sea life
The Sea of Cortez is full of life below and above the water. Many of us have had special experiences and have seen many things in the sea. This web page is here for everyone to share their experiences and to learn of new things.
IF you have a story and or pictures you would like to share please email them to hiddenportyachtclub@hotmail.com there are many people who would enjoy hearing about them.
Thanks
Whale Shark
We spotted a whale shark on the way from Puerto Escondido to Juncalito this Sunday, July 22, 2007. Terry on “Manta” said it is the first one of the season he’s heard of up in this area. We had seen 2 as we left La Paz in late December of 2006. We had friends on “Gemini” tell us about how friendly and marvelous whale sharks can be in the Sea of Cortez.
Dale, captain, hubby to Dawn, and daddy to Danielle (12) and Darby (10) was kind enough to stay in “Pythagoras”, our Olson 40 sailboat, since we were underway. I (Dawn) didn’t want to miss the opportunity to be up close and personal with one of these fascinating creatures, I rowed out in the dingy to get closer. The whale shark came right up and swam with fin nearly touching the side of the dingy giving me a great view of his wide head and big spotted body.
| Dale took pictures while on "Pythagoras", but it’s hard to capture moments in the sea. |
|
Hoping not to scare him off after he passed, I got into the water and alternatively waited and swam toward him. He would swim toward me, then would stop and swim away. After a while another motorboat distracted him (at least I think) and he swam off. Of course, now I wish I had jumped in faster, but what an experience in any case. It’s amazing all of the interesting and completely unique creatures that God put on this earth – and he even gave us all of the senses to enjoy them. Life is so good!
By: Dawn “Pythagoras”
 |
 |
 |
Above pictures from the Internet
Interesting Facts about Whale Shark:
Whale sharks are the biggest fish in the world but they are also a very gentle fish. They eat only plankton and other small fish and are not interested in eating other things. That is why people from all over the world travel to Ningaloo Reef at Coral Bay during the spawning of the coral to swim with the whale sharks. The spawning of the coral happens between March and June. This attracts the whale shark for food.
The correct species name of a whale shark is Rhincodon typus with "Rhincodon" meaning "rasp teeth" - which is what the whale sharks 4,000 tiny teeth look like (a rasp). The teeth are about the size of a match head or 0.3cm high.
More interesting facts about whale shark is they are a pelagic species. This means they swim in the open ocean but usually found in the tropical parts of the oceans.
Whale sharks are reddish brown in color with a pattern of lines that crisscross each other on their skin. Inside these grids are yellow dots.
Additional interesting facts about whale shark is they pay no attention to boats. At there size why would they? So boat owners and captains need to be careful where whale sharks are and it is up to the boat to avoid "accidents".
Diet: This shark swims slowly near the surface, consuming small crustacean plankton, small fishes, such as sardines and anchovies, and even larger fishes such as mackerel.
Habitat: The whale shark is found in all tropical and subtropical oceans, along coastal regions, and enters lagoons on tropical islands. It is mostly seen on the surface were divers and and snorkelers swim with this gentle, curious creature.
Range: The whale shark ranges throughout the western and eastern Atlantic Ocean, the Indo-West, central, and eastern Pacific Ocean.
The whale shark are actually fish and not whales. Other interesting facts about whale shark are that they are the biggest fish in the world and a fully grown whale shark can be as long as 15 meters in length and weigh 20 tons.A whale shark may have hundreds of thousands of eggs inside her but not every egg will become an embryo. Some of these eggs are actually food for the other eggs that do develop into embryos. An embryo eats the other eggs for energy and therefore to grow.
In 1995 a team of scientists found an 11 meter female whale shark in Taiwan that had been killed by a fisherman. There were about 300 embryos inside the pregnant whale shark ranging in length from 42 to 63cm. Amazingly, 15 of the embryos were still alive and were ready to be born - an extremely rare form of whale shark birth. The egg capsules of this whale shark were amber in color, with a smooth texture and had a respiratory opening on each side. There were an equal number of male and female babies.
The whale sharks that are born are called pups. For whale shark reproduction and baby whale shark birth, the pups are over 60cm (2 feet) long.
Sexual maturity in whale sharks does not occur until they reach about 9meters long. This means a whale shark reproduction maturity age of about 30 years old. Whale sharks live for about 60-100 years.
Information taken from the Internet: New Brunswick and Crikey-adventure tours.
DANCING MANTAS:
|
Since we decided to settle in Juncalito for the summer watching the dancing mantas is starting to become a daily activity. We were reading on the deck one afternoon when we heard a couple of them jump at the north entrance. Two became four, five, and eight. A school of them went from the north end to south end, jumping out of the water and landing with a big splash. First I thought maybe they stayed fairly far away because of the boats and the people. The next day when they started jumping from the north end again they headed straight towards the shore, went around the boats, made a big circle dancing all around the bay. They are supposed to be cleaning off the guests attached to them; they looked more like they were just having fun. We could hear the conversation under the water. “Did you see me jump? Did you see how I splashed?”. “You call that a jump? You looked like a scared baitfish with an amberjack on its tail. Watch this! Let me show how a manta is supposed to leap”. Tahsin, my husband took lots of pictures. During sunset, we were sitting in the cockpit, looking at the pictures and trying to enlarge them. We noticed the school of double fins right next to the boat, this time they were just quietly gliding on the surface. Again you could hear their conversation. “What is this fat thing with its stomach hanging down to China." “Do you think its dangerous?” " I don’t think so." “She’s not fat. She is called a boat and that’s her keel”. "Whatever it is, it’s stuck to the bottom. Look, this long heavy thing is laid all over the bottom and there is a big chunk of something with sharp edges at the end of it. Come, let me show you”. They slowly rounded the bow and headed out. Some days just one here one there, some days a school of them dancing, we see them everyday. "Delfin Solo" Tahsin and Rengin
|
Click for larger view |
|
Click for larger view Photos by Tahsin |
The Flying Mobulas of the Sea of Cortez:
Both mantas and Mobulas are members of the Family Mobulidae, a group about which, very little is known. It is not uncommon to mistake mobulas for mantas. One researcher I spoke with was careful to make the distinction; another used the names interchangeably. Among many locals, this kind of distinction is all but ignored. Any of the four species of mobulas in the Sea of Cortez (tarapacana, thurstoni, munkiana, and japanica) along with the giant manta ray all go by a single name: cubana. It is not exactly the most delicate of nicknames; cubana means, literally, “Cuban.” Apparently, the dark skin of mobulas and manta rays is reminiscent of members of the island-nation to the east.
Mantas, the most well known of, which is the Pacific Manta Ray, can grow quite large; disc lengths have been measured at twenty-three feet. On the other hand, no mobula on record has ever exceeded ten feet.
The science of naming mobulids has undergone substantial upheaval in the last few decades. In 1987, Italian scientist Dr. Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara published research describing a species of mobula new to the scientific community: Mobula munkiana he called it. He tells me that fishermen local to Punta Arena de la Ventana had long been familiar with these mobulas. When he was visiting Baja California, he noted that the fisherman called this species with the propensity for airborne flips, “tortillas.”
Tortillas, he says, jump more frequently than other mobula, never grow larger than a meter and are more inclined to school.
Dr. Notarbartolo di Sciara's research has led him to believe that munkiana dines almost exclusively on a diet of Mysidium. Mysids are planktonic crustaceans. Dr. Carlos Villavicencio Garayzar, the director of the Elasmobranch Laboratory at the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California Sur sits in his office, the desert mountains outside his window. He does not speak with assurance about which kind of mobula eats which kind of food. He does suggest to me that mobulas, in general, tend to eat euphausiids or “krill.” Winter conditions, he explains, particularly the kind found in the open water between Isla Cerralvo and San Jose del Cabo produce a boom of euphausiids. Instead of using teeth, mobulas have sophisticated filtering plates in their gills, which act as a sieve, trapping the tiny shrimp and shrimp-like creatures.
For some time now, the comings and goings of the mobula have remained something of a mystery. Why will a large school spend a couple days in one area, only to seemingly disappear for a few weeks, thereafter?
This may be unique among mobulids because it seems to spend its summers in the northern part of the Sea of Cortez and its winters in the southern portion near Cabo Pulmo and its neighbor to the North, La Paz.
Whoosh! Without warning, a mobula emerges from below the surface, its long flat body glistening in the evening light and whip for a tail trailing behind. Flap, flap, flap, maybe a somersault or two, and then smack! It happened again and again. Single flips. Straight-up belly flops. Double flips. All that is visible is the swirl of water left behind. Notarbartolo di Sciara writes that when he was in the Sea of Cortez some twenty years ago, he even observed triple flips. According to him, some mobulas leap at heights of up to two times their disc width or up to six feet high.
Breaching is a common behavior among mobulids; it is said to be exclusive to the smaller varieties. For those of us who have witnessed a mobulid's sanguine underwater undulations, it may be hard to believe, but it would not have been uncommon long ago to hear tall tales of devil rays leaping out of the water and crashing through a ship's hull.
At least in the popular press and on the Internet, there is no shortage of explanations for why mobulids jump. Such sources invariably begin, “Scientists think….” Turns out, none of the mobula experts with whom I speak offer any definitive explanation; few would even endorse one over another. Karey Kumli is a research associate at the Pacific Manta Research Group located at Santa Rosa Junior College. She cautions me not to call any of the batch of current explanations theories; unsupported by evidence, they are, at best, opinions.
Is it to dislodge the parasite-cleaning remoras that attach to their backside? Is it some way of keeping fit, of practicing the underwater gathering of food? Could it be a form of play? What if jumping was a form of cooperative hunting, a way of tricking vibration-wary mysids into migrating downwards and into the open mouths of other mobulas below?
I decide to speak with Keller Laros, a dive master based out of Hawaii. Laros created a “Manta Ray Specialty Course” for scuba divers. He has logged long hours underwater observing Pacific Manta Rays, the largest of munkiana's mobulid cousins. According to him, the smaller manta ray's out-of-water acrobatics is not unlike its feeding behavior below the surface. Underwater, mantas have been observed doing loop after loop in the same place, concentrating their prey into a tight area. As they circle, they direct the green soup into their mouths with the cephalic lobes found on each side of their head.
Written and Researched by Paul Albert
SEA HORSE:
|
While at anchor, Ken, “Bungee” was looking over the side when he witnessed this male sea horse getting ready to give birth. |
Photo provided by Ken “Bungee”. |
|
ORCAS: FEBRUARY 7, 2007
On a clam day the call came on Channel 16 there are "Orcas" the "Killer Whale" one mile west of Carmen. Anyone in the area that was not already watching them headed out to have a look.
Here are a couple stories and pictures:
Hi, Jay and I have been camping in the Juncalito area for the past 6 or 7 years. We have really enjoyed spending time on the sea in our little 13 ft aluminum boat "Muleskinner" fishing, snorkeling and whale watching.
|
Jay and Diane took this picture form inside their 13' Boat. This female orca "Fell in Love" with their craft, turning over and rubbing her belly on its bottom. |
A week ago we were able to watch whales as never before. On or way to Balandra bay we saw our friends, John and Patrice in their little boat "Delta Boy/Girl" and three other larger boats clustered together watching a pod of Killer whales. What an experience! The whale’s leapt in front, in back, and all around our little boats. We were absolutely astonished as they rubbed along side of our boat and dove around and beneath it while splashing and blowing water and whale breath all over us. Because our boat was so small, we were afraid to reach over the side and touch the whales for fear of ending up in the water. For us it was the experience of a life time.
We are especially grateful to Raven for sharing his beautiful photos of the event with us.....Jay and Diane "Mule Skinner"
Orcas Cont'd.
On February 19th, Janet "Mystical invited 30 plus people to her palapa for a pot luck dinner. The special event for the evening was Colin "Raven" showing the film taken of the Orca's from a ponga with the special built tuna tower where he and Fernando Arcas photographed some in creditable pictures.
All during the film you could hear assistant Megan, "They are sooo beautiful" The totally unbelievable day is reflected in over 800 still photos and a movie taken. From the pictures you can see the Whales were having as much fun and enjoyment as the people.
A few of the pictures taken are shown below.
Fernando Arcas is the director of Grupo Ecologia Antares in Loreto. Located next to Mexican Lidos. If asked, he would be willing to take people on on the sea. He does not do this for a living. The money that is made goes to teach and share the sea with the local children of Loreto.
Collin Garland "Raven" comes to the sea each winter to teach students from the U.S. about the sea. Collin also put the banos on Carmen island and has done many things in Agua Verde. To learn more about their projects go to www.globalclassroom.net Email: globalclassroom@crocker.com
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Orcas at play Mama and Baby Underwater View Surfacing |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Male and Female Orca Blow Hole Moorings Boat in the Area Surprise! Megan |
 |
 |
 |
|
You are SOOO Beautiful! Side View Like to scratch my Belly? |
 |
 |
 |
|
Orca Breaching Collin & Megan Mama and calf enjoying some "quality time" |
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The orca or killer whale is a toothed whale that is an efficient predator, even attacking huge young blue whales. Their only enemy is human beings.
Orcas live in small, close-knit, life-long pods and have 1 blowhole. The killer whale belongs to the family of dolphins and is the biggest dolphin. It is sometimes called the "wolf of the sea" because its behavior is similar to that of wolves.
Orcas live in small pods of 6-40 whales; they are very social
animals. The bonds between the close-knit members of Orca pods are strong and
last for life.
SIZE
Orcas grow to be about 27-33 feet (8-10 m) long, weighing more than 8,000-12,000
pounds (3.600-5.400 kg). The male orca is larger than the female. They are the
largest member of the dolphin family.
The dorsal fin of the male is taller (up to 6 ft tall) and more upright than that of the female (whose dorsal fin is up to 4 ft tall).
They have 10-13 pairs of large, interlocking conical, enameled teeth distributed in BOTH the upper and lower jaws (for a total of 20 to 26 pairs, so the orca has from 40 to 52 teeth). The teeth curve inwards and backwards - this helps the orca catch its prey. Teeth average about 3 inches (7.6 cm) long and about 1 inch in diameter, but some are even longer. Members of a pod frequently cooperate in hunts. An average-sized orca will eat 551 pounds (250 kg) of food a day.
Orcas can dive to a depth of 100 feet (30 m) in order to hunt. Orcas commonly breach (swim at very fast speeds toward the surface in order to rise above the surface of the water and then fall back onto the surface, splashing and making noise). Spyhopping (poking the head out of the water to look around) and tail slapping are also common orca activities. The purpose of these activities is unknown.
Orcas are very fast swimmers. They can swim up to 30 mph (48 km) in bursts in order to catch prey.
REPRODUCTION
Orca breeding occurs mostly in the winter to early spring while near the surface
and in warm waters. The gestation period is about 16-17 months and the calf is
born tail first (this is normal for cetaceans) and near the surface, usually
between October and March. The newborn instinctively swims to the surface within
10 seconds for its first breath; it is helped by its mother, using her flippers.
Within 30 minutes of its birth the baby whale can swim. The newborn calf is
about 6.5-8 feet (2-2.5 m) long, weighing up to 400 pounds (180 kg). Twins are
extremely rare; there is almost always one calf. The baby is nurtured with its
mother's milk. The mother and calf may stay together for a year or longer.
Female orcas reach maturity at 6-10 years old, and males at 12-16 years old.
LIFE
SPAN
Male orcas have a life expectancy of 50-60 years. Females have a life expectancy
of 90 years.
POPULATION COUNT
The species is in no danger as their numbers are abundant.
(This information was obtained from www.enchantedlearning.com)
