Thursday, June 25, 2009

Tiny blue fish

Here is the side of a formation called 'spur and groove'.  When there is a lot of sand produced in an area, the sand moves deeper by wave action, surge, and gravity, down the slope in the grooves, and the coral heads, bommies, grow in lines perpendicular, or at right angles to the shore.     In Cane Bay, there are a series of these large coral formations, maybe ten of them.  This coral wall? is about twenty feet high, 7m, a two story building.  And the sloping sand here is about seventy feet deep at that anchor laying in the sand.  See the anchor?  lol.  Bottom left.  Sea isn't very clear here.

You can see our tiny fish in the lower right corner, behind that sponge hanging down.
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.Ah, they were really swirling around.  There's a tunnel of sorts through the coral to the other side, about thirty feet, 10m, and there has been a school of these tiny blue fish here for years and years.  The perfect environment for them, I guess.  I don't know of another place with a permanent school of these.

 
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.Lovely!  Like a wheat field blowing in a breeze. Or a school of fish swimming together.  Some scientists got some eggs from a schooling type of fish like these, and raised a bunch of fish isolated, each fish in its' own  tank of water.  When the fish were put together so they could follow their natural schooling instincts, they bumped into each other.  So they have to learn how to keep their perfect distances between individuals.
I'm either going to make a little movie, or a slide show.  I love watching these little fishies!
Oh, the fish are Anchovies, or Silversides, or Herrings, I can't seem to find an ID for them, as the book says they're really difficult to tell apart.  OK, LBF, Little Blue Fish.
Now back up to see a bright color, an Elliptical Star Coral, in about fifteen feet, 5m, depth. before, boooo, the end of the dive, and a return to ....  reality?

OK, all for now,  thanks for stopping by!
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3 comments:

  1. Fascinating lecture, beautiful pictures, thanks.

    "...scientists...raised a bunch of these tiny fish isolated...and when they were put together, they bumped into each other..."

    Oh how I'd love to bump into you (sigh).

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  2. Amazing! (from a land lubber)
    Love the analogy too about a blowing wheat field (I'm from the midwest).

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  3. The little blues remind me of the morning clouds we sometimes have here swirling around the valley and mountains. Love the shapes they made for your camera. When I visited the big aquarium in Atlanta, GA, I could have stayed and watched the schools of little fish for much longer than my family allowed. What neat stills you're capturing! Look forward to video if and when you do it.

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