More reading material

Driving home from work on Tuesday it felt warm and the leaves on the trees weren’t showing any signs of movement.  So before pulling into our driveway I did a quick loop up over the hill to see what the water was looking like.  Flat and clear, so it seemed, so I got home kitted up and walked back down for a swim.  It wasn’t the best visibility but I was pleased to head in, it was a great way to wash the hectic day away.  It was also good timing as I came across heaps of chains of what appeared to be small jellyfish, ones I have not seen before:

They were everywhere, some were single, while some were in long chains.  For some they seemed fully formed with distinct bodies but others were clear, and this variability even existed within the same chains.  Each had a small dark spot, and I have just discovered that these are not jellyfish but salp or salpa.  The dark spot is their digestive system and they swim by pumping water through their main body, something I could see happening.  I’ve read that they come out when there is a phytoplankton bloom, which is what they feed on:

These creatures are part of the tunicates group, and if my research can be believed they are considered one of the most evolved marine invertebrates.  I didn’t see anything else worth reporting on but was none-the-less pleased to have gone out.  It certainly helped break up the working week.  I didn’t go in again during the week although it was temping on Friday when it was even hotter and there was very little breeze.  However, Friday is our traditional crash night with fish and chips, so I left the dive for the morning:

The conditions looked favourable, not a huge swell and light winds.  The surface looked reasonable and the near shore water wasn’t too bad but as I went in it turned into a bit of a pea-soup.  I’d enjoyed the bommies near the river mouth so much that I had gone back to the same spot, hoping to find more sea slugs.  Just finding the bommies in-between the sand patches proved challenging but I found them and went down trying hunting for sea slugs.  I had no chance, the swell was pushing the weed and me about and I reckon these little creatures would be tucked away somewhere safe:

I came across various fish as I pottered about, nothing new or exciting but it was again good just to have my head under water.  I was a little surprised to also come across a patch of squid eggs, I seem to have found them throughout the snorkelling season this time.  I wonder if they have a set season or month in which they normally lay their eggs, or whether like many have found the weird changing conditions this year are throwing the sea life out of whack.  As I watched these eggs I could see the baby squid inside, but the light and swell wouldn’t allow me to get an image to captured that:

Despite the conditions I stayed out, the water was warm and occasionally I’d find something fun.  Schools of anchovies and herring swam past and were quickly lost in the murkiness, there was no point is chasing any of the fish today.  I didn’t give up on finding a sea slug and while I never did, I came across this small feather worm filter feeder.  The span of the filters is probably only a couple of centimetres.  I took a couple of quick snaps but then the weed covered it and when I went back down I sadly couldn’t find it again:

Heading back toward the carpark, which involved a couple of hundred meter swim along the coast, I continued to spot fish before they darted out of sight.  I simply had to include this image of a male Shaw Cowfish.  Unlike the one I saw during a recent dive, which was on its last legs, this one was healthy and full of colour.  It was also not too keen on me being about and headed off at speed.  As I drove home I popped in to see Geoff, and discovered that Nana had bought a few books to help identify her finds.  So I can now say that the lattice looking plant I had in my last post is a Hydroclathrus which is an algae, I might need to borrow these books again: