MUREX & TRITON SHELL COLLECTING ON ABACO WITH KASIA

November 25, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

PAGE REWRITE IN PROGRESS

MUREX (MURICIDAE) & TRITONS (RANELLIDAE)

1. MUREX SHELLS (Muricidae)

This is a vast family of shells worldwide, with many subspecies, each of which has many regional variations. Or even variations of the same subspecies on the same beach. Many have beautiful delicate spines or intricate shapes and elaborate patterns, like the pacific one shown

These molluscs are described as ‘voracious rock scavengers’ and exhibit uninhibited psychopathic tendencies. If you have a nervous disposition, stop reading here; Sam Peckinpah missed a great film collaboration with Jacques Cousteau with these vicious little creatures

10 ESSENTIAL YET GRISLY MUREX FACTS

Murex are highly carnivorous with rasping teeth, and drilling equipment for boring into the shells of their prey
A determined Murex may take up to 5 days to drill into its prey
Murex also use their foot to smother prey, or to crush it by using suction power
They eat clams by hoovering them up with their foot and smashing them on rocks to get at the occupant
They happily eat sea-floor carrion and sea-kill
Murex act in packs to carry out raids on unsuspecting beds of clams, which they feast on avidly
They are sexually wanton. Females store sperm from different males for many months, eventually producing embryos with different dads (I’m not making this up. I would like to have done so)
Cannibalism occurs. The kids are equally prone to extreme delinquency and are happy to eat each other when peckish
Some species of murex secrete a fluid that is believed to be used to drug their prey into paralysis
That same fluid (Murex / Mucus) is also used as a dye, ‘Tyrian’ or ‘Royal’ Purple, which can be ‘milked’ from a living murex (the Aztecs & Phoenicians did this). I’ll pass on that

NEW: VIDEO of how to obtain dye from a Murex

KASIA’S BEACHCOMBED ABACO MUREX SKELETON

TWO MUREX SHELLS OF MINE (NOT FROM ABACO) FOR COMPARISON DETAIL OF COLOUR & SHINE

2. TRITON SHELLS (RANELLIDAE)

KASIA’S TRITON TROPHY FROM CASUARINA, ABACO

Here is another shell from Kasia’s beachcombing in the Casuarina Point area on Abaco. I’ve never seen one like this. I thought it was a TROPHON, a variety of the huge MUREX family. As I wrote, there are more than 30 types of trophon world-wide, many with a similar configuration, though I hadn’t managed to find one with a similar colouring and shell growth-pattern yet. I invited confirmation or correction, which Colin Redfern kindly provided. It is in fact a fine example of a…

DOG-HEAD TRITON Cymatium cynocephalum

ANGULAR TRITON Cymatium femorale A different sort of triton found by Kasia

“SIZE MATTERS” – ABACO CRAWFISH CONSERVATION CAMPAIGN

November 22, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

Abaco Island, Bahamas

CAMPAIGN FOR SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES MANAGEMENT

Here’s a report I’ve turned up, which may well be of interest from a crawfish conservation viewpoint. And it’s also an excuse to post the excellent campaign song, which needs no added comment from me – see video below. The campaign slogan is… a delight. The Rare Planet website is well worth a rootle round – click the link below

Campaign manager: D’Shan Maycock
Partner: Friends of the Environment

“When D’Shan Maycock launched a Pride campaign to rally her community around protecting marine life off of Abaco Island, she didn’t necessarily imagine her slogan becoming part of the daily lexicon for fishers, students, international conservation organizations, and even the Prime Minister. But thanks to a catchy phrase – Size Matters – and the idea of the locally-treasured crawfish shrinking due to overfishing, her campaign has caught on everywhere.

Crawfish are an important species for the biodiversity of Abaco Island, providing 60% of the total commercial fish catch and sustenance for other marine life in the region. However, due to unsustainable fishing practices and lack of local awareness, each year’s crawfish yield declines in numbers, total poundage, and average size. D’Shan discovered a heavy incidence of illegal fishing of juvenile crawfish, as well as a dearth of the formerly large crawfish that lay many times more eggs. There are 5 national land and sea parks around the island, yet it is a challenge for law enforcement to manage every landing dock. Community support is critical. So D’Shan has gotten creative.

Progress on the campaign…

• Secured pledges from local fishers not to catch juvenile crawfish under 5.5 inches – their yield monitored through a new certification process
• Built awareness among key influencers and the general public about the importance of protecting juvenile crawfish
• Garnered the attention and support of high profile players in the region, including The Nature Conservancy, which is interested in taking the certification process to other islands in the Bahamas, and the Bahamian Prime Minister, who at a recent All-Abaco Expo on Food Security, called out the slogan of the campaign and pledged ongoing support for fisheries protection

To further explore this campaign, please visit our conservation community at RarePlanet.org.

(To whom thanks for this… but, hey guys, your ‘CONTACT’ page only gives long-distance phone numbers (wot no email?) Are you ok with me using this? If not please ring +44 763549390 between 19.00 and 21.00 and ask for ‘Tarquin’)

STOP PRESS: here is a news clip about the new campaign mural in M H, posted by campaign manager d”Shan on The Abaco Scientist

BEACHCOMBING AT CASUARINA, ABACO, WITH KASIA – COWRIE / PHALIUM / CONCH

November 22, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

BEACHCOMBING AT CASUARINA WITH KASIA COWRIE / PHALIUM & CONCH

I recently posted some photos of starfish taken by Kasia at low tide near Casuarina point – see KASIAS’S STARFISH. Now it’s time for some beachcombing news from there. The sandbanks and bars in the Casuarina / Cherokee Sound area are a rich source of conchs, sand dollar tests and shells of many varieties when the tide is out. The sandy areas revealed as the water slowly recedes are extensive, and it is a great place to hunt for specimens (and for a lunchtime break from bonefishing…)

COWRIES / PHALIUM

1. RETICULATED COWRIE-HELMET Cypraecassis testiculus Here is a pretty example of this shell, a relative of the large phalium family and originally misidentified by me as a Phalium granulatum

2. MEASLED COWRIE Macrocypraea zebra / Cypraea zebra Colin Redfern says of this example “Immature shells have transverse stripes that are later covered by a spotted layer (hence “measled”). It looks as if it’s beachworn rather than immature, so the outer layer has probably been worn away. You can see remnants of the spotted layer adjacent to the aperture.”

STOP PRESS: by coincidence, while looking for a completely different type of shell online I have just happened upon this early 1800s engraving of a Cypraea Vespa, which is very similar to Kasia’s one

CONCH I’m trying not to overdo Conchs, which are probably everyone’s favourite shell to collect. But this one is a wonderful pink, and came with a surprise inhabitant… Is anyone at home?

Oh! A hermit crab seems to have moved in…

It’s shyer than this one (from an unnamed online source)

Finally, a useful method to transport one’s shell collection, maybe?

MARINE BROCHURE, ABACO, BAHAMAS: CONSERVATION

November 19, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

MARINE BROCHURE, ABACO, BAHAMAS A basic blueprint for environmental protection on Abaco

The various interested organisations have produced a simple 2-page brochure designed to promote responsible preservation of the island’s natural resources. If you click on a page below it will enlarge. If you want to go to the webpage to download the pdf for yourself (or pass it on) CLICK==> MARINE BROCHURE

“Take only pictures, leave only bubbles…”

PAGE 1

PAGE 2

STARFISH AT CASUARINA POINT, ABACO

November 19, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

STARFISH AT CASUARINA POINT, ABACO

Kasia, a vital contributor to this blog, has supplied a number of images taken at low tide in the Casuarina Point / Cherokee Sound area on Abaco, including these excellent starfish. I’m posting them right away because starfish haven’t so far featured at all in this enterprise. Whenever I have seen them from a skiff I have been otherwise (and mostly ineffectually) engaged at the sharp end of the boat…

All images ©Kasia (c/o rollingharbour)

BAHAMAS STARFISH – 10 ESSENTIAL FACTS

Other names include Cushioned Star and Red Cushion Sea Star
Its invertebrate body is covered by a hard shell with raised knobbly spines
The color of adults may be brown, orange, red, or yellow. Juveniles are mottled green (for camouflage in seagrass beds)
Found in calm shallow waters (depths 1m – 37m), most commonly on sandy bottoms. Juveniles are usually found in seagrass beds
Individuals can grow to 50 cm / 20″ diameter
Adults live in dense aggregations called ‘fronts’ of 200 to 4000 individuals
When food is scarce they can reabsorb body tissue to prevent weight loss / size decrease
They are omnivores, feeding on micro organisms, urchins, sea cucumbers, small invertebrates, crab larvae, and sponges
They use their ‘arms’ to rake piles of sediment and then evert the stomach, enveloping the food in its folds (don’t try this at home).
The cushioned star is over-harvested for souvenirs and the aquarium trade, and is no longer common in areas of high human population

Sources: various (not Wiki except for chart). You are all stars. Sea stars, in fact

MARINE LIFE OF THE CARIBBEAN – ABACO BOOK REVIEW

November 17, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

MARINE LIFE OF THE CARIBBEAN

Macmillan Natural History Series Alick Jones & Nancy Sefton – 2nd Ed 2002 rollingharbour rating ****

Another excellent volume in this series of slim books – see other book reviews for Birds, Reef Fish etc. The book is carefully structured. Opening with an overview of the region, it moves gradually from shoreline to open sea via mangrove swamps, sandy areas, seagrass beds, rocky areas, and coral reefs. The sections are informative without being overwhelmed by detail, and the many illustrations are useful. It’s possible to skim-read and still feel you have learnt something worthwhile. It is definitely a help with identification queries.

The marine life covered includes plants, fish, starfish etc, shell-dwellers of all makes, crabs etc, and corals – all sufficiently to be educational without being dull. Towards the end there’s an equally handy chapter on turtles, birds and marine mammals. Finally, there’s a good section on ecology and conservation (depressingly, the problems are now worse 10 years later)

A 6-page glossary, a bibliography and index round off a very helpful tome. Definitely worth getting if you want a working grasp of the subject in an easily assimilable format.

I got my copy for £5 on Amazon, but check out ABE as well, which is also very good for this sort of book – but watch the postage rates there…

MANTA RAYS ON IUCN RED SPECIES LIST

November 10, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

MANTA RAYS THREATENED

Here is a clip from a report taken from the Guardian (UK) website, which lists threatened species world-wide. These include rhinos, various types of tuna, and (of particular interest to Abaco and the Bahamas generally) Manta Rays. Click on the image to enlarge it and make the caption legible… You’ll find the full article and species slideshow at

Here is an excellent short video showing a large Bahamas manta making its majestic way through the ocean

ABACO BEACHCOMBING WITH KASIA: MYSTERY OBJECT

November 8, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

MYSTERY OBJECT FROM AN ABACO BEACH

Here’s a strange item found by Kasia when she was beachcombing with Caroline Stahala

Their preliminary thought was that it formed some part of a turtle’s shell or skeletal anatomy

It is quite small (the coin above is 1 Euro) but amazingly intricate – developed in 2 symmetrical halves, with both delicate ridged surfaces and also distinctively layered bone plates

I sent the images to Charlotte Dunn and Diane Claridge of the BMMRO in case the object might have something to do with a dolphin or even a whale. In their opinion it is very probably part of a ray’s mouth plate. It would be very interesting to know if anyone else has found an object like this. If so please respond in the comment box. Many thanks to Charlotte and Diane for sparing the time to help with ID

STOP PRESS I have some done further investigations into the dental arrangements of rays. I turned to the really excellent website of the Florida Museum of Natural History. On the FLMNH page for SPOTTED EAGLE RAYS is a very interesting photo by Cathy Bester which she has kindly given me permission to use. It is captioned Spotted eagle ray dentition: open mouth showing tooth bands and floor and roof of mouth This photo seems to go a good way to confirming the ID of Kasia’s object, although obviously it might be a fragment from a different type of ray

For the FLMNH site CLICK LOGO

GO PRESS (or whatever an extra stop press may be): see comments from Black River Fossils for further confirmation as a ray palate

ABACO BEACHCOMBING FOR SEA GLASS WITH KASIA

November 6, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

BEACHCOMBING FOR SEA GLASS

Kasia is an avid beachcomber on the sandy beaches of Abaco. Her collections include not only shells but also other marine debris such as sea glass. She has sent me some images with the comment “You can find a lot of sea glass in many different colours and shapes, from the most common green, brown and white through fairly hard to find colours like jadeite (one of the 2 forms of jade), citron, light blue, light green, honey and amber colored browns, to quite rare colors like cobalt, teal, periwinkle, aqua, amethyst & black” Here are some examples of Abaco sea glass from her collection. Shells and other items will follow as and when…

SEA GLASS COLOURS: THE VITREOUS STATISTICS

Sea glass sources are many and varied. In general, these include old clear plates, glasses, windows etc; coloured drinks bottles – wine, spirits, beer, fruit, cola etc; soda bottles; medicine bottles (e.g. milk of magnesia / Vick’s blue); fruit jars; ink bottles; household goods (bleach, soda). The rarest colours (see below) come from very specific origins: teal / Mateus Rose bottles; red / car or nautical lights or Schlitz bottles; black / c18 gin, beer and wine bottles

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION OF SEA GLASS COLOUR OCCURRENCE

Most common (1 in every 1 – 25 pieces found): clear, Kelly (‘Irish’) green, brown, blue, purple

Less common (1 in every 25 – 100 pieces found): jade, amber, lime green, forest green, ice / soft blue

Uncommon (1 in every 50 – 100 pieces found): other green shades

Very uncommon 1 in every 200 – 1000 pieces found): citron, opaque white, cobalt, cornflower blue and aqua

Extremely rare (1 in every 1000 – 10,000 pieces found): grey, pink, teal, black, yellow, turquoise, red

Rarest of all (1 in every 10,000+ pieces found): orange

Info credit: Magpies, for collection of bright shiny glass data. Omni-thanks

This is a helpful chart for the main colours, courtesy and © of West Coast Sea Glass starting top left with orange as the rarest. The direct link is www.westcoastseaglass.com/rarity_chart_poster.html

You’ll find a great deal of other useful info on sea glass on Mary Beth’s linked blog at http:// seaglassblog.blogspot.com/

There’s also a worthwhile Abaco Life article (2006) on sea glass at http://www.abacolife.com/2008/07/14/sea-gass-reveals-muted-tales-in-red-green-blue-white/

JAN 2012 I’ve noticed that there are several easily obtainable (eg from *M*Z*N) books on sea glass. I won’t be buying any to test-drive for you (as with birds, shells etc) – sorry – but they seem to be divided into the ‘pretty but uninformative and fairly cheap’ to the more instructive, more detailed and therefore more expensive books. It’s worth browsing online to find one that meets your interest level, whether passing or something more serious. The reviews are very useful here. The best – and it’s quite pricey – seems to be

ABACO DOLPHIN SIGHTINGS (OCT 2011) + GREAT IMAGES

November 4, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

ABACO DOLPHIN & WHALE SIGHTINGS OCTOBER 2011 TWO YOUNG DOLPHINS SEEN DURING RESEARCH TRIPS

The BMMRO has just published the Bahamas whale and dolphin map of reported sightings for last month, showing a significant amount of bottlenose dolphin activity in the Marsh Harbour area, extending north and south. Also new on the BMMRO website are details of recent research into the Abaco dolphin population. Here are two great dolphin images taking during the trips

A sub-adult dolphin during social interaction ©BMMRO

A young calf on Tilloo Bank ©BMMRO

To view the BMMRO site CLICK LOGO===>>>

ABACO BEACHCOMBING: TWO CONCH SHELL SKELETONS

November 2, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

ABACO SHELL SKELETONS

Besides ‘living shells’ with occupants in residence and shiny recently-vacated shells, there is a third category of shell: the skeleton. I am sure there’s a better or more technical word for these. They aren’t fossils in the strict sense of remnants from a past geological age, but merely worn by the waves and bleached by the sun over time. Here are two examples (from different beaches) which show the intricacy of the part of the shell you don’t normally see: the interior

A shell skeleton from Little Harbour, in situ on the beach on a cloudy day

The same shell washed, with a wonderful pink tinge in sunlight

A strange corkscrew skeleton shell from Sandy Point. I’ve no idea what it is, nor how any creature can have lived in or around it, nor what it must have looked like when complete. Any ideas? Please use the comment box… Thanks, Kasia, for your ID of both as conch skeletons. The first obviously is, but the second puzzled me… until she pointed out that conchs build their own shells round themselves to their own designs rather than go to the one-stop conch shell shop. So if a conch starts wrapping itself comfortably round its own corkscrew, this is what you get

(Mrs rh quite rightly points out that my shell photos are unhelpful without a ruler to give an idea of size. Point taken. Too late. These are medium size…)

SCOTCH BONNET SHELLS (Phalium / Semicassis) ON ABACO

October 25, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

Scotch bonnets (or ‘ridged bonnets’) Semicassis granulata or Phalium granulatum are a medium-sized species of sea snail found in the tropical and subtropical western Atlantic from North Carolina to Uruguay. They are predators, foraging on sandy stretches of the ocean floor for echinoderms such as sand dollars, sea biscuits, and other sea urchins (Caution: ‘Oxford comma’)

SCOTCH BONNET FACTS

It takes approximately six years for a Scotch bonnet to mature
The shells grows 2 – 4 ins long (5 – 10 cm), showing distinct growth stages
Scotch bonnets live on sand, usually in fairly shallow water (but see below)
The more a Scotch bonnet eats the more elaborate its shell, the glossier its sheen & the brighter its colours (research suggests this doesn’t work for humans)
Divers frequently find Scotch bonnets at depths of 50 – 150 feet (15 to 46 m). Specimens have been found in depths up to 308 ft (94 m)
Shipwrecks provide a good habitat for this species
Crabs are its main predators, crushing the shell to get at the occupant. Since the snails’ main defence mechanism is to withdraw into their shells, they urgently need to evolve a new tactic
The empty shell of this sea species is often used by hermit crabs
In 1965 the state of North Carolina made the Scotch bonnet its official state shell, in honor of the Scottish settlers who founded the state

The ridge on my shell, below, may be somewhat unusual. I haven’t found any images showing such a very distinct dorsal growth, though many show a sort of fault line there. STOP PRESS shell expert Colin Redfern explains: “The dorsal ridge on your shell is a varix, indicating a previous position of the outer lip during the growth process. Varices on Scotch Bonnets are usually thicker (as in the image above).”

dear wiki: how kind to help

CASSIS RUFA (Cypraecassis rufa)

There are many different sorts of Phalium worldwide. By way of comparison, here is another type, Cassis Rufa, from the Pacific (commonly, east Africa to New Guinea). It’s colloquially known as a Bullmouth, Red Mouth or Grinning Mouth Helmet – and also as a ‘Cameo Shell’, because it is often used for making cameos (see eBay for examples)

[rh provenance / historical note: it’s not an area I’ve ever been to, nor am I likely to go. This shell was collected by my late father-in-law when he oversaw the building of the original Gan airstrip on Addu Atoll (Maldives) in… in…. many years ago, as a naval project. It is now ‘Gan International Airport’ and sells giant Toblerone & ‘Parfum de Jordan’ from the Katie Price ‘Scentsless’ range]

ABACO WHALES AND DOLPHINS – BMMRO NEWSLETTER OCT 2011

October 21, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

BAHAMAS MARINE MAMMAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2011

The BMMRO’s fully illustrated Fall Newsletter has just been published. The newletter is as always an eclectic mix of cetacean-centric material, with a headline article about the summer whale poop project. I have lived my life and had a professional career of sorts without once giving the remotest thought to whale poop, yet here I am immersed in the stuff yet again… But there’s plenty more besides that. The newsletter gives you an overview of the current work of the BMMRO and articles including the following:

A stranded Fin whale on the Berry Islands
News of the Irene effect at Whale HQ in Sandy Point
An Orca sighted off Eleuthera
Education program update
A quarterly chart of the summer whale and dolphin sightings – 82 reports for 10 species.

Thanks as ever to Charlotte Dunn for permission to link to BMMRO material. To see the newsletter CLICK LINK===>>> BMMRO newsletter Oct 2011

To visit the informative BMMRO website CLICK LOGO===>>> Supplementary info: without going into details of the consistency of the output etc, I’ve just found the suggestion online that whales can excrete 3% of their body weight in a day. And a large whale weighs..? Mind where you swim

ABACO BONEFISHING Pt 1: A NON-ANGLER’S SKIFF-VIEW – WHAT, HOW, WHERE & WHY?

October 19, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

BE NATURAL (YET SHARP) ON THE FLATS – PART 1

WHAT, HOW, WHERE AND WHY?

It’s 7.15 and breakfast time at Delphi. At 8.00 the trucks, skiffs, guides and fishers will set off to the fishing grounds for the day, leaving you with an empty beach, shells, warm sea, the pool, the hammock and your book. For the moment, the talk is of the excellent ‘Full Abaco’ breakfast, the weather, ‘Delphi daddies’ & ‘crazy charlies’ and someone’s mislaid reel. Sandy enters to announce that there’s a place free on your partner’s skiff… and offers it to you. So what should you, a non-angler, expect of a day out on the flats?

THE SKIFFS These are top-of-the range boats, capable of considerable speed getting out to the fishing grounds. The ride can be bumpy, splashy and even chilly in the early morning, so bring a fleece and a waterproof top. Camera? Essential. Here is a Delphi skiff on a sand bar in Cherokee Sound, parked for lunch and some quality conch and sand-dollar hunting. So for a start, the day isn’t ALL about fishing…

THE FISHING GROUNDS You will leave from one of three launch points and speed across the water to the bonefishing areas. The main one is “Nettie’s”, with access via a narrow man-made channel to the Marls…

… more than two hundred square miles of mangrove swamp, islets, channels and fish. The journey to Nettie’s may seem quite a long way as you bump along through the pine forest on a network of logging tracks. Watch out for small birds flickering all around as you pass.

———————————

Launching a skiff at Nettie’s

Plans are hatchedGood to go…

Stowing gear in the front (forrard?) locker. There’s also one behind the seats for the lunch cool boxes. And the fuel…

The other two launch areas are Crossing Rocks (a short drive south of DCB) or Casuarina Point for Cherokee Sound (a slightly longer drive north of DCB)

The jetty at Crossing Rocks – skiffs being prepared

The launch point at Casuarina. A channel leads out to Cherokee Sound

Two boats in the channel – the authentic James Bond chase experience

WHAT’S THE POINT? Bonefishing! You’ve heard all the Club talk, you’ve seen your partner fussing over all those bits and pieces in your room: now see it in action. Once you get out to a fishing area, the guide cuts the engine… and suddenly you are being poled very slowly and almost noiselessly across the shallow flats

The guide stands on the platform at the back of the skiff, using the advantage of height to scan the shallow water; the fisher stands at the front looking tensely for grey shadows underwater, waiting for the magic words…

“…hey, bonefish, 10 o’clock, 4 of them moving right, 30 feet… see them?”

And it’s ‘game on’. This isn’t the place for a discourse about casting technique and style – I have neither (Sandy, of me: “Muppet”) – but I promise that you will get completely caught up in the excitement when a fish takes the fly and takes off towards the horizon, stripping the line and backing from the reel… (I realise the image above may suggest… well he’s just fishing, OK?)

THE QUARRY – grey ghosts below water, bars of silver above. Caught on the ‘fly’ which are in fact shrimp or crab imitations, with barbless hooks to make the chance of losing a fish that much greater… This ensures that a boated fish can be returned to the water as easily and quickly as possible. It’s all ‘catch and release’, though some (me) find that mostly the fish very sensibly self-release long before they ever reach the boat…

Abaco bonefish off Crossing Rocks (just caught and released)Guide Ishi with Abaco bonefish caught on the MarlsGuide Robin Albury removes the barbless hook before returning the fishA good specimen‘Ishi’s Fishy’, as he would say

There is even the possibility that at some stage you may unexpectedly be handed a rod (even if you have never held one before, or wanted to) with ‘fish on’… Here, Robin has hooked a 2.5 lb fish and handed the rod to Mrs RH (then engrossed in eating a cheese roll) who successfully played and brought in her first ever fish…

PART 2 will deal with what else goes on during the day: the scenery, birdlife, sharks, turtles, blue holes and so forth. For now, here is a short clip of the skiff ride out to the Marls, to give you an idea. NB this was a very calm day – things can get a little bumpier and wetter at times. The seats are padded, but not very…

[Ultra-cautious music credit to Joe Satriani who sued Coldplay for alleged tune ‘borrowing’ saying “I felt like a dagger went right through my heart. It hurt so much”. Case dismissed + unspecified settlement… Way to go, Joe! Want to check? Cut ‘n’ paste this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjB024bZoB4&feature=fvwrel Then by way of counterbalance try John Lennon’s Imagine vs Coldplay’s ‘Fix you’ at (cut ‘n’ paste) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DksjpsAe3vk&feature=endscreen&NR=1]

CLICK LOGO for the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust

STINGRAY AT FOWL CAY MARINE PRESERVE ABACO

October 8, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

A while ago, I posted stills from a reef-snorkelling video – my first ever underwater video attempt, and indeed my first snorkel for about 40 years CLICK===>>> REEF FISH I started with a stingray, producing some rather… ok, very… modest results, but it was at least identifiable if you looked carefully and felt benign.

I’ve learned a few tricks since then. Here is the whole clip, still hopeless in most respects but there’s something quite cute about the creature. Mercifully it is only 37 seconds long. I reserve the right to delete this post when I realise no one has actually watched it! [LATER: Oh! I find a few hardy souls have done so. It’s a democratic vote for the ray to stay, as I see it]

[Belated credit to the fairly litigious Joe Satriani (see JS v Coldplay 2009) for borrowing the intro to one of his songs. It’s a non-commercial tribute, Joe]

ABACO – WHALE & DOLPHIN SIGHTINGS SEPTEMBER 2011

October 4, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

Click logo!

The BMMRO has just posted its sightings chart for September 2011. There are more sightings than in August (when the boats didn’t go out, and Irene interposed herself somewhat assertively). I am not sure that the research boats went out much last month, but Bahamas-wise there were clearly a few more reports of sightings, including another Fin whale. Here is the chart:-

WHALES & DOLPHINS ABACO: BMMRO BLOG – the Irene effects

October 3, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

Click logo!

Charlotte Dunn has posted a report of events at Sandy Point in August on the BBMRO site. Her account includes photos of Hurricane Irene as it passed over Sandy Point, and of some of the damage in the aftermath

For the direct link to Charlotte’s blog CLICK DOLPHIN ===>>>

Hurricane Irene on its way towards Abaco, directly in its path …Image credit BMMRO

BMMRO WHALE & DOLPHIN NEWSLETTER JULY 2011: 1st BAHAMAS FIN WHALE SIGHTING, ABACO

September 15, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

Click logo!

BAHAMAS MARINE MAMMAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION NEWSLETTER JULY 2011

The BMMRO, based at Sandy Point, Abaco, has published its latest newsletter: 4 pages of lavishly illustrated news and info about recent research and other cetacean-related matters. Thanks as ever to Charlotte Dunn for permission to link to / use material from the BMMRO website. To see the newsletter CLICK LINK===>>> BMMRO Newsletter_Jul11

If you want to immerse yourself in the extremely interesting details of past and ongoing research, with wonderful whale and dolphin photos and past sightings and stranding details, go to the main BMMRO website CLICK LOGO===>>>

BEACHCOMBING ON THE DELPHI BEACH, ABACO (PT 2): BIVALVES

September 6, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

This is Part 2 of the ‘Delphi Beachcombing’ feature. The first dealt mainly with gastropods, and now I have got round to some bivalves. All the shells illustrated come from somewhere within half a mile of the Delphi Club beach steps, except for the sunrise tellin. We gave ours to our granddaughter (5) [she likes pink, but also mud] and it has… somehow come apart.

EGG COCKLES Unlike the vast majority of cockle types which have the familiar radial ribs, egg cockles are smooth and non-ribbed. They are apparently able to jump by flexing what passes for their leg – a feat I would enjoy seeing…

GAUDY ASAPHIS Asaphis Deflorata (formerly ID’d as COQUINA Donax)

TIGER LUCINE Codakia orbicularis (formerly ID’d as ELEGANT DOSINIA Dosinia Elegans)

SCALLOP / PECTEN This is not a ravenelli, as previously suggested by me – they are deep water molluscs. It’s hard to be sure exactly what species it is, in such a bleached state.The tiny shell half is surely the basis for the symbol of a petro-chemical giant that I decline to identify further. I thought this one was broken but a check shows that the asymmetry of the hinge is very common. Encrustation by worms, as here, is often found as well, but I wisely draw no parallel with the litigious petrochemical industry…

SUNRISE TELLIN (Tellina Radiata) Tellins are a genus with masses of variants worldwide. This species is common in the Caribbean. It is a really pretty shell, glossy with pink radials. They grow up to 7cms. As hinted above, if you find a complete one, the hinge is delicate. The most interesting fact I have discovered is that “in most countries it is illegal to bring back these shells from holidays” Whoops!

A FEW SAND DOLLARS MORE (images and videos)

August 15, 2011 by Rolling Harbour

LIVING SAND DOLLAR ON ITS BACK – VIDEO

This video shows how the sand dollar is able to get around and to bury itself in the sand by using the hairs on its underside:

SAND DOLLAR IN A SPIN – TIME-LAPSE VIDEO

Another short time-lapse video of Sand Dollar manoeuvres lasting 15 – 25 minutes in real time, this time moving in circles before suddenly ‘zooming off’ into the distance…