Free Fish and Invertebrate ID Classes 10/13-14

Cephlah · Post by **Cephlah** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 10:46 pm

See you tomorrow everybody! We will most likely be a little late - I hope that is OK.

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 11:33 pm

Better late than never! Just make a grand entrance making fish lips at me and it'll be good

We wound up with about 35 people signed up, and 20-25 divers for Sund Rock on Saturday afternoon, gonna be a great turnout I think!

- Janna

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 7:46 am

I think the buffalo sculpin dance would be an appropriate entrance. $\:D/$

thelawgoddess · Post by **thelawgoddess** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 6:29 pm

well, apparently i'm not going to make the fish class.

i got up at 2:30 am this morning to head back to seattle. lots of flying and waiting around and flying and waiting around ... and by the time i got home and sat down on the couch "for a minute" ... well ... i woke up 4 hours later and it was just about 4:00 pm. but i'm all packed up to head out tomorrow for the invert class, so hope to see y'all there in the morning!

GillyWeed · Post by **GillyWeed** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 7:36 pm

Thank you Janna!!!!!

That was a lot of fun. I really felt like I learned a lot. I wish that I could have done another dive. It was nice being able to put a face to a name on a lot of you.. BASSMAN and Tom Nic, thanks for introducing yourselves. , Enigmatic (Matt) I hope you had a nice dive! I saw Cephlah and Go-Nudi too but alas we didn't really meet... I wish that I had been feeling better so I could have stayed around to chat a little while with more of you.. Right now, though I am just checking in and then I am going to load up on pain meds and ice the ol' back. Janna I really don't think we can thank you enough. You were awesome. Who would have thought lectures and tests could be so much fun? But you really did make it a blast!

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 9:32 pm

Nice meeting you too Holly... and Lawgoddess. We had a nice 2nd dive with Luv2scuba and Lawgoddess.

Great class as expected, Janna!

And of course, due to your superior teaching abilities I aced the test! :rr:

The dives were nice, I guess, but the low O2 levels at this place in the canal are VERY distressing. I don't think I've ever seen so much life shallow that was so stressed, unhealthy, and in many cases dieing.

Let's see... we saw at least 20 wolf eels in 20 ft. of water, looking very lethargic and unhappy. There were large schools of copper rockfish with the occasional brown and vermillion sprinkled in just drifting at 15-20 ft looking very aimless and lethargic. Ony about half the dungies would even run from you. The plumose anemonies were half limp, having lost most of their turgidity. The sunflower stars looked like they were aging in front of you, kind of a "B" horror movie. They were shriveled and kinked. The California sea cucumbers had their feeding appendages completely distruded and just looked terrible. When you crossed a sandy stretch there would be dozens of clams with their siphones 6 inches or so out of the ground, also looking kind of anemic. They would hardly pull back in as you came past. We saw dozens of large spotted shrimp (normally found in deeper water) in the 20 ft. range. The few lingcod we saw were not very large and very sluggish. We were careful to keep our distance from the animals to avoid stressing them.

Kind of depressing actually, but good dives nonetheless. There were a couple of folks there taking surveys and documenting what has been happening to the wildlife. We really need a good blow / storm to stir up the water and bring some oxygenated water in.

Thanks again Janna, and to all who dove with us today!

Cephlah · Post by **Cephlah** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 9:59 pm

Thank you SO MUCH Janna!!!

:wav:

Being able to I.D. some of the critters we see will add a whole new dimension to our diving! Our dive this afternoon (we only ended up doing one) was so much fun, not only for being able to identify much of what we saw, but also knowing a little bit about where to look. I think I saw more on this dive, even in the deeper water where there weren't too many animals to see, than I've seen on several previous dives combined

I was, however, very sad to see the animals struggling for survival at the 20-30ft level. The sea cucumbers and giant schools of rockfish especially were a depressing sight, and I'm glad we didn't dive the actual Sund Rock, as other divers said they saw many wolf eels in distress too.

I imagine I'm not alone in this, but I feel both helpless and guilty when I see the natural world in trouble. The more I live in Washington, the more even my untrained eye is noticing things going wrong both on the surface and below. I don't know what more to say about this right now...it feels insurmountable ](*,)

On a lighter note though, I'm glad I got to meet a couple more people from the board, and some others I hope to see on the board soon.

Gillyweed, I did see you there, but I'm sorry I never got the chance to say hi. Hopefully we can dive together sometime soon

Well, thank you again Janna - look us up if you're ever in the Titlow area!

go_nudi · Post by **go_nudi** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 11:15 pm

My wife said a lot so I won't. She said it all! Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou!

thelawgoddess · Post by **thelawgoddess** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 11:24 pm

yeah, janna - thanks again for a really great invert class.

(i'm super-bummed i missed the fish one.

) i'm so glad i did both dives. i had never seen a wolf eel before today. luv2scuba pointed out my first one, and i barely caught a glimpse of his head before he quickly hid under his rock. only a few moments later i got to see another one out in full sight. i thought it was a bit strange because he was just sitting there motionless and wasn't swimming away from us. and then we saw another and another and another (totaling at least 15), and even though i'd never seen them before it was obvious they weren't doing very well. my initial excitement due to seeing a wolf eel was quickly replaced with feelings of sadness and helplessness. the amount of living creatures we saw at sund rock was amazing, and i really hope they are all able to recover soon.

it was nice meeting you, too, tom nic - and bassman. that's cool that there were so many nwdiveclub folks there. janna really does put on a great class! special thanks to luv2scuba, too, for putting up with me through two whole dives today.

BASSMAN · Post by **BASSMAN** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 6:10 am

"DITTO!"

Thank's Janna! Awsome Classes

Had a great time meeting new faces!
Gillyweed and thelawgoddess.

We had a couple of interesting dives at Sund Rock.
hope the O2 levels are better in December.

It is fun to actually be able to identify / recognize the Fish and Invertabrate we see under water around here!

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 8:40 am

Hey all, I am SO glad you enjoyed it AND learned something. I picked up some new things too - which is always a cool thing that happens when you get a bunch of fish geeks together

Here's our fun pic of the entire gang:

I've got the rest of the photos posted here:
http://nwgeogirl.smugmug.com/gallery/2006338

Like the Fish-O action shot - and some of the disheartening underwater shots of my dive at Sund rock North wall.

- Janna

BASSMAN · Post by **BASSMAN** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 8:46 am

Great picture!

Cera · Post by **Cera** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 11:14 am

Thanks for the photos, and for the class, I really had fun! It was nice to meet everyone.

luv2scuba · Post by **luv2scuba** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 7:21 pm

Thank you Janna! I loved the classes. I learned so much, some silly too and I certainly won't think of Bob Marley and some of the other musicians or at least specific songs in the same way.

The dives were bittersweet for me. On one hand, it was exhilarating to be able to identify fish and invertebrates> I still have so much to learn in identifying the critters but I have made a good start thanks to you and the great course. Your knowledge (and that of Wes) was and is invaluable. So onto the bitter part of my dive, bearing witness to so much distress, carnage and rotting critters. I know how I felt just perusing your photos of the fish kill a few weeks back but to witness it first hand is tendfold. I cannot describe the feelings I had while looking at all the wolf eels at 17 - 20ft laying out in the open, gasping for air. I know I got to see many fish I would not have, had the oxygen levels been better. Let us hope that the water gets stirred up and oxegynated pronto.

It was good to meet those of you from this forum that I had not as yet, Gillyweed, Enigmatic and lawgoddess and of course Janna.

It was good to dive with you lawgoddess. I'd gladly dive with you again.

See you all again soon.

Dana

GillyWeed · Post by **GillyWeed** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:49 am

Dana,

It was good meeting you too! Your story of the white shark is still giving me the shivers! Honestly you would have seen me walking on water if that would have happened to me.. I would have BOLTED to the surface and worried about the bends after.. You are a strong person!

Cheers,

Holly

luv2scuba · Post by **luv2scuba** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 2:09 pm

I can only say that I am glad I was wearing a wet suit, if you know what I mean

I think we all stopped breathing momentarily (bar one that did not see it at all) and I am sure I missed a heartbeat or two.

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 5:46 pm

That was the first time in a class I'd asked people to tell about the coolest/strangest thing they'd seen underwater. I loved the stories everyone came up with! It took WAY longer than anticipated, but I think it was well worth it!

I found out some interesting stuff today doing some research on things I saw at Sund Rock on Saturday.

One thing was that a Spot Prawn, found up in the shallows, looked all covered with fur. I wondered what that stuff was, so I put in a call to Gregory C. Jensen, author of Pacific Coast Crabs and Shrimps.

He explained that he dove Sund Rock two years ago, when the previous fish kill occurred, and saw the same thing, and collected a few of the prawns to study.

The fur is actually a bryozoan that grows naturally on pretty much any hard surface down there, and tries to grow on the prawns, but they're constantly grooming themselves when not under stress.

When under stress, and acting lethargic, they let their personal hygiene go to pot (is that like getting furry teeth if you don't brush??)

and the bryozoans take over the outside.

Once he put his sample prawns into clean, high dissolved oxygen water, they perked up, started acting normally, and TRIED to get the bryozoans cleaned off their shells, but couldn't. Eventually when they molted, they were able to ditch all their newfound fur and get back to normal.

- Janna

Zen Diver v1 · Post by **Zen Diver v1** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 6:38 pm

Very interesting Janna! I'm glad you have connections to these folks and are willing to share.

-Valerie

Cera · Post by **Cera** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 6:40 pm

That is really interesting. I saw the fur and wondered... Thanks for the info.

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 7:03 pm

Fascinating! Makes so much sense... Thanks for the leg work Janna!

Plus it's another great story to tell your kids when they won't brush their teeth!

luv2scuba · Post by **luv2scuba** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 6:51 am

Very interesting. Thanks Janna

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:10 am

"Better brush your teeth or you'll end up looking like a furry prawn!"

go_nudi · Post by **go_nudi** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:40 pm

Fur is bad, Oxygen is good, my spelling without spell check, worse!

BASSMAN · Post by **BASSMAN** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 10:46 am

Ya!
When is Calvin going to put spellcheck on here?

go_nudi · Post by **go_nudi** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:42 pm

SPELLCHECK SPELLCHECK SPELLCHECK SPELLCHECKSPELLCHECK SPELLCHECK SPELLCHECK SPELLCHECKSPELLCHECK SPELLCHECK SPELLCHECK SPELLCHECKSPELLCHECK SPELLCHECK SPELLCHECK SPELLCHECK