DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #739: FISH POOPIES
Many years ago Jean-Michel Cousteau told me a story that has stuck in my feeble brain for decades. After giving a talk to a large audience, he opened it up to questions from them. One young girl raised her hand and Jean-Michel called on her. Her question? "Mr. Cousteau, how can you swim in the ocean with all those fish poopies?"
From the mind of a child comes a very interesting question. Indeed the ocean is filled not only with fish poopies, but those of marine mammals including seals, sea l;ions and even whales. That doesn't even include all the fecal matter from invertebrates like clams, sea hares and starfish! Of course this organic matter gets converted back into usable nutrients due to ecological and geological cycles.
When I dive, I am constantly reminded of this fact. I see fecal matter drifting down through the water column as fish swim above me. Occasionally I can tell which species it comes from even though I am not a specialist in "scatological ecology." For example, opaleye often produce fish poop filled with fiber due to their largely vegetarian diet (if you exclude the cigarette butts and other trash these fish are said to consume!).
I've watched sea lions swim past streaming excreta like chemtrails behind them. Fortunately I have yet to encounter a whale poopie, although years ago while diving at Church Rock I had a young gray (aka grey) whale floating above me. Although I sensed something, due to the poor visibility I thought it was a great white and hunkered down in a crevice. And of course sea cucumber poop is always visible on the rocky reef or sandy bottom.
On a dive a week ago I went into the deep, dark kelp forest to film a few giant sea bass (GSB), Stereolepis gigas. They've been hanging in our dive park because it is one of the few sites on our leeward coast with reasonably good kelp. I usually see anywhere from two to ten giant sea bass hanging there. In years past I have had plenty of luck hanging with them myself. I could slowly approach them from the front and get great footage of their huge mouths and all the parasitic copepods that look like stubble on their heads.
This year the giant sea bass seem to be more skittish than in years past. Often in the early part of their mating season they exhibit this, but then settle down once paired off. However, they are so close to the dive park stairs this year that far more divers are probably encountering them and approaching too rapidly or trying to pet them. This makes them a bit more skittish than usual.
This year for some reason I seem to have better luck approaching the bass from behind and beneath. Of course this makes for less dramatic shots of bellies, tails and anal fins vs. head shots. I tried this tactic on a lovely lady being tended by her boyfriend. The male seemed more agitated than her, probably thinking I was a competitor for her hand (er, fin).
As I drew closer, the female gave me a strong indication of her own reaction. Poop started slowly streaming from her vent as I approached with camera rolling. Initially just a small stream, it increased rapidly in volume and clouded the water around me. Oh, joy. This was not the first time I've had a giant sea bass do this... in fact it has happened four times to me as well as to other divers. Just last week I had yet a fifth such encounter. Some feel it is a reaction based on fear.. you know, scared poopless. Others think it may be a way for the GSB to express their displeasure at being intruded upon. Until we get a GSB on the couch with a budding Dr. Freud, we may never know the real reason.
© 2017 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of over 700 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page
Image caption: Vent of giant sea bass and expanding stream of fish poopies as I approached her.
Many years ago Jean-Michel Cousteau told me a story that has stuck in my feeble brain for decades. After giving a talk to a large audience, he opened it up to questions from them. One young girl raised her hand and Jean-Michel called on her. Her question? "Mr. Cousteau, how can you swim in the ocean with all those fish poopies?"
From the mind of a child comes a very interesting question. Indeed the ocean is filled not only with fish poopies, but those of marine mammals including seals, sea l;ions and even whales. That doesn't even include all the fecal matter from invertebrates like clams, sea hares and starfish! Of course this organic matter gets converted back into usable nutrients due to ecological and geological cycles.
When I dive, I am constantly reminded of this fact. I see fecal matter drifting down through the water column as fish swim above me. Occasionally I can tell which species it comes from even though I am not a specialist in "scatological ecology." For example, opaleye often produce fish poop filled with fiber due to their largely vegetarian diet (if you exclude the cigarette butts and other trash these fish are said to consume!).
I've watched sea lions swim past streaming excreta like chemtrails behind them. Fortunately I have yet to encounter a whale poopie, although years ago while diving at Church Rock I had a young gray (aka grey) whale floating above me. Although I sensed something, due to the poor visibility I thought it was a great white and hunkered down in a crevice. And of course sea cucumber poop is always visible on the rocky reef or sandy bottom.
On a dive a week ago I went into the deep, dark kelp forest to film a few giant sea bass (GSB), Stereolepis gigas. They've been hanging in our dive park because it is one of the few sites on our leeward coast with reasonably good kelp. I usually see anywhere from two to ten giant sea bass hanging there. In years past I have had plenty of luck hanging with them myself. I could slowly approach them from the front and get great footage of their huge mouths and all the parasitic copepods that look like stubble on their heads.
This year the giant sea bass seem to be more skittish than in years past. Often in the early part of their mating season they exhibit this, but then settle down once paired off. However, they are so close to the dive park stairs this year that far more divers are probably encountering them and approaching too rapidly or trying to pet them. This makes them a bit more skittish than usual.
This year for some reason I seem to have better luck approaching the bass from behind and beneath. Of course this makes for less dramatic shots of bellies, tails and anal fins vs. head shots. I tried this tactic on a lovely lady being tended by her boyfriend. The male seemed more agitated than her, probably thinking I was a competitor for her hand (er, fin).
As I drew closer, the female gave me a strong indication of her own reaction. Poop started slowly streaming from her vent as I approached with camera rolling. Initially just a small stream, it increased rapidly in volume and clouded the water around me. Oh, joy. This was not the first time I've had a giant sea bass do this... in fact it has happened four times to me as well as to other divers. Just last week I had yet a fifth such encounter. Some feel it is a reaction based on fear.. you know, scared poopless. Others think it may be a way for the GSB to express their displeasure at being intruded upon. Until we get a GSB on the couch with a budding Dr. Freud, we may never know the real reason.
© 2017 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of over 700 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page
Image caption: Vent of giant sea bass and expanding stream of fish poopies as I approached her.
