Seth Patterson
Registered
A few pictures from this past week's diving adventures provide a glimpse of what lurks beneath our Gulf waters...
We dove two sites over two days. The first day, Monday, was a trip to the South Padre Island Artificial Reef Site, located 7 miles off shore from the Port Mansfield Jetties. On this trip I was along to assist a University of Texas at Brownsville graduate student with his research. His project is geared towards trying to identifying fish species and artificial reef usage using side-scanning sonar. While his project requires a lot of time running back and forth with our research vessel, scanning with his sonar, it also includes scuba diving to look at and compare visual (actual) fish species and congregations to later compare with his scans. This site is between 60 and 70 feet deep and is typically a barren expanse of sand and silt. In 2007, Texas Parks and Wildlife Artificial Reef Program reefed thousands of large concrete culverts and other similar structures along the bottom. This hard substrate has attracted loads of encrusting invertebrates, such as sponges and corals, and provides shelter for smaller fish and other sea creatures. This in turn also attracts larger predatory fish, such as Red Snapper. Conditions here are typically highly variable, with visibility ranging from two inches to 20 feet. While not the clearest water, I find the sandy bottom to be filled with fascinating and seldom seen sea life. Certainly one of my favorite dives. The surface conditions were flat calm, a truly beautiful day off shore.
An incredible assortment of encrusting algae, sponges, corals, and other invertebrates covering a concrete culvert.
Red Snapper school over a sea-whip encrusted concrete culvert.
A Spotted Scorpionfish not too thrilled with my close approach...
Snapper Eel burrowed down in the sand.
The second site we dove, on Wednesday, was the Port Mansfield Artificial Reef site, which I've discussed in my previous post. This trip was for another graduate student working on Red Snapper population dynamics. We did two dives at two different oil platform jackets which were placed here back in the 1970s by TPWD. As the water is considerably deeper here (100+ feet), the upper water column, where the rig raises up to 60 feet, is typically much clearer. Snorkeling on the surface I could see the rig sitting below so I feel confident in saying visibility was a hazy 60 feet. Large schools of Amberjack were hovering around the platforms along with lookdowns, rainbow runners, cobia, baracuda, red and gray snapper, sheepshead, and a whole assortment of more tropical reef fish like blue angels, cocoa damsels, Spanish hogfish, porkfish, and I even saw three Mardi Gras wrasse! The water is still sitting at 70 degrees from 24 feet and lower, which is a bit cool for this time of year, but it's always nice to get underwater. Here, the surface conditions were much, much different! We went from 1-3 foot seas on Monday to 4-6 on Wednesday. Large thunderstorms were also rolling in along with the waves. From one minute to the next the bright, warm sun would be blotted out by dark clouds, cold wind, and pelting rain. It was quite exciting and made for a much more interesting trip!
Amberjacks hover over a reefed oil platform jacket
Amberjacks schooling around the oil platform.
UTB Graduate Student Surveying the site.
A large Spanish Hogfish foraging along the metal pipes of the reefing oil platform.
A colony of Telesto coral growing off a reefed oil platform.
Barnacle encrusted pipes of an old oil platform.
Amberjacks schooling in black and white!
This Blue Angel wouldn't let me get very close, but it's such a pretty fish I thought I'd share it anyways.
Porkfish looking a little nervous...
Another small colony of Telesto coral.
Graduate student giving the scuba paparazzi the sly-eye as I sneak a shot of her detaching a data logger.
A little too small for my 15mm fisheye, a beautiful little Tessellated Blenny peaks out from its barnacle hideout.
Juvenile Mardi Gras Wrasse, an endemic species to the Gulf of Mexico.
White-spotted Soapfish hovering within a darker recess of the rig.
Grey Triggerfish looking for something to bite..
We dove two sites over two days. The first day, Monday, was a trip to the South Padre Island Artificial Reef Site, located 7 miles off shore from the Port Mansfield Jetties. On this trip I was along to assist a University of Texas at Brownsville graduate student with his research. His project is geared towards trying to identifying fish species and artificial reef usage using side-scanning sonar. While his project requires a lot of time running back and forth with our research vessel, scanning with his sonar, it also includes scuba diving to look at and compare visual (actual) fish species and congregations to later compare with his scans. This site is between 60 and 70 feet deep and is typically a barren expanse of sand and silt. In 2007, Texas Parks and Wildlife Artificial Reef Program reefed thousands of large concrete culverts and other similar structures along the bottom. This hard substrate has attracted loads of encrusting invertebrates, such as sponges and corals, and provides shelter for smaller fish and other sea creatures. This in turn also attracts larger predatory fish, such as Red Snapper. Conditions here are typically highly variable, with visibility ranging from two inches to 20 feet. While not the clearest water, I find the sandy bottom to be filled with fascinating and seldom seen sea life. Certainly one of my favorite dives. The surface conditions were flat calm, a truly beautiful day off shore.
An incredible assortment of encrusting algae, sponges, corals, and other invertebrates covering a concrete culvert.
Red Snapper school over a sea-whip encrusted concrete culvert.
A Spotted Scorpionfish not too thrilled with my close approach...
Snapper Eel burrowed down in the sand.
The second site we dove, on Wednesday, was the Port Mansfield Artificial Reef site, which I've discussed in my previous post. This trip was for another graduate student working on Red Snapper population dynamics. We did two dives at two different oil platform jackets which were placed here back in the 1970s by TPWD. As the water is considerably deeper here (100+ feet), the upper water column, where the rig raises up to 60 feet, is typically much clearer. Snorkeling on the surface I could see the rig sitting below so I feel confident in saying visibility was a hazy 60 feet. Large schools of Amberjack were hovering around the platforms along with lookdowns, rainbow runners, cobia, baracuda, red and gray snapper, sheepshead, and a whole assortment of more tropical reef fish like blue angels, cocoa damsels, Spanish hogfish, porkfish, and I even saw three Mardi Gras wrasse! The water is still sitting at 70 degrees from 24 feet and lower, which is a bit cool for this time of year, but it's always nice to get underwater. Here, the surface conditions were much, much different! We went from 1-3 foot seas on Monday to 4-6 on Wednesday. Large thunderstorms were also rolling in along with the waves. From one minute to the next the bright, warm sun would be blotted out by dark clouds, cold wind, and pelting rain. It was quite exciting and made for a much more interesting trip!
Amberjacks hover over a reefed oil platform jacket
Amberjacks schooling around the oil platform.
UTB Graduate Student Surveying the site.
A large Spanish Hogfish foraging along the metal pipes of the reefing oil platform.
A colony of Telesto coral growing off a reefed oil platform.
Barnacle encrusted pipes of an old oil platform.
Amberjacks schooling in black and white!
This Blue Angel wouldn't let me get very close, but it's such a pretty fish I thought I'd share it anyways.
Porkfish looking a little nervous...
Another small colony of Telesto coral.
Graduate student giving the scuba paparazzi the sly-eye as I sneak a shot of her detaching a data logger.
A little too small for my 15mm fisheye, a beautiful little Tessellated Blenny peaks out from its barnacle hideout.
Juvenile Mardi Gras Wrasse, an endemic species to the Gulf of Mexico.
White-spotted Soapfish hovering within a darker recess of the rig.
Grey Triggerfish looking for something to bite..
