Updates & Miscellaneous Features:Stingray & Buddy,
Hunting For Lunch
During our dive at Columbia Deep we spotted a bar jack hovering over a medium size, about 4-foot wide, southern stingray. That's typical behavior for a bar jack, so named because of the blue bar running down their dorsal area. They have learned their patience will be rewarded with scraps from whatever meal the stingray uncovers as it forages in the sandy bottom.
I switched my SeaLife 1000 to video mode and managed to get some good footage as the ray stayed with us. Their typical behavior is to bolt when interrupted by divers. The ray's stinger can be plainly seen at the base of the tail, not the tip as some believe. Click on:
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Wild & Wacky Department
This funny video has nothing to do with sea life, but the voice-overs applied to animal behavior will make you laugh:
Animal Humor
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Lionfish Update:
Last month we highlighted the lionfish situation in Cozumel, but the uninvited pests are invading the Atlantic seaboard as well as the Caribbean.
Floridians are aggressively trying to eat their way out of trouble.
Check out this story:
Lionfish Problem? Florida Bites Back!
Complimenting the above story is the perfect post-Christmas gift for your favorite chef, a Lionfish Cookbook. Click here for details:
Perfect Gift For A Seafood Chef
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Sea Shepherd Update
Captain Paul Watson and his intrepid crew are currently in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary dueling with Japanese whalers.
In his newsletter Captain Watson writes:
"We are on their tail! Thanks to our direct action interventions, no whales have been killed this season in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary!
At this moment, we are engaged in a showdown between life and death, good and evil, greed and compassion. It is a battle we must and will win! Direct action makes the difference for these gentle giants, but your support makes it possible for us to be the most effective marine protection organization in the world today."
One of Watson's three vessels,The Gojira, has located the fuel and supply vessel for the Japanese whaling fleet. The Sea Shepherds intend to keep this ship from delivering fuel and supplies to the harpoon boats and the factory ship.
For more on this action, click on:
Neptune's Navy Intercepts Japanese Whalers
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Art Goes Deep
Artist Jason de Caires Taylor
creates life-size cement sculptures of people and submerges them. Eventually, the sculptures become part of the underwater landscape and become artificial reefs, hosting a vide variety of marine life. He has been busy off the coast of South America . . .
Underwater Art
. . . and also in Cancun, Mexico
Deep Art In Cancun
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www.cozumelisparadise.com
A fun divesite, where you can rent a beachfront condo, view great dive photos, and more!
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GUEST LINKS
Check out Sea Turtle Charters!
If the East-end of Long Island NY is within reach, consider diving with Sea Turtle Charters. Captain Chuck Wade offers Block Island diving, caged shark diving off Montauk, and more. I did it & loved it! A great day on the water with not too many divers, i.e., not a "cattle-boat!"
I took this shot of a large mako circling our cage on a Sea Turtle cruise:
For more information, click:
Sea-Turtle Dive Charters
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The Global Coral Reef Alliance is a small, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to growing, protecting and managing the most threatened of all marine ecosystems-coral reefs.
Click the link below to find out all they do for the preservation and development of coral reefs.
Next month's Sea-gram will feature the Global Coral Reef Alliance in more depth (pardon the pun) in
Conservation Corner.
Global Coral Reef Alliance
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Available Link! Post a link to your web site here!
E-mail paul@paulmila.com for details.
