Our first excursion after arriving in Adelaide was to Victor Harbor – about 80 km (~50 miles) south on the coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula – to dive at Rapid Bay Jetty. This site comprises an older, longer wooden jetty (now closed to the public) and a shorter jetty that was recently built following campaigning by the local diving and angling community (See http://www.rapidbayjetty.org).
Rapid Bay Jetty
Why? Well for divers this is one the best places in the world to see the leafy seadragon (Phycodurus eques)!
When we descended under the new jetty, we saw large areas of a seagrass (marine flowering plant) called Amphibolis antarctica as well as other seagrasses (Zosteraspp.) and various brown and red algae. It was there, at a depth of about 15 feet, that I saw my first leafy seadragon!
Leafy seadragon (Phycodurus eques) at Rapid Bay Jetty.
Over two dives, I saw nearly a dozen of them. What an incredible site to see leafy seadragons in their natural South Australian habitat. These fish are experts at camouflage, so they are difficult to find if you don’t know they’re there.
Art of Deception: Two leafy seadragons (Phycodurus eques) blending into the seagrass at Rapid Bay Jetty.
Camouflage Kings: Can you spot the leafy seadragon?
The seadragons were so interesting to observe (check out the videos below). They drifted along edges of the seagrass and algae, poking their snouts inside as if looking for food. It was nice watch them up close; they didn’t seem to mind our presence.
Me with two leafy seadragons. I'm pretty excited.
The lush pilons of the old jetty were also home to many other species, some that I’d never seen before. It was almost overwhelming but also exhilarating to see so much diversity.
A leatherjacket at Rapid Bay Jetty.
Beautiful nudibranch (Ceratosoma brevicaudatum) on sponge at Rapid Bay Jetty piling.
Old Wife (Enoplosus armatus) at Rapid Bay Jetty.
Truncate coralfish (Chelmonops truncatus) near piling at Rapid Bay Jetty.
Tunicate (Clavina sp.) on piling
These were the final dives of our research trip. They were beyond compare and a great way to end this amazing journey.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography professor Greg Rouse and I parted ways in Adelaide, but we’ll regroup back in San Diego to continue our efforts to breed seadragons at Birch Aquarium at Scripps.
As for me, I couldn’t pass up the chance to see the Great Barrier Reef. I’m taking some personal time to dive in the world’s largest coral reef system. I can’t wait.
See you back in the States!
A beautiful rainbow leaving Rapid Bay to end our awesome day.
I’m happy to report that our second trip to Flinder’s Jetty was a success!
If you recall, we were greeted with murky water during our first attempt to dive at the Jetty, a well known site for weedy seadragons. Strong northernly winds didn’t make us feel optimistic about our second try, but we were happy to find decent diving conditions when we arrived.
Flinder's Jetty
We were not disappointed; we saw 25-30 seadragons here! It was incredibly exciting to see so many of them. There were little clouds of mysids shrimp (a main seadragon food source) over the sand patches in between sea grass and algae beds. I even got to see a few weedy seadragons feeding.
A weedy seadragon at Flinder's Jetty.
Weedy seadragon blending in with the algae at Flinder's Jetty.
Toothbrush leatherjackets (Acanthaluteres spilomelanurus) at Flinder's Jetty.
Ornate Cowfish (Aracana ornata) at Flinder's Jetty (photo by Greg Rouse).
Morwong called a Magpie Perch (Cheilodactylus nigripes) at Flinder's Jetty.
Anemones on Flinder's Jetty piling (photo by Greg Rouse).
After our dive we drove to the Melbourne Aquarium and met exhibit manager Alison Edmunds, who has successfully raised baby weedy seadragons for several years. I was eager to see how she has achieved this remarkable accomplishment. The aquarium has raised more than 60 weedy seadragons juveniles this year.
Entrance to the Melbourne Aquarium.
Close-up of the seadragon exhibit at the Melbourne Aquarium.
Seadragon exhibit at the Melbourne Aquarium. Graphic highlights 2012 as the Chinese Year of the Dragon.
Alison Edmunds, exhibit manager of the Melbourne Aquarium, showing me her seadragon exhibit.
Next up, we fly to Adelaide in search of the amazing leafy seadragons!
Each day I’m in Australia, I realize just how important this trip is for Birch Aquarium at Scripps and for me, personally.
Our aquarists have learned a great deal about caring for seadragons over the past several years, but nothing can compare to the experience of seeing the animals in their natural habitat.
Observing seadragons in the wild will help our staff determine how to best showcase these animals at Birch Aquarium and how to design our seadragon propagation facility. If we can make these fish feel comfortable, they will be healthy and thrive.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography professor Greg Rouse and research associate Nerida Wilson have been a great resource. They have experience diving with seadragons throughout Southern Australia and have provided vital information to help us better understand seadragon natural history, behavior, and habitats.
A map of where we're diving in Melbourne.
In Australia, our team is also meeting with colleagues who are successfully working with seadragons. We’ve met with our friends at Sydney Aquarium and will be soon visiting Melbourne Aquarium, whose aquarists are already working on seadragon breeding.
A highlight of this trip was meeting Pang Quong, a collector who supplies seadragons to most U.S. aquariums, including Birch Aquarium at Scripps. Pang is an avid diver and has spent 40 years diving with seadragons in the wild on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne. He took our team to the best weedy seadragon dive spots and showed us his home aquarium where he raises baby seadragons.
Pang is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to seadragons and had so much to share about them. His husbandry techniques will help us improve the health and well being of our seadragons at the aquarium.
Collector Pang Quong points out prime weedy seadragon dive spots along the coast.
On Friday, Scripps Institution of Oceanography professor Greg Rouse and I had the great opportunity to meet Sydney Aquarium head aquarist Amy Wilkes. She gave us a tour of their incredible aquarium (they have a very interesting platypus exhibit) and showed us the behind-the-scenes set-up of their weedy seadragon exhibit.
Greg Rouse speaks with Sydney Aquarium head aquarist Amy Wilkes behind the scenes at the aquarium's weedy seadragon exhibit.
Visitors look at the weedy seadragon exhibit at Sydney Aquarium.
A weedy seadragon on exhibit at Sydney Aquarium.
We traveled south to Melbourne the next day and were hoping to dive at Flinder’s Jetty – a well-known site for weedy seadragons – only to find the water like pea soup. A local diver told us it was the most turbid it had been all year, owing to high winds and a huge swell coming into the mouth of the bay.
We decided to try another dive site at Portsea Pier. Visibility was a bit better but still very murky and surgy. Despite the conditions, we saw three weedy seadragons. Check out the video below to see how strong the surge was.
Despite the poor visibility, we spotted a weedy seadragon at Portsea Pier.
That afternoon we dove at Rye Pier. Weedy seadragons are not common here but the visibility was much better. We saw porcupine fish (Diodon nicthemerus) and many pot-bellied seahorses (Hippocampus abdominalis). The growth on the pier pilings was amazingly lush and colorful!
A pot-bellied seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis) at Rye Pier.
A porcupine fish (Diodon nicthemerus) at Rye Pier.
Our group of divers underneath Portsea Pier
Lush growth on a piling of Rye Pier.
We’ll be heading back to Flinder’s Jetty in the next few days. Hopefully dive conditions will be better!
Scripps Institution of Oceanography professor Greg Rouse and I arrived in Sydney on April 25 to a very windy day. We met up with Nerida Wilson, a research scientist at the Australian Museum who’s also a Scripps research associate. Nerida has been studying seadragon biology with Greg for several years and is also part of our seadragon research team.
Greg Rouse and I preparing to dive in Botany Bay, Sydney.
Nerida Wilson and I, pre-dive at Botany Bay, Sydney. Brrr, it's cold.
The blustery conditions didn’t stop us from diving into choppy Botany Bay to seek out the weedy seadragons. No luck on that first dive, but the following day I saw my first weedy seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) in the wild! It was one of the largest weedy seadragons I’d ever seen; I was so excited.
My first weedy seadragon in the wild (Botany Bay, Sydney)!
I was also intrigued by the other marine life such as the giant Australian cuttlefish (Specia apama). A curious eastern blue groper (Achoerodus viridis) followed us during the entire dive. We even saw a green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas)!
Look at that face! A giant cuttlefish in Botany Bay, Sydney.
Who are you?: This Eastern blue groper followed us during our dive in Botany Bay, Sydney.
Green sea turtle in Botany Bay, Sydney.
Leafy seadragons do not occur in Sydney, so we need to wait until we dive in Adelaide to catch a glimpse of them. However, next up is a trip to the Sydney Aquarium to visit with an aquarist who takes care of their weedy seadragon exhibit.
Scripps Ph.D. candidate Noelle Bowlin teaches students about the diversity of fishes. Photo Credit Lara Dickens
By Catie Fyfe, community connections coordinator
When the lights go out and the public leaves, the fish usually have Birch Aquarium at Scripps to themselves. That wasn’t the case earlier this month when 40 middle school girls had the rare opportunity to sleep over. But these seventh and eighth graders did more than just check out the sleepy marine life.
The students are part of the San Diego Science Alliance’s Better Education for Women in Science & Engineering – or BE WiSE – program. The program aims to stimulate and support young women’s interest in science, technology, engineering, and math by connecting them with science professionals in special out-of-class activities.
Birch Aquarium and Scripps Institution of Oceanography have participated in the program since 2000. Our staff and students take pride in helping to inspire the next generation of ocean scientists. Over the last 12 years the BE WiSE program has reached more than 500 girls from San Diego County!
The sleepover at Birch Aquarium was part of the program’s Inspired by Nature Series, which features researchers and hands-on experiences from Scripps Oceanography, Hubbs Sea World Research Institute, and San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research.
BE WiSE participants complete a dog genetic activity. Photo credit Lara Dickens
Throughout the night, participants met with graduate student researchers, learned what it takes to be an oceanographer and marine biologist, and got their hands wet with experiments and live animals. Aquarium educator Dr. Stephanie Schroeder delivered the keynote presentation, titled “The Limpet Circus,” featuring her research on the owl limpet. Other activities included studying a diversity of preserved fishes,exploring the science behind ocean acidification, and learning about pressure in deep-sea environments.
Special guests Drs. Cassondra Williams of Scripps Oceanography and Bridgett von Holdt of UC Irvine shared their fascinating research on dog genetics to help students understand how genes work together, particularly in our familiar dog species.
The night concluded with a movie viewing of “Happy Feet 2″ next to the two-story kelp forest tank. The giant sea bass seemed to enjoy it, too!
Special thanks to Scripps Ph.D. candidates Grant Gallant, Noelle Bowlin, Phil Bresnahan, Makaila Lashomb, Yui Takeshita, Alexis Pasulka, and Rosa Leon-Zayas for their participation.
We often hear comments like this from visitors standing in front of our seadragon tanks. These remarkable fish – relatives of seahorses – are beautifully colored with leaf-shaped appendages that help them blend into their native Australian waters.
But many aspects of seadragon biology, including their secretive mating behavior, are unknown. To date, no one has ever observed the breeding interaction between males and females of either leafy or weedy seadragons, the only two seadragon species.
This week, I have the incredibly opportunity of traveling “down under” to study these animals in the wild. I am joining Scripps Institution of Oceanography professor Greg Rouse, who has researched seadragons for many years. We will be diving in known seadragon habitats in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide and will also visit our friends at Melbourne Aquarium, arguably the world’s experts on weedy seadragons.
Greg and I will apply everything we learn into efforts to breed seadragons here at Birch Aquarium at Scripps. With the support of a $300,000 grant from the Lowe Family Foundation, the aquarium is aiming to launch one of the world’s first seadragon breeding programs (you may have read about us in this recent Washington Post article, “Farming Aquarium Species to Save Them”).
Leslee Matsushige, Birch Aquarium at Scripps co-curator, works in aquarium's seahorse nursery.
Birch Aquarium is a perfect fit for this program. Over the past 17 years, we’ve raised 12 species of seahorses and shipped more than 3,000 specimens to aquariums and zoos worldwide through our successful Seahorse Propagation Program.
But we want to do more.
I’ll be posting photos and videos during my trip. I hope you check back to see what we’re experiencing in Australia.
In the meantime, check out this video below about Greg Rouse’s seadragon research in the e-explorations article, Flight of the Dragons.
Once again, it’s time to bid farewell to the gray whales; Birch Aquarium at Scripps’ 2011-12 whale watching season has drawn to a close. We are pleased with the season’s success; more than 500 baleen whales were spotted in the past three-and-a-half months.
Our passengers – along with aquarium naturalists, volunteers, and the Flagship Cruises crew – were treated to a number of marine marvels: whale breaches, spy hopping, cow/calf pairs, and even mating gray whales, to name a few. Dolphin acrobatics entertained nearly every cruise, and our crew spotted several “mega-pod” sightings throughout the season.
Sightings By the Numbers
Migrating gray whales: 473
Fin whales: 54
Humpback whales: 13
Minke whales: 3
Common dolphins (approx.): 10,000+
Pacific white-sided dolphins (approx.): 710
Bottlenose dolphins (approx.): 310
Risso’s dolphins (approx.): 265
Most baleen whales seen in one day: 16
Total cruises: 194
Aquarium naturalists: 7
Volunteers: 52
Percentage of fun had on the boats: 100%!
We’ve loved every minute of these amazing animal encounters and truly enjoyed sharing the experience with our guests. We met locals who’d never seen a gray whale up close as well as tourists from all over the world who came to San Diego to witness this awesome migration. Each guest brought his/her unique perspective, yet the experience seemed to thrill each of them the same.
Whether you’re a whale-watching regular or a newbie, we invite you to join us on the sea next season. The fun will begin again on Dec. 26, 2012!
The fin whale is the second largest animal on earth, behind the blue whale.
In the past few weeks, we’ve seen a few whale species other than grays off San Diego.
A favorite is the fin whale. The second largest animal on our planet today (averaging 79 feet long), these whales are quite a sight to see. Fins are nicknamed “greyhounds of the sea” and for good reason. They can travel at speeds of 25 knots – more than 28 miles per hour.
The fin whale has a few other defining characteristics, namely their prominent dorsal fin and asymmetrical coloration. Their dorsal fin is falcate, or curved, and the coloration of their jaws is irregular – one side is white and the other is black. This may play a role in feeding behavior; when lunging at their prey, the whales often come in at an angle. It’s possible the white side of their mouth is disorienting to prey, causing the fish to swim into the whales’ mouth.
Fin whales are not known to be as migratory as gray whales, which travel 10,000 miles roundtrip each year between their feeding and breeding grounds. Fins have a fairly large latitudinal range, and this expansive foraging area makes their movement harder for scientists to interpret and decipher. Still, no one can disagree that they are an amazing animal to see in the ocean.
Humpback breaching off San Diego. Photo by momof3sharkkids (via Flickr)
Another species we see this time of year is the humpback. Up to 56 feet long, humpbacks are a bit larger than gray whales. They do not have a distinct dorsal fin, but instead have a small, rounded dorsal hump. These whales are highly migratory and travel in a similar pattern to gray whales. During our summer months, humpbacks feed in northern latitudes then travel southward toward tropical waters to mate and give birth.We typically see them toward the end of the gray whale migration.
Cetaceans in any shape or size are always a welcome sight aboard the Marietta. You never know what will show up when you’re onboard with us!
Whale Watching cruises led by Birch Aquarium naturalists end April 15. Learn more and download a coupon for up to $30 off here.
Senator Christine Kehoe (right) congratulates Catie Fyfe and Charina Layman of Birch Aquarium at Scripps.
Birch Aquarium’s efforts to be sustainable and to teach the community about sustainable living garnered special recognition yesterday. The California Center for Sustainable Energy honored the aquarium with its Sustainable Community Leadership award during the Center’s eighth annual Energy All-Star Award Ceremony.
The award acknowledged the aquarium for its outstanding achievements in environmental issues and education. At the ceremony, a total of eight awards were presented to organizations and individuals in Southern California in categories ranging from commercial and residential building projects to sustainable transportation.
“These award recipients are truly furthering the goals of sustainable energy, each in their own way, by making significant contributions to reducing energy use, adopting renewable energy technologies, and using green building technologies,” said Andrew McAllister, CCSE managing director. “Their leadership stands as exemplary models of how California leads the nation in our conversion to a clean energy future.”
Birch Aquarium was recognized for its role in promoting sustainable practices with the creation of relevant scientific exhibits and educational programming. This included the Boundless Energy exhibit, Birch Aquarium’s outdoor exhibit that explores the ways renewable energy can power our lives. The aquarium was also lauded for its sustainability-themed SEA Days and Energy Challenge school programs.
The award said: “The Aquarium is a respected source of relevant earth science for the community of Southern California. Birch has led the way in creating exhibits and programs that interpret the science of the sometimes overwhelming environmental issues facing our communities today.”
Congrats to the aquarium’s hardworking staff and volunteers!
The California Center for Sustainable Energy is an independent, nonprofit organization that provides a wide range of services that help people adopt greener practices and save energy and money through rebates, technical assistance, and public education.
