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Published: August 23rd 2010
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Serranidae: A cod
I know it's a cod, but that's as far as I've gotten identifying this species. As some of you may know, one of my more far fetched travel goals includes swimming in each ocean. On Saturday, I swam for the first time in the Pacific Ocean at one of the reefs along the Great Barrier Reef off Port Douglas. (If you're gonna go go big!)
I knew what to expect at the reef - bright colors, an incredible diversity of fish and invertebrates, warm waters, and crystal clear views. But nothing really prepared me for how spectacular the reef would be. Despite studying aspects of its diversity and ecology for four years at UNCW, watching documentary after documentary showcasing the reefs most elusive and colorful inhabitants, I was absolutely stunned the moment the reef was visible from the boat.
For starters, the Great Barrier Reef spans along most of Queensland on the edge of the continental shelf. For reference, think of Queensland as spanning from Virgina north well beyond Maine. After an hour and a half boat trip out to sea, the last thing you expect to run into is an oasis of warm shallow reefs spanning for hundreds of miles, but there it is.
When we docked at the permanent boat house
Scarus frenatus
The "Bridled Parrotfish". This is a male, as the females are a light silverish red color. near the reef, I began to feel absurd. Did I
really have permission to jump into the water, relatively unrestricted, to explore one of the worlds top biodiversity hotspots? Needless to say, I was the first one at the waters edge ... waiting for the OK to jump in.
Once I was in the water I didn't want to leave. My first cool plunge revealed a sandy blue bottom with reefs rising like small cliffs all around. Before I was even under the water, small striped bony fish were swimming around me, just out of reach. Each direction held something exciting, colorful, and new. Something special. Something I loved. Nearly everything I had ever wanted to see in the wild was below me, and I was given three hours of stolen time to snorkel at my leisure.
I took nearly 100 photos and strained my left
Tibialis anterior diving after fishes. I swam along side members of at least 10 different families of fish, and easily 30 or more species in the span of just a few hours. Not to mention the incredible coral and other invertebrate diversity, of which I am mostly ignorant. I spent time paddling
Coral Waves
It took several tries to get a good photo of the wave action and coral. along, floating at the surface, and diving down to the sandy bottom. There were giant clams with electric blue lips speckled with green triangles, bright yellow trumpet fish, purple, orange, and yellow sponges. Bryozoans, molluscs, agnathens, and many many more.
The only group of fishes which were conspicuously absent were the Chondrichtheys. I didn't see a single skate, ray, shark, or Chimera. Although I wasn't expecting Chimeras, I was at least hoping for sharks and I certainly assumed I'd see skates and rays. They are usually incredibly abundant on reefs, but not a singe one was near. Of course my favorite group of fish were missing in action so I have something to look forward to next time.
Oh, and we say a whale on the way to the reef. It was probably a minke whale, but I wish we would have just kept driving so we could have stayed at the reef longer ....
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Sarah L Fann
Sarah Lynn Fann
Excuse the duplicates
My comp was being weird so I got a few duplicates in there. To lazy to sort and delete. ;)