PREHENSILE TALES FROM THE REEF (2): HIPPOCAMPI

October 25, 2016 by Rolling Harbour

PREHENSILE TALES FROM THE REEF (2): HIPPOCAMPI

It is a statistical fact that no one in the world – not even the meanest despot or cruellest tyrant – fails to love seahorses. It would be fair to add that in certain parts of the world, some people love them too much. In more than 65 countries. To the tune of an estimated 150 million a year that are used in the ‘traditional medicine’ trade. An attrition rate that is unsustainable in the long or even the medium term – with the bleak consequence that it won’t be long before people must look elsewhere for their source for Genital Tonic Pills.

Medicinal use – of empirically vague benefit to its enthusiasts – is joined by the aquarium trade in accounting for the removal of very large numbers of seahorses from their accustomed surroundings. At least these creatures live on (rather than being dried out alive), though research suggests that the survival rate of seahorses in captivity is low.

Do you sometimes hanker for a plastic brooch or paperweight with a tiny seahorse embalmed inside it? It would be good to resist the temptation to buy such things in seaside shops or online. Your little specimen will be one of a million or so souvenir seahorses sold each year, alongside seashells, starfish, sponges and (protected) corals.

As you contemplate your purchase, you may be reassured to find that the product is labelled ‘environmentally friendly’, ‘responsibly sourced’ or ‘from a sustainable source’. You can make up your own: ‘lovingly harvested from the bluest oceans’, maybe. In the words of the SEAHORSE TRUST:

“Nothing could be further from the truth; there is nothing sustainable about this exploitation of the seas. You can make change by not buying them. If there was no market there would be no trade.”

USES FOR SEAHORSES: MEDICINE OR (WITH SCORPIONS) STREET FOOD

SEAHORSES: PREHENSILE TALES FROM THE REEF

August 12, 2016 by Rolling Harbour

SEAHORSES: PREHENSILE TALES FROM THE REEF

It’s a year since I last posted about these amazing little creatures, seahorses. I featured a number of photos by Melinda Riger, a couple of videos, some useful facts about them, and for some reason some useless facts that I came across in researching the post. You can chase it down here: SEAHORSES 1

Adam Rees of SCUBA WORKS is another diver, like Melinda, who combines great underwater experience with wonderful photographic skills. This posts showcases some of Adam’s seahorse photography, and if it doesn’t want to make you explore the reefs, I can’t think what will…

Seahorse (Adam Rees / Scuba Works)

Seahorse Range Map Map: Seahorse range (Nat Geo)

Seahorse (Adam Rees / Scuba Works)

shlifecycle-e1313548153493

Seahorse (Adam Rees / Scuba Works)

Seahorse by Alex Konahin

All phantastic photos: Adam Rees / Scuba Works; Range Map, Nat Geo; Lifecycle diagram, Seahorserun; Seahorse GIF, Alex Konahin

WTF? (WHAT’S THAT FISH) (10): FLYING GURNARD

July 7, 2016 by Rolling Harbour

WTF? (WHAT’S THAT FISH) 10: FLYING GURNARD

Imagine that you are swimming along resplendent in your snorkelling gear (me) – or in scuba gear for the advanced swimmer (you). There, below you, camouflaged against the sea bottom is a fish. A strange-shaped brown sort of creature with odd side fins. As it progresses over the gravelly sand, your immediate reaction is ‘what the…?’ Its fins seem to be turning into… wings. Like this:

Flying Gurnard (Adam Rees / Scuba Works)

Yes, it’s a flying gurnard. Unlike flying fish, it can’t actually fly through the air. But once its wings are fully spread, it certainly looks as though it could.

Flying Gurnard (Adam Rees / Scuba Works)

WHAT’S THE POINT OF THE WINGS IF THE THING CAN’T FLY?

This gurnard species usually gets around using its ventral fins as ‘legs’, with the pectoral fins (‘wings’) close to the body. There seem to be several possible reasons for possessing the ‘sudden-deployment-of-flashy-wings’ superpower.

It surprises and deters predators by movement, turning prospective prey into an apparently different creature
Bright or lurid colouring may be a deterrent warning of a foul-tasting or poisonous species (APOSEMATISM)
A creature may actually be harmless and even tasty (as here) but may appear to be unpalateable or poisonous (BATESIAN MIMICRY)
In any event, the wings enable the fish to take off from the sea bottom and travel faster by ‘flying’ thought the water to escape a predator

Dactylopterus_volitans Flying Gurnard (cralize wiki)

I had a quick look to see how scientists in history had depicted this extraordinary fish. The earliest illustration I could find was taken from “Allgemeine Naturgeschichte der Fische (General natural history of fishes),” a 12-volume encyclopedia by author/illustrator Marcus Elieser Bloch (1723-1799), which described all fish species then known to science (and 267 previously unknown) (© AMNH\D. Finnin) sourced from ‘Hyperallergic’
Flying Gurnard

Here’s a short video of a flying gurnard on the move, from ‘Sia Big Fish’

Credits: All main images Adam Rees / Scuba Works with many thanks, except final one ‘cralize wiki’; Hyperallergic for the historic image; Sia Big Fish for the video