Bonaire Eels dying

[DiveMaven]

Wow, thanks for posting that information from Jerry. I have to agree 100% with Craig that spending time with Jerry is a valuable use of time on Bonaire. We did the PADI UW Naturalist Course (to finish our MSD certificate) and spent 2 afternoons with him. We learned an incredible amount about marine life, behavior, hunting, etc., from Jerry and absolutely thought it was time well spent. He was also a lot of fun to dive with and found some amazing critters for us.

The funniest thing happened on one of our dives though. Jerry had been telling us about the "shy crab" during our instructional time and said they weren't common and very hard to find. At the end of our dive he was showing us something in the sand at the top of the reef (in front of BDA's dock), when out came from right under my husband a shy crab!!! We were all shocked and spent about 10 minutes watching the crab go about his business, right in front of us! It was sooo cool, and no matter how hard we looked for another in subsequent days, we never found one. Those are the moments you live for in diving.

 

[gypsyjim]

Just got into Bonaire yesterday. After six dives, including one night tonight, I have yet to see a green! Mature spotted and sharptails, many immature green, spotted and sharptail, but not one green yet. Big change from just this last July!

 

[herman]

Jim I hate you............sorry old buddy, PBD causing mental lapses. Have fun.

 

[lmorin]

My wife and I returned Saturday from a week at Sand Dollar, diving with BDA. Jerry guided a couple of our boat dives. He told us he had not seen a green moray in 6 mo. We lucked out and saw one of medium size on our checkout dive (on Bari Reef), but none thereafter. The paucity of green morays makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to determine if there is still a problem. Dead eels can't be found if there are no more to die, unfortunately.

"Vibrio" is a genus of bacteria. One member of this genus is v. cholerae that causes cholera. There are other pathogenic as well as benign members. Many occur in salt water and are naturally found in crabs and other invertebrates. Some of the pathogenic strains infect fish, yielding high mortality rates. A report HERE states that the causative agent is probably Vibrio vulnificus serovar E, the primary pathogen for eels. However, a virus is not excluded (at the time of the report). If it is V. vulnificus, a conclusion is that it did not come from "diminished water quality," i.e., from run-off or dumped sewage. Infection by V. vulnificus leads to death in 4-48 hr.

As for the disappearance of the algae, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it seems to be coming back. Jerry took us to Kalli's Reef, known before Omar to be a site of major algae infestation. It had apparently been cleansed by Omar. However, he found new growth covering substantial patches of sand at the site. Not robust, but covering a lot of area. Bummer. My wife and I subsequently saw smaller patches at Tori's Reef.

The numbers of spotted, goldentail and chestnut morays seemed normal (relative to our two previous trips to Bonaire).

 

[scubadada]

Imorin,

It appears that the illness in eels is consistent with that caused by Vibrio vulnificus but that the organism has not yet been isolated directly or detected by other mechanisms.

Of interest, V. vulnificus is also a human pathogen. In compromised hosts, particularly those with hepatic cirrhosis, it causes septiciemia and metastatic skin lesions, generally developing after the ingestion of raw seafood, especially oysters. In normal hosts, serious soft tissue infection may result after the contamination of wounds by seawater containing the organism.

V. vulnificus appears to be part of the normal flora of seawater in warmer climates, the relationship to sewage contamination is not clear. My wife and I saw several Green Morays during our week of diving in November, I hope their recovery is underway.

Good diving, Craig

 

[davbader]

I just returned and noticed not only the lack of green morays but other creatures as well. In 24 dives, I saw only one small green moray at about 80 ft. I also noticed a lack of lobsters, crabs, and turtles as well.

On the brighter side, we had three sightings of eagle rays, several frogfish, and a number of seahorses to keep us occupied. Still some of the best diving around!

 

[gypsyjim]

We returned Sunday from Bonaire. In 23 dives I saw no green moray eels, which is a big change from this last July! Saw many spotted and a few golden, plus plenty of shartail eels, but not one green moray!

We did see rays, turtles, octys, sea horse, frog fish, and a couple of crabs. Only lobster I found was intact, but dead @45' near Yellow Sub. Not even on night dives could I find lobsters or green eels.

 

[gypsyjim]

Jim I hate you............sorry old buddy, PBD causing mental lapses. Have fun.

Hi guy. Sorry you hate me. I'll get my chance to hate you when you go there this summer and I can't!

Sad news, Herman. Oil Slick got hit hard by Omar. The beautiful "garden" below the ladder is gone. To @35-40 feet it looks like it was "bulldozed" as one diver put it! Heard that Old Blue is same. On the other hand Yellow Sub, Windsock, Windsock Resort, Bari and Alice are all still great dives. Where there is damage we had to go deeper to escape the sand and rubble.

 

[lmorin]

Post-Omar razorfish (green and rosy) at Bari have just recently returned to the sandy areas in front of Sand Dollar. As of 2 wks ago, the yellowhead jawfish had not returned.

 

[tiggrr]

I just sent in a request to dive with Jerry the Naturalist on our March trip.
Thank you for the tip. We are excited to learn more about marine life.

And thank you for all of the current information on the state of the reefs and eels.

We will post our findings when we get back in mid March.