As the weather finally gave us a break, I took the opportunity to do a dive on the last rock outcrop on the south side of the island.
It started with a magic moment with a congregation of black and white nudibranch, mating and laying eggs. They lay their eggs in a spiral, and more than 20 gathered on that one wall. How they find each other is a mystery. It looks like they liked a particular blue sponge.
I went down deeper, taking the opportunity of the very mild current that usually makes this spot hard to dive.
I reached 20 meters to find that most of the seafans and seawhips where bleaching.
Although temperature rises are usually what is blamed for the phenomenon, it can also come from various stresses, including viruses and coral disease.
I will monitor the process to find out more about it and if it is spreading.
There is nothing that we can do to prevent it, but we can monitor it’s evolution.
Another observation was the predation of oysters by another shell. I always wondered who on the reef is capable of opening those oysters.
There was on a good note a mini school of about 20 batfish, taking shelter under a pass that one can swim through. Usually closed and hidden from view due to bad visibility and current, this was a nice discovery when I though I combed the whole area by now.
It started with a magic moment with a congregation of black and white nudibranch, mating and laying eggs. They lay their eggs in a spiral, and more than 20 gathered on that one wall. How they find each other is a mystery. It looks like they liked a particular blue sponge.
I went down deeper, taking the opportunity of the very mild current that usually makes this spot hard to dive.
I reached 20 meters to find that most of the seafans and seawhips where bleaching.
Although temperature rises are usually what is blamed for the phenomenon, it can also come from various stresses, including viruses and coral disease.
I will monitor the process to find out more about it and if it is spreading.
There is nothing that we can do to prevent it, but we can monitor it’s evolution.
Another observation was the predation of oysters by another shell. I always wondered who on the reef is capable of opening those oysters.
There was on a good note a mini school of about 20 batfish, taking shelter under a pass that one can swim through. Usually closed and hidden from view due to bad visibility and current, this was a nice discovery when I though I combed the whole area by now.