Northwest Dive Club

Sounder and I had two delightful dives today at 3TN. The weather was fantastic, and the diving was better! Ran into Grateful Diver, as well as a few other folks we haven't had the privilege of meeting yet.

Went South on the first dive to the boat. Had a great 65 minute dive, in spite of a bit of current with the outgoing tide. Several of the Plumose Anemone on the boat looked to be spawning.

I don't remember seeing this before, at least and knowing what I was looking at!

There was also a big bunch of what looked to be Ling eggs as well, though no adult ling was to be found. There was a nice male kelp greenling hanging around, however... could they have been greenling eggs?



Here's a shot of a leather star that looks to be going after the plumose spawn.


On the second dive we stayed shallower because we were running 40%. As we traipsed around the "junk yard" the water was literally turned cloudy by spawning geoducks or other clams. They were everywhere!


The filter feeders were out en mass, having a ball stuffing themselves on the various kinds of spawn in the water.

This little ling didn't seem to mind!

Those are ling eggs. I saw that same batch of eggs there a couple of weeks ago and there was a ling protecting them. There was another Ripe Female Ling hanging out on that same boat with several anxious males hovering around her as well.


Nice pictures, by the way.

Tim

tom those are some fantastic pictures your getting to be prety good with that cam of yours

Sparky

Great shots. Maybe that will explain lousy visibility at Langley lately

coachrenz wrote:Those are ling eggs. I saw that same batch of eggs there a couple of weeks ago and there was a ling protecting them. There was another Ripe Female Ling hanging out on that same boat with several anxious males hovering around her as well.

Nice pictures, by the way.
Tim

Thanks Tim Sparky and Jan!

There were several divers on the boat multiple times before we got there... which may explain the absence of the protective Papa. I don't have lots of experience here... I wonder what it takes to "chase" a Papa Ling away from eggs? The ones I have seen didn't seem too intimidated by me, in fact it was the reverse!! And there are other reasons why he might not have been there, everything from seals to poachers. Seems to me that Lings are pretty vulnerable anyway, and lings on eggs even more so.

We saw several juvenile lings in the area... again, I'm not sure when they reach sexual maturity with the ability to spawn and the instinct to guard their nests. More research needed on my part!

That boat is a WONDERFUL little "mini-nursery". There are all kinds of juvenile rock fish and sculpins and more that take refuge in it's friendly confines. It is a great little dive...

-Tom

Here is a video of one of the spawning clams. The quality isn't the greatest, but it works for showing what we saw!

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Tom, great photos and now video !
I am curious, can you tell me if the spawning happened at slack water, low or high tide - I am trying to find out if it is predictable, maybe somebody already knows and let me know? Thanks again for posting...

Thanks Jan!

My log says that the dive on which we saw the clams spawning was from 1:42 PM to 2:35 PM, 2/17/007. I think that was incoming, but I don't have a tide book in front of me. With the times you should be able to check. The plumose spawn dive was about an hour or two earlier. The plumose spawn is very different... it just kind of extrudes and stays / hangs there, whereas the clams eject it into the water column. The spawn was hanging on the anemones when we arrived, although we did see one plumose ejecting it into the water column as well. Hmmm... are plumose hemaphrodites or are they specificly male and female? I would guess that they are the former. If I can edit down a part of another video I took I'll post the vid of the ejecting plumose.

And as far as if you can time this? I don't have a clue! Perhaps Janna or John can weigh in here? Or I suppose I could go read some more...

-Tom

I put together a video complete with the "Humpty Dance" as a music bed... seemed appropriate! With all that lovin' in the water, I surfaced with a strange craving for a cigarette!

I am creating a YouTube account and hope to have it posted soon.

Here is my video. Yes, I know the eggs are lingcod eggs, but when I made the video I wasn't sure because there was a protective male kelp greenling hanging around and "tending" to the eggs. I figured "greenling eggs" is an appropriate description. Enjoy!

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Is there a delay for YouTube to allow your video to be shown? ](*,)

I've watched it twice... but one time I tried to access it it did not work. I think it was a YouTube problem, but it has worked.

Yeah, it worked for me once too, then took a dump. Do they watch and rate videos before they're available? Confused.

Video works now. Enjoy!

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Sounder, interesting choice of music. ](*,) Love that video though!!!

Digital Underground's "the Humpty Dance" is a classic. It was either that, or Marvin Gaye's "Lets Get It On."

Good pictures and videos you all. I was fortunate to see sea stars doing their thing on maybe my second dive ever.