the pouty face?

Why indeed did my face do something similar to pouting upon not being part of these 3 sightings? The important things are:

Timothy’s video of the Mola was contributed to research.
Shireen’s photos of the Medusafish will help others ID the species.
Janice and John’s sighting of the male Rock Greenling was something they too had tried so hard for, dedicating many dives to being in the shallows, rocking back and forth in the surge. Between them, they have 59 years of diving, much of it in British Columbia’s marine waters and they have never before seen a Rock Greenling. Until this sighting, they had been referencing the species as the “mythic unicorn fish” of the northwest Pacific Ocean.
By being able to use their photos, I can still educate and hopefully increase care, understanding and action for the fragility the life in dark water. Thank you, dive buddies!

I actually looked up the definition of “to pout” for greater insight into what neural wiring leads to such a facial expression. I was gifted with: “to push one’s lips or one’s bottom lip forward as an expression of petulant annoyance or in order to make oneself look sexually attractive.” I assure you it was not the latter! Nor was it the former actually.

My inner 8-year-old is alive and well in this 60-year-old body. She’s the one who pouted, wanting to be filled with wonder too.

The more adult me loves the wonder of NOT seeing these fish. You can be on the same dive, at the same time, and not have the same experience. Isn’t that the truth! I love the metaphor it gives for life. I love how much more there is to marvel at, and to share.

It tests me too. Can we care and take action for species we have never seen, or may ever see? Can we do so with the understanding of how little is known about them and how that too threatens their survival? You, dear reader, know that answer to that in how YOU feel right now.

YES we can and yes, we must. 💙

2024 WILD Calendar

Such great thanks to all who helped with the selection of photos for my 2024 WILD calendar. They are now available and can be ordered at this link.

My WILD Calendar is aimed at creating awareness about the diversity and fragility of life hidden in the cold, dark, life-sustaining northeast Pacific Ocean. It is the waters dark with plankton that have more life, produce more oxygen, and buffer more carbon dioxide.

It’s the 15th year I have made a WILD Calendar. I am so grateful to all who put these calendars into the world. You are helping increase connection and understanding of our reliance on the Ocean. That’s needed to make the decisions, day-by-day, that consider future generations. 💙

Each month’s photo has a detailed descriptor included about the featured marinelife. The calendars are $28.50 (includes tax).

They are large and printed on sturdy paper on Vancouver Island, coil bound with a hole to hang them. 33 x 26.5 cm closed and 33 x 53 cm open (13 x 10.5″ closed /13 x 21″ open).

There are BIG spaces to write your daily adventures.

All photos are from the Territory of the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw (the Kwak̕wala-speaking Peoples), Northern Vancouver Island ©Jackie Hildering, The Marine Detective.

January 2024 image and text

Reflection: A Water Jelly and Bull Kelp mirrored at the interface of ocean and sky. The pulsing of the Water Jelly moves plankton to its mouth, which is the white structure near the centre (Aequorea spp. to 17 cm across). The far-reaching benefits of Bull Kelp forests include production of food and oxygen; habitat for so many species; reduced carbon dioxide; and great beauty. The stipe of Nereocystis luetkeana can be 36 metres long. Growth would have to be 17 cm/day on average to reach this length in a 210-day growing period (source: Druel & Clarkson, 2000). If the fronds are included, the average growth rate is ~25 cm/day (source: Duncan, 1973).

February 2024 image and text

Barnacle beauty: I think Nakwakto Barnacles are one of the most achingly and extraordinarily beautiful animals on our planet. The red is hemoglobin in the barnacles’ blood! They need EXTREMELY high current to get enough oxygen onto the hemoglobin. Thereby, they live in only a very few places. The most are known to be at Nakwakto Rapids, north of Port Hardy. In shallow water, these barnacles are not red because they have black pigment to protect them against sun exposure. Nakwakto Barnacles are perceived to be a variant of Gooseneck Barnacles with the same species name, Pollicipes polymerus. Stalk can be 15 cm and body 4.5 cm.

March 2024 image and text

Emerald Ocean: Cold water has more dissolved oxygen. In high-current areas, such as this, there is much mixing and distribution of oxygen and nutrients. Thereby, there is more life. It’s the plankton that start it all; the soup of life that fuels the food web. Here you see Widow Rockfish, Bread Crumb Sponges, Red Soft Corals, Giant Plumose Anemones, Mushroom and Stalked Tunicates, Giant Acorn Barnacles, etc. Look closely. You might even see a Scalyhead Sculpin – a little fish perched on the wall. The maximum known life expectancy for Widow Rockfish is 69 years. Some rockfish species live to well over 100 years.

April 2024 image and text

Gold Dirona: Not a flower. Not an anemone. This is a sea slug. This is a sea slug with uncovered gills so this species, the Gold Dirona, belongs to the sub-grouping of sea slugs named nudibranchs. All nudibranchs are sea slugs with “naked gills”. Nudi = naked and branch = gillls. This Gold Dirona’s head is on the left. You can discern the rhinophores, the projections by which nudibranchs smell their way around. Species is reported to feed on bryozoans. Dirona pellucida to 12 cm long. Oh, and there is a second nudibranch species here! Right behind the Gold Dirona there is an Opalescent Nudibranch, Hermissenda crassicornis to 8 cm long.

May 2024 image and text

Holding on: Rose Anemones are a HUGE anemone species, to 30 cm tall and 30 cm wide. They are Urticina piscivora and indeed are “piscivora”. They are the only anemones off our coast whose diet regularly includes little fish that get stuck to their tentacles. It was exceptional that this Rose Anemone was holding on to the stipe of Split Kelp in the surf zone. It is not unusual to see smaller anemone species living on the kelp, like the Brooding Anemones in the background here. But this big Rose Anemone had to secure its whole base around the stipe of the kelp as it cascaded back and forth in the waves. Species is also known as the Fish-eating Telia.

June 2024 image and text

Jumping giant: This is Inukshuk (BCZ0339). He often rests during the day, just below the surface. Humpback Whales can also suddenly become acrobatic or surface after long dives. This increases their risk of being hit, especially if boaters do not know the information at www.SeeABlowGoSlow.org. Our work as the Marine Education and Research Society shows that individual Humpbacks have strong site fidelity and feeding specialties. Inukshuk returns to the same area of BC to feed every year, to where he knows best to build up his reserves. He will be sustained by the richness of these cold waters when in the breeding grounds. In his case, that’s Mexico.

July 2024 image and text

Bountiful biodiversity: This is just below the surface in so many areas off our coast. This is what we are connected to in many of our daily decisions . . . a dark ocean sustaining life in an intricate web, from anemones to nudibranchs, from plankton to people. The species here include: White-spotted Rose Anemone (to 25 cm tall / 15 cm wide); Monterey Dorid (nudibranch species to 15 cm long); Whitecap Limpet (to 5 cm across) with a Crenate Barnacle on its shell (to 2 cm); juvenile Bering Hermit Crab (to 2.5 cm) in a shell once made and inhabited by a Threaded Snail (to 2 cm); and species of crustose coralline algae (pink).

August 2024 image and text

Another living gem: Longfin Sculpins are powerful ambassadors for the colour in these cold waters. Just look at the patterns, the texture, and the gossamer fins. They crawl with their pectoral fins and can hold on vertically, head oriented downward, like Spider-Man. They rarely swim more than 0.5 m off the bottom and are most often solitary (except when mating and egg guarding). They are reported to be very territorial of areas that are 0.3 to 0.5 metres squared (source: Love, 2011). They darken at night to match their surroundings = “nocturnal protective colouration”. The males are also darker when courting females. Jordania zonope to 15 cm long.

September 2024 image and text

Symbionts: Ochre Stars and Giant Green Anemones in the shallows. This anemone species is vibrant green when the symbiotic algae living in their guts receive a lot of sunshine. More sun = more food through photosynthesis. The anemones benefit from the nutrients made by the algae. The algae benefit by being where their predators can’t get them (grazers like limpets, chitons, and snails). This anemone species is Anthopleura xanthogrammica to 30 cm high / 30 cm wide. The symbiotic algae are zoochlorellae (green algae) and zooxanthellae (dinoflagellates). There is also a green pigment in the skin of the anemones.

October 2024 image and text

Eight-armed teacher: For a little levity, here are some lessons I’ve learned from Giant Pacific Octopuses. (1) Do not fear what looks different. (2) Respect alternative intelligences. (3) Blend in to escape detection when necessary. (4) Trust your ability to squeeze through tight spaces and come out the other side. (5) Ink out the negative and jet away, leaving it behind you. (6) Know where your home is and keep the garbage outside. (7) Be big-hearted (octopuses have 3 hearts) and guard the next generation. (8) Use your beak when needed. Enteroctopus dofleini to 7.3+ metres from arm tip to arm tip. Of course there’s an octopus photo for October!

November 2024 image and text

Pretty little predators: These Red-gilled Nudibranchs are feeding on Bushy Pink-mouth Hydroids – colonies of animals with stinging cells (nematocysts). The white coils are the nudibranchs’ egg ribbons. The bushy structures on the backs of the nudibranchs are the cerata. These function as gills and also have a role in defence. The stinging calls from their prey end up at the tips of the nudibranchs’ cerata. Yes, they “steal” the weapons of their prey and lay their eggs on top of them. Bushy Pink-mouth Hydroids are Pinauay crocea to 15 cm tall. The flabellina nudibranchs have undergone much reclassification. I believe these are Coryphella verrucosa to 10 cm long.

December 2024 image and text

No two alike: Rose Stars are also known as Snowflake Stars because there is so much diversity in pattern and colour. Even the number of arms varies, ranging from 8 to 16 (most often 11). They are fast at 50 cm/minute (source: McDaniel, 2018). You can see 3 structures on the surface of the sea star: (1) spines; (2) pedicellaria = structures that can nip off the tube feet of other species of sea star e.g. the predatory Morning Sun Star; and (3) papulae = the tufts that are the gills / respiratory organs. Crossaster papposus to 34 cm but in BC maximum size is believed to be ~17 cm. One species. So many colours. That’s beauty. That’s biology.

Backcover

*Photo of yours truly by Kendra Parnham-Hall.*

Giving It to You Straight – Toothshell Hermit Crabs and Wampum Tuskshells

Giving it to you straight!
This was my most exciting “find” for April.

This is a Toothshell Hermit Crab in the shell of a Wampum Tuskshell. The shells were used as currency by First Nations. Read on!

THIS species of hermit crab does not have curled body to hook and hold a snail shell home (like most hermit crabs).

THIS hermit crab species’ body is straight which means that it can’t live in a shell made by a marine snail. Its niche is to fit into the straight shells of Tuskshells or, if need be, the tube of calcareous tubeworm species* which is also straight.

Toothshell Hermit Crabs are only up to 0.8 cm long (Orthopagurus minimus).

Wampum Tuskshells are to only 5 cm long (Antalis pretiosa). They are molluscs belonging to the Tuskshell class (Scaphopoda).

My excitement is about this hermit crab species’ adaptations and that it is so rare to see a Tuskshell because they are usually burrowed deep in the sandy or shell bottom. The best chance of seeing one is as the home of a Toothshell Hermit. But then, there’s ALSO the great cultural significance of Tuskshells!

Wampum Tuskshells burrow themselves into the ocean bottom with their foot and use their sticky tentacles to trap microscopic food particles and move them to their mouths. Specifically, they are reported to feed on single-celled amoeboid protists called forminifera.
*Crappy sketch is by yours truly.*

Tuskshell species (also known as Dentalia and Toothshells) are of great importance to First Nations. They were used as currency and are still used in regalia in some areas.

The shells of these snails were used for over 2,500 years from what is now known as the Arctic to Baja California and across to the Great Lakes. The most important species of tuskshell is reported to have been the one I chanced upon recently, the Wampum Tuskshell.

One of the most important areas for harvesting these animals for their shells (know as hiqua / haiqua) was Quatsino Sound off northwest Vancouver Island.

The snail’s previous scientific name even translates into “valuable tooth” = Dentalium pretiosum. In part what made tuskshells so valuable was that they were difficult to get. But, not only were they scarce, they were also great as currency because of their beauty, being easy to transport, and because they could not be counterfeited.

The snail is often found in deeper water (between 9 to 75 m), burrowed in the sand. The Quatsino People engineered a way of catching them with an apparatus that looks like the head of a broom. To get this down to the shells, stick extensions were added a length at a time to get as deep as 21 m. All this while working from a canoe!

I hope this little hermit crab, in this little shell, adds to a BIG world of connection for you.

Photo from the Plains Indian Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
Accompanying text: “Tooth or tusk shells commonly referred to as #dentalium is a scaphopod mollusk. Dentalium was harvested off the coast of Vancouver Island, Canada by tribes. Today, most commercial dentalium is harvested and sold from Asia. In the Plains, dentalium was a highly sought after trade product from the Plateau Tribes. Beautiful hues of smooth pink and white were prized and revered by Lakota, Dakota, and Nakoda women. Artists created dress capes, earrings, hair ornaments, and chokers to wear during times of ceremony and celebration.
*Dress detail, #Lakota Northern Plains, ca. 1885. Selvage wool, dentalium shells, glass beads, silk ribbon, cotton thread. NA.202.40.”*

*From Money from the Sea: A Cross-cultural Indigenous Science Problem-solving Activity by Gloria Snively.* Left: “*The Dentalium “broom” was lowered to the shell beds by adding extensions to the handle. Illustration by Laura Corsiglia (2007).*” Right: [In 1991, Phil Nuytten reconstructed the broom and submerged in his “Newt Suit” to observe how the broom worked.] “Phil Nuytten’s dentalia-harvesting broom outfitted with a weighted board. Loosening the ropes lowers the weighted board, an action that partially closes the broom head for grasping the shells. Illustration by Laura Corsiglia (2007).“

*From Money from the Sea: A Cross-cultural Indigenous Science Problem-solving Activity by Gloria Snively. “Extent of dentalium trade. Illustration by Karen Gillmore.”*

Another perspective on the same Toothshell Hermit Crab I chanced upon on April 8, 2023 while diving north of Port Hardy in the Territory of the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw (the Kwak̕wala-speaking Peoples) with God’s Pocket Resort. Depth was around 13 meters. Dive buddy Natasha Dickinson.

See below for additional information from the wonderful lesson plan from the book edited by Gloria Snively and Wanosts’a7 Lorna Williams – Knowing Home: Braiding Indigenous Science with Western Science.

Dentalium Shell Money Story

“For 2,500 years, until the early 20th century, North American Indigenous peoples used the dazzling white cone-shaped shell of a marine mollusk as currency. Dentalium pretiosum [note that the species was reclassified to Antalis pretiosa] is a . . . mollusk of the class Scaphopoda, a group also known as tusk shells because of their slightly curved, conical shape . . . Dentalia inhabit coarse, clean sand on the surface of the seabed in areas of deep water, and are often found in association with sand dollars and the purple olive snail (Olivella biplicata).

As predators, they use their streamlined shape and muscular foot to move surprisingly quickly in pursuit of tiny single-celled prey called forminifera. Aboriginal peoples used many substances as trade goods, but dentalia were the only shells to become currency. Harvested from deep waters off the coast of Vancouver Island, they were beautiful, scarce, portable, and not easily counterfeited.

In 1778, Captain James Cook of the British Royal Navy visited the village of Yuquot (Friendly Cove) on Nootka Island off the west coast of Vancouver Island, BC. The island’s fur trading potential led the British East India Company to set up a trading post at Yuquot, which became a focal point for English, Spanish, and American traders and explorers.

Trade between Euro-Americans and Aboriginal peoples was initially conducted under the watchful eye of a powerful chief named Maquinna who acted as middleman, purchasing sea otter pelts using dentalia as currency and then reselling the pelts to white traders in exchange for other goods.

Once the white traders realized that shells were used as money, they began trading directly with dentalia harvesters among the Nuu-cha-nulth and Kwakwaka‘wakw people. The center of the fur trade subsequently moved to Nahwitti, a Kwakwaka‘wakw village on the northern tip of Vancouver Island (Nuytten, 2008b, p. 23), and dentalium shell money became a currency of cross-cultural trade, called Hy‘kwa in Chinook Jargon—a trade language spoken as a lingua franca in the Pacific Northwest during the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The currency was used throughout Alaska, down the Pacific coast as far as Baja California, and across the prairies of the United States and southern Canada to the Great Lakes.

In addition to their use as currency, the pearly white dentalium shells also served as decorative wealth. They were fashioned into necklaces, bracelets, hair adornments, and dolls. The shells also decorated the clothing of both men and women.

It is generally agreed that the best dentalium shells were those harvested by the Ehattesaht and Quatsino people from shell beds off the west coast of Vancouver Island. These beds lay deep underwater—too deep for divers to hold their breath, too dark for them to see, and too cold to sustain a diving operation—so the Quatsino people designed specialized gear to harvest the money shells. Historical records indicate that a device with a very long handle and a bottom end resembling a “great, stiff broom” was used to pluck live dentalia from the seabed . . . Three of these implements still exist in museums in Victoria, British Columbia and Seattle, Washington.”

4-minute video from December 2022: “Hunter Old Elk, Assistant Curator of the Center of the West’s Plains Indian Museum, shows us a Dakota dress cape adorned with 1,500 – 2,000 dentalium shells”

Please note that dentalia / tuskshells do not move from one shell to the other. Their shell grows.

From the Oregon Historical Society:

Tuskshells / Dentalia ” . . . were of great value prized mark of wealth and status, typically displayed as ornaments in clothing and headdresses, used as jewelry, and even used in some places as a type of currency.

Most dentalium entering the indigenous trade network of the Pacific Northwest originated off the coast of Vancouver Island. Chicklisaht, Kyuquot, and Ehattesaht communities of the Northern Nuu-chah-nulth, inhabitants of the west coast of the island, were the primary source of the shells. However, the Kwakwaka’wakw of Quatsino Sound and Cape Scott, on the eastern coast, were also large producers. Harvesters would work from their ocean-going canoes, extending specially-constructed long poles to the dentalium beds on the ocean floor. At the end of the long poles were large brushes that were pushed into the mollusk beds, ensnaring dentalium in the process.”

Sources:

Gloria Snively and Wanosts’a7 Lorna Williams (2016) – Knowing Home: Braiding Indigenous Science with Western Science, Chapter 11 – Money from the Sea: A Cross-cultural Indigenous Science Problem-solving Activity

Quartux Journal – Dentalia Shell Money: Hi-qua, Alika-chik

Oregon Historical Society (2003) – Dentalia Shell & Bead Necklace

Coast View (2022) – Quatsino, Quatsino Sound

Plains Indian Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West (2022) – The currency of dentalium shells

National Geographic Magazine (1993) via Dentalia Harvesting

The Midden (1990) – A Curious Currency Part 1: Haiqua shells on the Northwest Coast in the 19th century

*Note that there is another straight-bodied species of hermit crab in the northeast Pacific Ocean whose home is almost always the tubes of calcareous Tubeworms; the Tubeworm Hermit (Discorsopagurus schmitti).

From National Geographic Magazine (1993) via Dentalia Harvesting

Zyzzyzus rubusidaeus

One of the services I like to provide here on The Marine Detective, is to share words you can try to randomly drop into conversations and annoy your friends. You’re welcome. It’s a task I take very seriously.

Yes, there really is an animal with the scientific name Zyzzyzus rubusidaeus and to me, they look like they have been designed by Dr. Seuss himself. Their common name is the Raspberry Hydroid and they have beautiful predators too.

The common name for Zyzzyzus rubusidaeus is the Raspberry Hydroid. They were only described as a new species in 2013 by northern Vancouver Island’s own Anita Brinckmann-Voss who lived in Sointula. The research paper is at this link.

Their specific nudibranch prey are Pomegranate Aeolids. To my knowledge, the only documentations for both species, to date, are near Telegraph Cove (Weynton Pass) and Quadra Island (Discovery Passage). I can certainly attest to how fortunate we are to see them so predictably near Telegraph Cove.

*What you see here, in addition to Raspberry Hydroids and a Pomegranate Aeolid nudibranch, are Mushroom Compound Tunicates, and a feeding Giant Acorn Barnacle.*

See below for more information about both species. Oh, and if you ever are able to use the word “Zyzzyzus” in a word game because of this post, I expect a thank you! 😉

Descriptor for the above photo:

Trifecta!

(1) Nudibranch species the Pomegranate Aeolid (Cuthonella punicea to 2.5 cm).

(2)Their only known prey, the stinging celled animals Raspberry Hydroids (Zyzzyzus rubusidaeus to 5 cm tall).

(3) The nudibranchs’ egg masses / strings. As is the way with sea slugs, they most often lay their eggs on their prey. Talk about adding insult to injury. I eat you and I lay my eggs on you so there will be more of my kind to prey on your kind.

*More Pomegranate Aeolids feeding on Raspberry Hydroids. This is a female colony. The round structures are female gonophores which may contain embryos.*

More about hydroids:

Almost all hydroid species are colonial. They are carnivores. Hydroids are related to jellies, anemones, and corals (phylum Cnidarian).

The reproduction of hydroids is remarkable. Colonies are male or female. They start by reproducing asexually by budding off hydromedusa – tiny free-swimming, jellyfish-like versions of themselves. These produce either eggs or sperm. Fertilization of the eggs leads to larvae that may settle on the ocean bottom and form colonies.

Hydroids catch drifting prey with their polyps aided by their nematocysts (stinging cells). None of the hydroid species off our coast deliver a sting that we humans can feel (no matter how sensitive you are 😉).

The food gets distributed throughout their single-sex colony.

And who loves to eat species of hydroids? Nudibranchs! Specifically, the aeolid kinds of nudibranchs – they have those bushy structures on their backs (cerata). Many of these nudibranch species not only rely on the hydroids for nutrition but also make use of their prey’s stinging cells! The nematocysts get incorporated into the ends of the cerata.

Sources:
Brinckmann-Voss, A., & Calder, D. R. 2013. Zyzzyzus rubusidaeus (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa, Tubulariidae), a new species of anthoathecate hydroid from the coast of British Columbia, Canada. Zootaxa 3666: 389-397

A Mystery from Poppy

Hello Dear Community,

I’ve saved my favourite 2022 marine mystery for you until now.

It’s from Poppy who was in British Columbia visiting from England with her father, sister Maya, grandpa and grandma.

Poppy found these on a beach on Malcolm Island and they were photographed on the back of a cell phone.

It actually hurt my head to try to figure this out. I knew that I SHOULD know what they were but just not make the ID take shape. In wanting to get the answer to Poppy as soon as possible, I reached out to expertise greater than my own. I suspected I would have a big face-palming moment of “but of course” when the shells were identified.

And indeed that happened.

Take a moment to try to determine the ID yourself? Then scroll down for the answer.

Are you sure you want to see the answer?

Here goes!

Of course! 🤦‍♀️ They are the parts of the shell of a barnacle that open and close!

The answer that came from naturalist supreme Bill Merilees was: “What you have here is a barnacle valve – one of the ‘flaps’ that opens to allow the feeding tentacles to strain food from the water column. Great photo of this unusual shell exoskeleton!”

This led me to try to figure out what barnacle species these might come from and what the names of the structures were.

I believe the most specific ID is that these are the opercular plates of a Thatched Acorn Barnacle. The two parts are the tergum and scutum.

Below are some of my photos of another barnacle species, the Giant Acorn Barnacle (Balanus nubilus) which might help in recognizing the shells. Isn’t it wondrous? All barnacle species start off a plankton and then form their own intricate shells so that their foot can extend out to rake in food.

Happy New Year to you. May the next year be filled with happy mysteries, wonder, and empowerment for positive change.

Sources of illustrations:

Coletti, Giovanni & Bosio, Giulia & Collareta, Alberto & Buckeridge, John & Consani, Sirio & El Kateb, Akram. (2018). Palaeoenvironmental analysis of the Miocene barnacle facies: Case studies from Europe and South America. Geologica Carpathica. 69. 573-592. 10.1515/geoca-2018-0034.

Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, Semibalanus cariosus – A thatched barnacle

Find The Fish – Volume Three!

There are now THREE Find the Fish books.

Here’s the cover of my latest book, now available at this link.

I loved that the online “The Marine Detective” community overwhelmingly chose this image for the cover showing a juvenile Yellowtail Rockfish hiding in the shell of a Red Urchin. The urchin may have lived to be more than 100 years old.

As many of you know from my weekly “Find the Fish Friday” posts, these are eye-spy challenges.

The books are the “Where’s Waldo” of the marine world. In addition to being fun, they are aimed and increasing knowledge about how diverse and colourful the life is in these cold, dark waters. The text provides information about the species in the images and invites children (and the adults who love them) to look for other species as well as the featured fish.

All photos and text are by yours truly with fish illustrations generously provided by Andy Lamb of Coastal Fishes of the Pacific Northwest.

*The trifecta! The books are soft-cover and answer pages are included showing the locations of the fish.*
*The books are self-published as Marine Matters Publishing.*

It gives me much joy that this third book in particular allows the facets of my life to come together – diving, photography, whale research and teaching. I dare say Find the Fish – Volume Three is the only children’s book that gives insight into the diversity of life off our coast while ALSO providing empowering scientific content about Sea Star Wasting Syndrome and our Marine Education & Research Society research into a new Humpback Whale feeding strategy.

And hey, the featured wildlife includes a Pacific Spiny Lumpsucker, Wolf-Eels, Scalyhead Sculpins (of course) and three of my beloved dive buddies!

Please see the sample pages below. There are 12 challenges with answer pages, an introductory page and a final page about “The Marine Detective”.

To order or see more information about the books, please click here.

Take a Stand for Giants – 15 minutes or less of your time

[To jump directly to providing your input into the public consultation survey, click here.
Below I provide background and my answers to the survey in case that is helpful to you.]

The first Fin Whale I ever saw was killed by a large vessel.
Please don’t stop reading.

There’s urgency about what will happen with the protection of Fin Whales in British Columbian waters. And, there is something Canadians can do to take a stand that takes very little time.

Right now, it is being put forward that the protection of Fin Whales be REDUCED under Canada’s Species at Risk Act. This is being considered when so little is known about them and their threats are increasing.

– We whaled them up to 55 years ago and it is not known how many there are now or if there is more than one population.

– It is known that their threats are increasing. Fin Whales are particularly vulnerable to being hit by boats. They feed where there will be increased large vessel traffic, including LNG tankers. This will also increase disturbance from noise. Further, the changing climate will impact their prey. There has also already been an “Unusual Mortality Event” where is it is believed that warmer water led to more toxins being in the whales’ prey (domoic acid from Red Tide Algae).

The process determining if the protection of Fin Whales will be reduced in Canada or not involves an opportunity for public comment. This is not a petition. It is using YOUR voice to be part of the federal process that will determine the fate of Fin Whales. The deadline for comment is December 2nd, 2022. It is a short survey.

I share the above graphic showing the fate of that first Fin Whale I saw because I think it helps make clear how the second biggest animal in the world can be so vulnerable. Nature versus human technology, efficiency, ingenuity and, disconnect.

The reality of that first Fin Whale I ever saw is known because he got hooked up on the bulbous bow of the cruise ship after being hit. Apparently, no one on the vessel felt the impact. The fate of the whale was only known when the cruise ship came into the harbour in Vancouver.

It must have been the same Fin Whale we saw that day near Telegraph Cove because Fin Whales are such a rarity on the inside of Vancouver Island. We first saw the Fin Whale, and then we saw the cruise ship. And yes, this is the Fin Whale whose skeleton with shattered vertebrae now hangs in the Whale Interpretive Centre in Telegraph Cove.

*Standing under the skeleton of the first Fin Whale I ever saw. Photo by Phil Stone Photography.*

It’s so important to understand that the evolution (or creation) of toothed whales like Orca, required them to have biosonar / echolocation to detect their prey, etc. Baleen whales like Fin Whales and Humpback Whales do not have this biosonar. So often these giants are oblivious of boats, and many boaters are oblivious to how different these whales are.

You may never have seen a Fin Whale. In fact, the only one known to be in the Salish Sea this year was killed by a boat. I’ll spare you the photos of him but you can see more detail at this link.

Fin Whales are more often off the Central and North Coast, Haida Gwaii, or in BC’s vast offshore waters. In having the privilege of doing surveys in these areas, I’ve seen them, and the overlap with large vessel traffic.

If the protection of Fin Whales is reduced, one of the most dire consequences is that there will be no determination nor protection of their habitat needs. There will also be far less priority for research into how many there are and how to reduce threats.

So about that short survey to provide your input.

The questions in the survey are simple.
Below, I provide the three main questions and answers that may be of use to you.

For more detail, see this link for the media release we did as the Marine Education and Research Society and the North Coast Cetacean Society.

The survey for public consultation is at this link.

My answers are below.

You will note that the survey only allows for brief answers which is why I have pointed to our media release which provides detail about the concerns.

1. Do you think the reclassification of Fin Whale (Pacific Population) from Threatened to Special Concern under the Species at Risk Act would have economic, environmental, cultural and/or social BENEFITS for you or your group/organization?

No. There would be no benefits to reducing protection for a species for whom threats are increasing and for which too little is known to justify reducing protection.

2. Do you think the reclassification of Fin Whale (Pacific Population) from Threatened to Special Concern under the Species at Risk Act would have economic, environmental, cultural and/or social COSTS for you or your group/organization?

Yes. There are significant societal costs to choosing to reduce protection for a species for which not enough is known about their population while threats are known to be increasing. This includes that it is acknowledged how vulnerable Fin Whales are to being hit by boats; that it is not known how many there are; and that it is certain that there will be increased vessel traffic and that increasing temperatures can impact their prey.

3. Should the Government of Canada reclassify the Fin Whale (Pacific Population) from Threatened to Special Concern under the Species at Risk Act?

No.
It is the antithesis of precaution to reduce the protection of Fin Whales when there is so much that is not known about their population and when threats are increasing due to climate change, noise, and risk of collision.

As above, the limits on the length of answers in this survey (at only 500 characters for this question), did not allow for the appropriate opportunity to provide feedback. Therefore, reference this link for my concerns https://mersociety.wordpress.com/2022/11/03/protection-should-not-be-reduced-for-fin-whales.

4. Please provide any other comments about this reclassification consultation that you would like us to consider.

As above, it is not sufficient that the limits on the number of characters/words in this survey (at only ~500 characters / 80 words), did not allow for the appropriate opportunity to provide feedback on concerns. Thereby see the following link for my concerns https://mersociety.wordpress.com/2022/11/03/protection-should-not-be-reduced-for-fin-whales.

It’s not a show . . .

I wrote the following in my role with the Marine Education and Research Society to accompany the graphic below. Our efforts include workshops on Marine Mammal Regulations and the ethics of imagery and language used by mainstream and social media.

It is so jarring and unfortunate when wildlife encounters are described with language like “the whales put on a show for us”. No, they didn’t.

How I hope my words resound with you.

“It’s not a show.

Wildlife does not perform for humans.
Whales do not “put on a show” for us.

Words matter.
Words reflect, and perpetuate, our values and actions.

Thankfully, society has come a long way in understanding our connection to the natural world.

May our words reflect that we know the privilege of observing wild animals, living wild lives.

Not “for us”.
Not “up close and personal”.

Rather, may we value most that what we observe in the wild happens . . . as if we weren’t there.”

The graphic is available as a sticker or card at our MERS Ocean Store. The card includes the above text.
All sales support our research and education efforts.

Illustration made by friend Dawn Dudek based on a photo I took of Humpback Whale Inukshuk (BCZ0339) while conducting research for the Marine Education and Research Society (MERS) under Marine Mammal License MML-57.

To Think Before We Click

Found! Cryptic Nudibranch

I finally observed some of the most cryptic nudibranchs on our coast!

The Cryptic Nudibranchs you see here are only about 1 cm long and look at how astoundingly evolved they are! They are virtually invisible on the Kelp-encrusting Bryozoan which is growing on Bull Kelp at this time of year. This species of nudibranch is also known as Steinberg’s corambe (Corambe stinbergae to 1.7 cm).

You can see in the photos here that we found some of the nudibranchs mating and there were many of their egg ribbons (each of those coils has a lot of eggs that result from both parents becoming inseminated and laying eggs).

You can also see where they have been feeding on the bryozoans (colonies of animals).

I have looked for them for years knowing their range is from Alaska to Baja California, Mexico.

*Mating: Right-side-to-right-side attached via the gonophores. Both hermaphrodite parents lay eggs.*

What made the difference in now being able to find them:

(1) Getting the clue from Robin Agarwal to look at the kelp fronds that were REALLY tattered with the Kelp-encrusting Bryozoan colonies .

(2) Having a skilled dive buddy willing to join me in burying our heads in old, tattered kelp in the surge for 30 minutes instead of looking at all the big, colourful life at this dive site. Thank you Janice Crook!

(3) Once we knew what the egg ribbons looked like (those s-shaped little masses), we had a really good clue and knew better where to look even more closely for the nudibranchs.

Now on to finding the SECOND really cryptic nudibranch species that feeds on Kelp Encrusting Bryozoans – Corambe pacifica to 1.5 cm long and whose egg masses are tiny, flat coils.

For more photos and my previous blog on what Kelp-encrusting Bryozoans look like, please see my other blog “Kelp Lace? Bryozoans”.

Happy dive buddies
– Janice Crook and yours truly.

Scuba Sisters

Here’s to the salty sisterhood of cold-water divers (and the men with whom we submerge). I am a week late with posting this for “Women’s Dive Day”. Yes, it’s been busy.

But, it’s still really important to me to put these photos into the world and reflect on how much this sisterhood means to me, and why. I have tears in my eyes as I type this, so apparently, the feelings run deep.

*Scuba sister Jacqui Engel with Egg Yolk Jelly.*

Why? Because you may have noticed that, by some, there is an increasing downward pressure on womxn in an attempt to limit the spaces in which we expand and the choices we WILL make. Because some want to hold on to the assumption of inherent privilege based on the absurd “criteria” of skin pigmentation; whether one’s chromosomes have one X or two; or gender identification. Because some fight equality to claim superiority.

I now have some pretty good expletives in my head which I will not type here.

Scuba sister Natasha Dickinson and Sunflower Star. We documented the same one over a span of 71 days. It’s the sea star species that was / is impacted the most by Sea Star Wasting. This individual is on an anchor block covered with encrusting coralline algae.

Of many examples of times it has become very clear to me that being a womxn* in science and scuba is important, let me share the following:

On a really hot day, I was “show and tell” for two children in our community. I dressed up in all my dive gear (the full weight and heat of it) and walked down the hallway and into the classroom with Cayden’s little hand in mine on one side, and Sophia’s little hand in mine on the other.

I walked in as a surprise to the other students. I then was gifted the time to talk about the science of the dive gear and the life that lived in the cold Ocean; our neighbours who were just below the surface of where we lived.

I took the equipment off piece by piece after explaining what it did. The children chose to try to lift the weights and cylinder and we discussed pressure and buoyancy (always good metaphors ).

In the course of this, among so many moments the filled my heart, a little boy looked up at me. He had such an open expression on his face and he said . . . “You’re my first scuba diver”.

I was his first scuba diver – me an older woman, speaking for science and the sea, engaging not in an elevated way but in a way that invited them all to follow where their loves took them, and yes, I was wearing a bright green tutu.

How does this help shape the future? We will never know will we? We are all projecting our energies and images into places where we might increase what is good in the world, or suppress it.

From the depths, love to you my scuba sisters, and to the men we swim beside. Respect and gratitude to all who shine their light so that others may follow; who do NOT push others down in an attempt to feel elevated. That’s such a tragic and transparent indicator of being a hollow human.

Below: A slideshow to honour some scuba sisters.

For those that may not have seen the use of “womxn” before. The spelling of womxn is a feminist choice in two ways. It removes the “m-a-n” from “woman” and “m-e-n” from “women”. It’s also an acknowledgement that I am including trans and non-binary humans when I use the word.