Salps, Pelagic Tunicates, Cyclosalpa Affinis
Photos of Salps, Pelagic Tunicates, Plankton
This summer I’ve been fortunate to get out on the ocean a few times, and each time we have seen an incredible abundance of pelagic tunicates, in particular the species Cyclosalpa affinis. These open ocean planktonic animals largely drift with ocean currents, although they do have the ability to pump water through their bodies and propel themselves to a certain degree. Typically, the salps that I have seen are in some colonial form, either in rings or in chains of rings. Sometimes an individual salp is observed reproducing, producing a much smaller chain of miniature salps. A few of my salp photos were shot some years ago on SCUBA, but most of the ones on my website now were made freediving (snorkling, breathholding diving) so you can see they are often quite shallow. Salps will often be at or near the ocean surface at night or if the weather is overcast, and will sink 20′ or 30′ when the sun comes out.
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| Colonial planktonic pelagic tunicate, adrift in the open ocean, forms rings and chains as it drifts with ocean currents. Image ID: 26819 Species: Salp, Cyclosalpa affinis Location: San Diego, California, USA |
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| Salp (pelagic tunicate) reproduction, open ocean. Image ID: 01263 Species: Salp, Cyclosalpa affinis Location: San Diego, California, USA |
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| Freediver photographing pelagic gelatinous zooplankton, adrift in the open ocean. Image ID: 26818 Species: Salp, Cyclosalpa affinis Location: San Diego, California, USA |
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| Freediving photographer in a cloud of salps, gelatinous zooplankton that drifts with open ocean currents. Image ID: 27012 Location: San Diego, California, USA |
Pacific White-Sided Dolphin Photos
Pacific White-Sided Dolphin Photos
The first dolphins I ever photographed were Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens). This extremely fast moving species of dolphin often appears around San Diego in winter, but is normally found much further north ranging as far as Alaska and around to Japan. We would freedive in the open ocean and hope our presence interested the white-sided dolphins enough to swim by and investigate us. The first image I ever had that placed in a major photography competition (Nature’s Best, early 90s I think) was an image of a Pacific white-sided dolphin towing a piece of kelp. It would drop the kelp in front of me, wait for me swim toward it and then zoom by to take it again before I could reach it. Schooled by a dolphin … Psych! For those of you who have only used digital cameras: can you imagine trying to freeze the motion of a fast-swimming white-sided dolphin using ISO-64 in a relatively dimly lit underwater setting? That’s what we used to have to do. It was downright primitive.
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| Pacific white sided dolphin. Image ID: 00036 Species: Pacific white-sided dolphin, Lagenorhynchus obliquidens Location: San Diego, California, USA |
Giant Kelpfish, Master of Camouflage
View this blog entry in Google EarthLatitude: 32° 50' 49.66" N, Longitude: 118° 22' 48.72" W, Coord: 32.84713°, -118.3802°
Filed under: Underwater Life on 4/14/2011
One of my favorite California fishes is the giant kelpfish (Heterostichus rostratus). Giant kelpfish are camouflage masters, blending into the brown and green kelp blades perfectly. Many times I have found myself hovering over a clump of kelp for a few minutes, not aware of a giant kelpfish only a foot or two away from me until it began to swim. As long as they remain stationary in the kelp, swaying back and forth with the kelp, they are nearly invisible. Cool fish!
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| A giant kelpfish swims over a kelp-covered reef, mimicing the color and pattern of the kelp leaves perfectly, camoflage. Image ID: 25414 Species: Giant kelpfish, Heterostichus rostratus Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA |
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| Giant kelpfish in kelp. Image ID: 05142 Species: Giant kelpfish, Heterostichus rostratus, Macrocystis pyrifera Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA |
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| Giant kelpfish in kelp. Image ID: 05140 Species: Giant kelpfish, Heterostichus rostratus, Macrocystis pyrifera Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA |
Sea Fans and Gorgonians at San Clemente Island
View this blog entry in Google EarthLatitude: 32° 49' 25.49" N, Longitude: 118° 21' 14.39" W, Coord: 32.82375°, -118.354°
Filed under: California, Underwater Life on 6/2/2010
Photos of gorgonians and sea fans at San Clemente Island.
I spent three days diving at one of my favorite spots on Earth: San Clemente Island. The island, about 60 miles offshore of southern California, is home to some of the world’s most beautiful kelp forests. Swimming through these kelp forests is akin to flying through a forest of towering redwoods. Below the tall kelp plants are rocky reefs where gorgonians, also known as sea fans, anchor themselves. Gorgonians are filter feeders, and spread their long slender arms out into the currents where individual polyps will catch and eat organic debris and plankton that floats by in the current. I have a few favorite reefs at San Clemente Island where I know I will always find magnificent examples of gorgonians, several feet in diameter and exhibiting healthy polyps and rich colors. My goal on this trip was to shoot a few good images of the several species that are commonly found at San Clemente Island: red gorgonian (Lophogorgia chilensis), California golden gorgonian (Muricea californica), and brown gorgonian (Muricea fruticosa).
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| Red gorgonian on rocky reef, below kelp forest, underwater. The red gorgonian is a filter-feeding temperate colonial species that lives on the rocky bottom at depths between 50 to 200 feet deep. Gorgonians are oriented at right angles to prevailing water currents to capture plankton drifting by. Image ID: 25393 Species: Red gorgonian, Lophogorgia chilensis |
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| A large bryozoan cluster grows on a red gorgonian. Image ID: 25395 Species: Red gorgonian, Lophogorgia chilensis |
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| California golden gorgonian on rocky reef, underwater. Image ID: 25397 Species: California golden gorgonian, Muricea californica |
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| Brown gorgonians on rocky reef, below kelp forest, underwater. Image ID: 25398 Species: Brown gorgonian, Muricea fruticosa |
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| Red gorgonian. Image ID: 25394 Species: Red gorgonian, Lophogorgia chilensis |
A few photographic notes: these images were all shot with a 15mm fisheye lens and two submersible lights. Certain colors, suchs as reds, oranges and yellows, effectively disappear below about 10′ deep. Submersible lights are used to bring out the color and detail in these gorgonians, which in the available light would appear colorless and drab at these depths. The water in California tends to have particles floating in it and consequently is not as clear as water in the tropics. To minimize the degree to which poor water clarity adversely impacts the photograph, I get as close as possible to my subject. In these photos, my camera is only about 6-10 inches from the gorgonians, so a very wide lens is required in order to depict the entire sea fans. These images were taken at depths from about 45′ to 70′, all of them at the southern end of San Clemente Island. In all of them, the camera is pointed almost straight up toward the surface, so that some of the sunlight and kelp forest that rises above these gorgonians can be depicted. I hold my breath to make sure my bubbles don’t get in the photo.
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Updated: May 24, 2013
