Maui time (Pictures) - 3

[McGizmo]

Great photos! You probably get asked this a lot, but what kinda of camera do you use for these shots?

What I am swimming with now is a Nikon D300 with 20 mm lens and #4 diopter to allow it to focus on a virtual image generated underwater by a 6" dome port on the Subal Housing. It works nicely for both in close shots of the small stuff as well as the larger guys like above. When whale season comes,
I will go to a 16 mm fisheye behind a 8" dome port. That rig would be better with the turtles and dolphin as well because you can get that much closer to the animal and still get it in the frame. I can also use it for split scenes above and below the surface.

When the water gets colder and visibility not good due to surf, I swim with a smaller package consisting of an Olympus Stylus. The large Subal housing really restricts my speed out there but it takes such great images when I use it right that I have decided to tow it around and limit my speed.

You never know what you are going to see out there and there is so much to be amazed by it would be tough for it get boring, I think. The conditions are not always ideal but when they are reasonable, a nice swim is quite refreshing.

 

[fyrstormer]

From Friendly's point of view, it was probably perfectly normal that you came and went -- lots of animals migrate to and from Hawaii every year. To think that only humans bother to interact with other species in cordial circumstances is foolish; anyone who's spent time in the wild (in my case the woods, in your case the ocean) knows that isn't the case.

As for where she went, well...there are lots of reefs around those parts. It would be kind of neat to get a transponder on her to see where she goes, but she'd probably never trust you again if you did that.

 

[fyrstormer]

Also, this...

...is a really good picture. Can I get a full-size version?

 

[Jurphaas]

Hi Friendly! Wow Don there she is again. I follow your Maui Time post closely and all the pics you took and the stories you wrote made Friendly grow close. Good to see that you two have met again. Excellent to see that she is doing so well. Great thing, let's count our blessings and Carpe Diem!
Cheers,
Jurphaas.

 

[McGizmo]

fyrstormer,

I uploaded a high resolution version, HERE.

... Do you have amazing experiences like that on a weekly basis? .....
Don

This question stuck in my mind and I figured I would respond further. The notion of amazing experiences is subjective and what is amazing to one is a cure for insomnia for another. The more I observe the diverse life under water and consider some of the symbiotic relationships between some of the critters, the more amazed I become. In terms of both creation and evolution, a look at what is there and how it all fits together and interrelates is simply mind boggling and I suspect our perceptions and understanding just scratch the surface of something really deep and perhaps even beyond dimension.

I would suggest that I now see amazing stuff on a daily basis and I am grateful that I am in a position to get to view this as well as try to fathom what might be going on.

A few days ago, after showing my marine biologist friend a coral colony that seemed to be doomed to algae invasion, we headed back to shore. In the shallows, I spied some green object under a ledge that was unusual and on closer inspection, it proved to be what I suspected it might be. It was a sponge crab.

I prodded it out of its little cave with a simple little titanium/NiTinol probe I made and have taken to carrying with. She and another person both had cameras and were stoked at the chance to take some shots of the crab in clear shallow water. I dove down for a shot myself (above). I went to the beach and joined my wife. A bit later, some friends of ours showed up and after mentioning the sponge crab to them we decided to all go out and see if it as still there. It was and this time when I prodded it out, it left its sponge in the hole and came out naked.

In the pic above, you can see the underside of the sponge which doesn't see daylight and is brighter in yellow. I believe I have previously posted about these crabs and how they pick up a sponge out of a nook somewhere and they keep this sponge on their back using some specifically developed legs that serve only to hold and move the sponge around as a shield and disguise. The sponge grows as does the crab and the crab trims the sponge to suit its needs!?!?

Well this guy stayed outside his hole and would attack small fish that were coming in to see what the commotion was about and hoping for some free meal. I felt bad about this guy being naked so I dove down, grabbed the sponge and then dropped it down on the crab. Initially it attacked the sponge in defense but almost immediately, it recognized what it was and went about wrestling with it and getting situated with its cover. This involved ultimately rolling upside down and twisting the sponge around.

The four of us on the surface were entranced watching this. Shortly after getting properly dressed, the crab returned to its hole but it went in face first with its back exposed to the outside. That struck me as curious so I dove down and looked into the dark hole. I spied a second and smaller sponge crab in there! Oops! I had been interrupting a procreation act! No wonder the crab was so pissy with me and the fish that came around.

The next day, for the heck of it, I returned to the spot to see if by chance they had remained there. What I found was a different sponge than his and only the sponge. Later on and about 20' away, I spotted a small sponge crab, sans sponge, down on the reef in a small sand area between the coral. I figured this was the female and owner of the sponge. I swam over and grabbed the sponge and brought it over to the crab. It didn't respond and in no time I realized it was dead. No idea what happened to it but when I looked at one image I had taken, I could see damage to one of its legs and perhaps this was an indication of its demise.

Look at the break in the rear left leg in the image above. (Its shell had broken loose and lifted up in the process of handling it.) I took a shot of its sponge:

Was this initial encounter and subsequent discoveries amazing? Well I think so but had the question not been posed, I probably wouldn't have brought it up or bored you guys with it.

I am blown away with man's advances in technology, the accomplishments man has made and so much of stuff "we" have come up with yet I can't began to understand let alone appreciate for all its intricacies and complexity. However, viewing and observing the creatures in nature and asking myself simple questions of how and why blows me away so much more when I consider that in addition to the simple complexities easy to observe, these things are alive and growing, competing for survival and reproducing!!! Amazing!!

 

[jch79]

One more Friendly-related news... a snippet from Don which I was trying to find... from 2007:

...I think there is a good chance I may never see Friendly again.

It looks like there was a BETTER chance that you WOULD see Friendly again!

john

 

[Codeman]

Don, one of the biggest reasons I keep up with Maui Time is because of these stories. Those of us who can't visit can see a lot on documentaries and such, but the little things in life that aren't worthy of TV time are often far more compelling because they are personal experience that aren't for mass market. I'll take you little stories any day of the week because they don't try to convey some big picture, but simply share small, personal events that somehow convey far more wonder and appreciation because of their intimacy. It's easier to relate to Friendly and have wonder and compassion towards her (and as a result sea turtles in general) than it would be towards sea turtles as a whole without your morsels.

The pictures are great, don't get me wrong. But it's the observations, stories, and such that really give them meaning beyond just the image they show.

 

[souptree]

Keep trying to bore us, Don. You suck at it! :wave:

 

[McGizmo]

I took my wife to the airport today. She is returning to Berkeley and her work. Back to solo for a couple months and need to get caught up on some flashlight stuff. I visited the reef this afternoon to check on the two frog fish which were both in their typical spots for a change.

I swam north on the outer edge of the reef and came across three spotted eagle rays swimming in close formation and seemingly taking turns at digging for crabs. I was with them for maybe a half hour and then broke it off to finish my "route". I had plenty images to deal with.

They were down about 25+ feet and I would try to dive down at times when there might be something worth getting a shot of. Otherwise, I just hung on the surface and watched them feed and fly. I did end up down at a good time and actually got a shot of one just before it started digging for a crab. Finally got an idea of what its mouth was about:

close up crop:

And then the sand storm...

 

[nfetterly]

Don,

Thank you very much for putting up the full size photo of Friendly. That is a "keeper".

Fantastic photos of the Eagle Rays above!

Neale

 

[fyrstormer]

I'm trying to understand what I'm looking at here. It looks like you cracked an egg underwater, but obviously that's not the case.

Any chance I can also get full-sizers of the following pictures? I really like turtles.

 

[McGizmo]

If the crab were still alive and in tact, its shell would not have lifted off exposing the yellow and transparent membrane (whatever that is). It would be back down covering that stuff and its top surface would flow into the "tail" section that looks like a lobster tail to the right. That portion, if I am not mistaken folds under the crab and then forward. It is normally tucked up under the crab and I believe this is a female and between its underside and this "tail flap" is where it carries its eggs. Below is another shot of the crab, facing it:

You can see the inside surface of the "tail" and a zoom in on it:

Had it been alive,

A) I doubt I would have been holding it and
B) It would not be exposing its nether regions like this. :green:

I found a VIDEO of one of these with a much smaller sponge than any I have seen.

 

[fyrstormer]

Well, since you interrupted it in the middle of making babies the day beforehand, it might have just laid its eggs and kicked-off. Lots of animals do that.

 

[mgk65]

I'm trying to understand what I'm looking at here. It looks like you cracked an egg underwater, but obviously that's not the case.

I believe the yellow masses you are seeing here are gills.

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

Nope, it's crab yolk.


... or gills, yeah, that's what they are!

Don, which legs were the specialized ones for holding the sponge? Assuming the last pair, since on the carcass they are assuming a natural position higher than the other 6 legs. Animals that use other animals w/o harming them, symbiosis, an amazing thing!

 

[McGizmo]

There are some back legs that clearly have a couple points and perhaps even articulate like pincers. I am sorry I didn't take a closer look at this carcass and more pics of it. As soon as I got home, I realized that I had failed at an opportunity to look more carefully at the sponge retaining gear!

The best I could do, after the fact, was crop in on one of the images for the detail of these sponge retaining legs:

You can make out a pair of opposed pincers on two of the legs there. I don't know if the crab has two left and two right rear retainer legs or what. I did some research on the internet but couldn't come up with any insight.

In the image below of the male who was working at getting his sponge back where he wanted it, it does look like a pair of special sponge legs at the rear on each side. Further, it looks like the pair join together at a final joint that in turn is attached to the body :

So my best guess is 4 walking legs (2 pair), a pair of claws in the front and a pair of "twin"ed sponge legs aft.

BTW, my wife said she wanted to keep both the top shell and sponge. I figured the sponge had a poor likelihood of survival given its lack of permanent mooring and had I "stuck" it somewhere, it would have been at the expense of some form of life already present.

We took the shell and sponge home and I let the sunshine and ants do their thing. I read up a bit on curing sponges and after leaving it to dry out in the sun for a couple days, I put it in a bucket of water. It had turned a dark green, almost black. Once it was in the water and soaked, it turned a purple color the same color as Mr. Head Slap and the water became heavily pigmented this color as well. As this thick and stinky purple stuff vacated the sponge, it became more and more porous looking. It seems that the natural sponge many of us have bought and used is the skeleton of the sponge animal and what is left when the rest of the tissue and matter have decayed and sloughed off. After a few days and squeezing out the water and dead animal matter, what is left is a sponge looking very similar to the store bought natural sponges; same dark yellow/tan color.

In regards to the symbiosis, there were a whole bunch of scarry looking tiny worm/ centipede looking critters that came out of the sponge along with the purple stuff. I don't know if these critters were in a symbiotic relationship or more like parasites. :sick2: :duck: To my relief and their misfortune, they were all dead.

One problem I ran into on googling a sponge crab is that apparently the term for a female crab with eggs is also a sponge crab due to its appearance. Well dang it, these are the real deal here! They're true sponge crabs and no doubt proud of it! :nana:

Oh yeah, after watching the antics of the male who came out naked and later dressed in front of a number of us, my wife commented that she could understand where the term crabby came from.

 

[fyrstormer]

We took the shell and sponge home and I let the sunshine and ants do their thing. I read up a bit on curing sponges and after leaving it to dry out in the sun for a couple days, I put it in a bucket of water. It had turned a dark green, almost black. Once it was in the water and soaked, it turned a purple color the same color as Mr. Head Slap and the water became heavily pigmented this color as well. As this thick and stinky purple stuff vacated the sponge, it became more and more porous looking. It seems that the natural sponge many of us have bought and used is the skeleton of the sponge animal and what is left when the rest of the tissue and matter have decayed and sloughed off. After a few days and squeezing out the water and dead animal matter, what is left is a sponge looking very similar to the store bought natural sponges; same dark yellow/tan color.

Yes. It's made of a protein called spongin (scandal!), which is something like a cross between collagen and chitin.

If you really want to see something freaky, put a live sponge in a blender and then pour the goop into a glass -- it will put itself back together, similar to (though not as humorously as) Spongebob Squarepants. (as annoying as the show is if you're older than 5, the writers did a good job of extrapolating from real life nonetheless.)

 

[McGizmo]

I don't know if I have mentioned that there is a big barracuda being seen out on the reef or not. I finally saw it close up last week and followed it a ways and took some shots. Today while I was out trying to find the little frog fish (I had already located the larger one), I noticed I was not alone. This big barracuda was about 8' away from me and slowly cruising by. I followed it and came up with a rhythm where I would swim ahead and then slow down as I brought the camera housing up to bear. I could drift in and the barracuda would slowly glide by. It was cool for maybe five minutes until we were joined by a woman who was kicking like crazy to catch up to the barracuda and it upped the pace. I broke off.

I had been hearing about a really big barracuda an estimates ranged from 4' to 6'. It is really difficult to gauge scale and distance underwater and perhaps there is more than one of these guys but this one here is the same one I have seen before. It's a big fish for certain!! It may only be 4' long but it has presence in the water next to you!!

 

[I'mGatMan!]

I don't know if I have mentioned that there is a big barracuda being seen out on the reef or not. I finally saw it close up last week and followed it a ways and took some shots. Today while I was out trying to find the little frog fish (I had already located the larger one), I noticed I was not alone. This big barracuda was about 8' away from me and slowly cruising by. I followed it and came up with a rhythm where I would swim ahead and then slow down as I brought the camera housing up to bear. I could drift in and the barracuda would slowly glide by. It was cool for maybe five minutes until we were joined by a woman who was kicking like crazy to catch up to the barracuda and it upped the pace. I broke off.

I had been hearing about a really big barracuda an estimates ranged from 4' to 6'. It is really difficult to gauge scale and distance underwater and perhaps there is more than one of these guys but this one here is the same one I have seen before. It's a big fish for certain!! It may only be 4' long but it has presence in the water next to you!!

Hey Don, i've heard from one or two longtime SCUBA guys that Cudas can be pretty dangerous to humans. How did you make sure this guy wouldn't bother you?

 

[McGizmo]

I too have heard stories of barracudas and concerns of wearing shinny objects. I have also heard of fishermen in small boats having a known barracuda serve as a guide to the fish with a sharing of the catch as motivation.

Although most of us never see these animals out there, these animals see people on a daily basis if they have elected to swim in a territory populated by swimmers.

In the case of this barracuda, I know I was not the first swimmer it has encountered and in fact I had already encountered it the other day. If it has call to attack me, why me and why now? I figure if I can be mellow in the water and not show any sign of aggression or fear or submission, my chances of being an exception should be reduced. In both encounters I am aware of with this fish, it was aware of me before I was aware of it. For all I know, there have been other close encounters that I never realized. :green:


One real consideration I think is that of visibility in the water. The murkier the water, the more cautious and concerned I become. If people were a common and sought food source for sharks or barracuda, we would know it. For the most part, I believe humans being attacked are more the case of mistake, mistaken identity or accident. Sharks in a frenzy for instance will kill their own kind but this is not a common practice or swimming in groups would be rather counterproductive.

If clearly seen by one of these animals, I don't believe I would be considered food. If I don't present myself as a threat to them, I see no reason for them to attack as a defensive response and I am not sure they even do such a thing. :shrug: Watching fish, turtles and even land animals, it seems that most have a means of communicating displeasure and that you are violating their space. If it does boil down to fight or flight, in the ocean, most of these creatures have no problem with flight. A territorial animal is a different consideration though, I would imagine.

I realize I took some chances following this barracuda and I admit I really don't know the nature of the risk involved. If he had been in a group of others his size, I doubt I would have joined them and I would guess quite the contrary! :green:

EDIT: I would also add that once I was aware of this barracuda and other fish of concern for that matter, I do try to keep my camera housing between me and them. For one obvious reason, a photo opportunity. However I also figure that the housing with dome port is something completely alien to them and not likely considered of interest as a food source. If I am quick enough, it can also be the first thing they encounter should they elect to attack.