Are you an interactive diver?

[MSilvia]

What do you think happens to the shells of scallops that die of natural causes or are eaten by non-humans?

Scubaroo once bubbled...
lobstering doesn't leave the bottom littered with empty scallop shells.

 

[Scubaroo]

MSilvia once bubbled...
What do you think happens to the shells of scallops that die of natural causes or are eaten by non-humans?

Well a lot remain intact on the rock they grew on - saw a small greenling (fish) using an empty open scallop on a rock as a hidy-hole on the weekend. Obviously a lot eventually end up on the bottom, and nature sees to it that they eventually dissolve or turn into sand (or fossils ) but not all in a pile of shiny empty shells that obviously resulted from someone dumping a bucket of empty shells over the side of a boat. Kind of like a lot of Monterey dive sites - thousands of empty abalone shells on the bottom, and no abalone.

 

[PnL]

Good point on the different ways of interacting with the diving environment(s). Let's just assume that we changed the "hunter" to "interacting" ... ok?

Paul

 

[stiebs]

Scubaroo once bubbled...
... taking scallops seems a bit more invasive than picking a lobster up off the bottom - sure, in both cases you're removing an animal from the environment, but lobstering doesn't require you to pry stuff off a rock ...

I think I'm a little confused. The scallops where I dive don't attach themselves to rocks. You generally find them lying just under the surface of a flat sandy bottom. A quick scoop or flick with the fingers and they're in your catch bag.

Mussels. They stick to rocks.
Oysters. They stick to rocks.
Abalone. They stick to rocks.
Scallops? Maybe the ones in the US have evolved to stick themselves to rocks due to survival instinct, protecting themselves from divers.

 

[Scubaroo]

froop,

The scallops in California grow attached to rocks like an oyster - they're a different species to the Tasmanian scallops back home.

Ben

 

[Jonathan]

strictly an observer - probably saved my life when diving in Sydney as I knew nothing about the blue ringed octopus before the dive....



Jonathan

 

[SA-Diver]

As a scubadiver I am an observer only.
Spearfishing I do on snorkel only - the way it is done in South Africa. No hunting/collecting is allowed on scuba.

 

[DameDykker]

Hi Jonathan

I don't know anything about this blue ringed fellow. Why would not knowing be unhealthfull??

 

[Uncle Pug]

DameDykker once bubbled...
I don't know anything about this blue ringed fellow. Why would not knowing be unhealthfull??

Dat little fella pack a big wallop! Highly toxic venom.

 

[PnL]

My dad almost picked on up while he was searching under rocks at some tidal pools in Sydney - luckily I had just seen a documentary on them and told him what it was. They are deceptively small little creatures - at least this one was. (BTW, this was almost 25 years ago!). In that sense I guess its much better not to interact!

Paul