Hymn to the Sea

If the video does not play or display properly above, click here to view it on YouTube.
Hat tip to Tony Berkman at FriedEggs.com, which is where I first saw this video.

Who's sleeping on the job around here?

by B. N. Sullivan

I know, I know -- it's been awfully quiet here at The Right Blue for the past couple of weeks.  If there were crickets underwater, you'd probably hear them chirping!

I haven't been sleeping on the job.  I've been traveling, and then catching up on stuff related to my day job, so I've neglected this space.  I'm about ready to get busy here again -- posting new photos, creature features, and articles about the marine environment. -- so please stand by.

Meanwhile, if you haven't already done so, do check out Jerry's very active Twitter stream @therightblue. He's been busy there, keeping our followers informed about developments surrounding the horrendous oil well catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, among other ocean-related topics.

Earth Day Greetings from the Blue Marble

by B. N. Sullivan

April 22, 2010 is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and to celebrate, we decided to post our favorite image of Earth --  the 'Blue Marble'.  This now-famous photograph was taken on December 7, 1972 by the astronauts of Apollo 17, which was the last manned mission to the moon.  The photograph, listed in the Apollo 17 Image Library as AS17-148-22727, is described this way:

A Full Earth from the Apollo 17 Command Module at about 5 hours 6 minutes, shortly after separation of the docked CSM-LM from the S-IVB at 4 hours 45 minutes. Note that the trajectory is far enough south that Antarctica is visible.

That simple description belies the stunning impact of this iconic image.  If anything can remind us of the interconnectedness -- the oneness -- of the Earth's seas, land masses, and atmosphere, the evocative imagery of the Blue Marble  is it!

This Earth Day, regardless of what else you do, we encourage each of you to pause and reflect on the Blue Marble. That's our home --  the only one we'll ever know.  Each of us individually, and all of us together, must do whatever we can to look after it.

Purple sea slug (Hypselodoris apolegma)

by B. N. Sullivan

Isn't this a pretty little critter?  It is  Hypselodoris apolegma, a nudibranch from the family Chromodorididae.  It doesn't have a standard common name, so we just call it the purple sea slug. This attractive nudibranch lives in the western tropical Pacific region.

H. apolegma feeds on sponges. It seems to prefer a dysideid sponge of the genus Euryspongia, but it may feed on other sponges as well.

Like many nudibranchs, the purple sea slug lays its eggs in a ribbon-like mass. The egg mass of H. apolegma is yellow.

The creature's striking coloration makes it an attractive subject for underwater macro photography.  I photographed this one off the northern coast of the Indonesia island of  Sulawesi, in the Celebes Sea.  This specimen was about 3 cm long (about an inch).

The species fact sheet for H. apolegma on the Australian Museum's authoritative Sea Slug Forum describes this creature's coloring as follows:

The background colour is a rich pinkish purple with a white border to the mantle. At the edge of the mantle the border is solid white but inside this is a region of varying width in which the white forms a reticulate pattern gradually merging in to the pinkish purple. The rhinophore stalks and the base of the gills is an intense purple, the rhinophore clubs and the gills are orange yellow.

Yep, that's our purple sea slug!

Visit the Hypselodoris apolegma species page on the Sea Slug Forum for more information and photos, including feeding records, mating, and the egg mass of this species.

Chinese freighter accident threatens Australia's Great Barrier Reef

by B. N. Sullivan

A Chinese ship, the Shen Neng 1, has run aground off the coast of Queensland, Australia.  The accident happened this past Saturday, April 3, 2010.

The site of the accident is Douglas Shoal, which is about 70 kilometers from Great Keppel Island, in a restricted area near the Great Barrier Reef.  The ship had left the Australian port of Gladstone a few hours before the late afternoon accident, and reportedly was off course -- outside authoriszd shipping lanes -- when it ran hard aground on the reef at full speed.

News reports say that the ship, a 230 meter long bulk carrier, was hauling a cargo of at least 65,000 tons of coal, and had around 1,000 tons of heavy fuel oil on board at the time of the accident.  The vessel's 23 crew members are still on board, and are said to be safe, but fuel oil is leaking from the crippled vessel and is threatening the ecosystem of the Great Barrier Reef.  Worse still, the vessel is said to be in danger of breaking up.  If that happens, both its cargo and the rest of its fuel would be released into the sea with potentially devastating effects.

A New York Times article about the accident quoted an Australian maritime safety official who said that a hole in the bottom of the ship had allowed water into the main engine room.  Both the main engine and the ship's rudder have been seriously damaged, complicating efforts by salvage teams to find a way to remove the Shen Neg 1 from the reef.

Aircraft have been dropping chemical dispersant onto the fuel spill, but rough seas have prevented deployment of floating booms that could contain the spill.

Here is a video that covers the main points of the story so far:

If the video does not play or display properly above, click here to view it on YouTube.

Seeing stars in the Mediterranean Sea

by B. N. Sullivan

If you go diving or snorkeling in coastal areas of the Mediterranean region, you are very likely to see this Red Sea Star (Echinaster sepositus), which is the most common starfish species in that area.  Divers and snorkelers have a good chance to spot this sea star resting on the bottom along rocky coastlines.  Although there are records of Mediterranean Red Sea Stars found at depths of more than 200 meters, they are seen most often in relatively shallow water -- less than 10 meters.

Mediterranean Red Sea Stars are actually red-orange in color, rather than pure red.  As sea stars go, they are relatively large.  The one in the top photo on this page was about 20 cm (8 in) in diameter.  The individual in the photos below was even larger -- nearly 30 cm (12 in) across.

Like many common sea star species, Echinaster sepositus has five rays, or arms.  One time, however, we found a six-armed sea star that looked just like E. sepositus, except that it had an extra arm.  At first I was not certain that it was indeed the same species, so I took the time to photograph it carefully.  Someone who knows much more than we do about Echinoderms looked at the photos and assured us that the six-armed sea star was a less common, though well-known, morphological variant of E. sepositus.

The two macro photos below are of the unusual six-armed Mediterranean Red Sea Star.  In these macro photos you can see the characteristic surface of the sea star, which is uneven -- sort of dimpled.  In the first of the two photos below, you can see the tiny structures, called papullae, which protrude from the 'dimple' indentations on the sea star's surface. In the second photo below you can see the animal's tube feet protruding from grooves on the underside of each ray.

Both the tube feet and the papullae facilitate water exchange, and are involved in the animal's respiration and excretion.  The sea star 'breathes' by extracting oxygen from sea water.  It excretes some dissolved waste matter through the papullae and tube feet, too.

The tube feet also aid the sea star in locomotion.  The tube feet in each row move successively, in a wave, using hydraulic pressure from the animal's water vascular system.  This allows the critter to crawl along.  By a similar process, the tube feet also can be used to pass bits of food from the distal ends of the rays to the sea star's mouth, which is at the center of its underside.

If you look closely at the second macro photo below, you can see that there is a little suction cup at the tip of each tube foot.  These structures help the animal stay put after it situates itself on a rock or other hard surface.  If a sea star gets overturned, it can right itself by twisting one or more of its rays so that the tube feet can grab hold of the surface and turn itself right-side up again.  (This process can take quite awhile and consumes a lot of the critter's energy, so if you pick up a sea star to look at it, be kind enough to return it to its normal position!)

The sea star lounging in an algae bed in the photo at the top of this page was photographed in the shallows of Aedipsos Bay, on the coast of the Greek island of Evia.  The two macro images below, of the six-armed Mediterranean Red Sea Star, were photographed at Cape Greco, Cyprus.

Caribbean Brown Tube Sponge (Agelas conifera)

by B. N. Sullivan

This Brown Tube Sponge (Agelas conifera) is a fairly common sight on walls and reef canyons in the Caribbean region, and the Bahamas.  The tubes, which reach a length of 30 to 90 cm (about one to three feet), grow in clusters from a common base.

This sponge likes deep water, so you are not likely to see it on shallow reefs.  It prefers depths below 10 meters (30 ft), and we have seen the species at depths greater than 30 meters (100 ft), especially at places like Bloody Bay Wall, Little Cayman Island.  That's where I photographed the example above.

Row Pore Rope Sponge (Aplysina cauliformis)

by B. N. Sullivan

The Row Pore Rope Sponge (Aplysina cauliformis) is a Caribbean species.  Its common name describes it well.  It grows ropy-looking branches, and its excurrent openings ('pores') are arranged in long rows along the lengths of the branches.  The ropy branches can grow quite long -- to a maximum of 180 to 240 cm (about six to eight feet ).  The longest branch of the one in the photo above was about 150 cm long (about five feet).  This sponge comes in several pretty colors: purple, lavender, and red.

This sponge is fairly common throughout the Caribbean, and may also be seen in the Bahamas.  It usually inhabits deep reef slopes and walls, at depths below 12 meters (40 ft) .  I photographed the one above at a dive site called Garden Eel Wall on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands.

Video: Underwater junkyard off the California coast

by B. N. Sullivan

We've posted several articles about a nasty ocean environmental issue: marine debris.  Since this is one of our pet peeves, we have repeatedly reminded divers and beachgoers to deposit their trash in proper receptacles or to take it home with them.  Moreover, we have asked them to pick up and properly dispose of debris they find on the beach and in the water, including abandoned nets and fishing tackle, even if they did not put it there to begin with.

Being mindful about trash such as picnic remains and general litter can help to reduce damage to reefs, the pollution of waterways, and the risk of entanglement by marine wildlife -- and that's a good thing. But a much more serious and pervasive problem exists as well: using the ocean as a dump!

Have a look at this Fox News video, and you'll see what we mean:

If the video does not play or display properly above, click here to view it on YouTube.

Thanks to @scubadivergirls and Deep Sea News for alerting us about this video.

The Ornate Butterflyfish (Chaetodon ornatissimus)

by B. N. Sullivan

Fishes in the Butterflyfish family (Chaetodontidae) are among the prettiest inhabitants of tropical reefs around the world.  This species, the Ornate Butterflyfish (Chaetodon ornatissimus) is particularly nice looking, we think.

The Ornate Butterflyfish is easy to recognize, with six diagonal yellow-orange stripes on each side of its creamy body, black and yellow bars on the face (including one that covers the eye), a gray patch on its forehead, and black 'trim' around its margins.  They are said to grow to a length of 20 cm (about eight inches), although most of the adult individuals we have seen are somewhat smaller -- usually about 15 cm (six inches).

C. ornatissimus feeds exclusively on live coral polyps, so you would expect to find them in coral-rich areas. They seem to favor coral polyps of the Pocillopora and Montipora genera.  (Here in Hawaii, we frequently see them pecking on Pocillopora meandrina.)

Juveniles of this species look like cute miniatures of the adults.  The juveniles can be quite shy, hiding in corals for protection.  The juveniles live as singletons, but once they reach breeding age, they find mates and form pairs.  In fact, it is unusual to see an adult of this species not accompanied by its mate.  Also, pairs establish a home range, so once you discover a pair of C. ornatissimus, you will likely be able to find them again in the same area time after time.

'Ornates' are an Indo-Pacific species, most commonly found in the central and western Pacific, from Hawaii to Australia's Great Barrier Reef.  Sightings have been reported as well around Christmas Island in the eastern Indian Ocean, and we have seen photos of the species taken in Indonesian and Malaysian waters.  They are quite common here in Hawaii. I photographed the one pictured on this page in Honaunau Bay, on the south Kona coast of Hawaii's Big Island.