Conch, commercial fish surveying and some lovely discoveries

A really jam packed day on Tuesday 3rd December.

Jason has taught us commercial fish surveying, and as part of this we have had to learn to spot and distinguish between some 30 different fish, ranging through the individual species in the groupers, mackerels, snappers etc.

But first our first dive at 730am was another conch survey. 

Jason showing the difference between a Milk (back) and Queen (front) Conch

Paul Measuring a Queen Conch

We encountered one Queen Conch  that had been tagged and another that we could not move as the Conch was obviously carrying eggs.  This was unusual outside of the traditional closed season for Conch reproduction.

The Conch eggs can be seen under the shell on the LHS

Whilst we were doing our first dive, Ruby, mastered removing and replacing her mask underwater and was now firmly back on track, together with our other new starters Ilmera, and Emily.  This means weather permitting, they are on track to complete their open water certification before the end of the week. 

During the commercial fish survey (1130am second dive) I was photographing some of the shoals of fish we saw to assist the count process, and to be sure of the ID of the fish retrospectively.  This can be a very confusing process.  Particularly when some fish have a habit of pretending to be something else. 

A shoal of Lane Snappers - (pretending to look like Grunts)

In some parts of the reef, the use of the camera, no matter how bad the phography, was essential.  This was becausethe fish were, in some shoals, to numerous to even count properly as they swirled around the divers. 

During this dive we came across a Turtle. - A hawksbill - we think a very ladylike one. What do you think? 

Isn't she Beautiful?  We thought she was.

It was great to see the turtle sitting on the reef, and gave me a chance to log the turtle sighting on the ECO mar website.  My very first go at contributing to species protection and monitoring as part of a national collective endeavour. 

The ECO mar website can be found on the link below, if you are interested in finding out more. 

ECO Mar Turtle watch and other species 

We were also very lucky to be able to spot a number of commercial fish as part of our Commercial Fish I.D. survey and count them to allow stocks to be estimated and fishing season dates to be set by the fisheries department.  This to ensure the health of the reef and the industry is as productive as possible.

A Tiger Grouper - A very tasty fish!

If you zoom in on this picture you will understand why photographs help surveys

A whole host of School Master Snapper using the reef as camouflage.  The photo enabled us to verify the fish and the count for the survey- good advice from Jason

On our way out of the water at our Safety Stop, we came across this jelly fish. Now I know it should have a species name, but from the research done on the internet the closest I can come to is a Common Jelly Fish.  Anyone any better ideas?

I think this is a common Jelly Fish (but don't quote me)

As to that T-shirt!  Oh yes - on our third dive for the day we were able to "remove" more lionfish from the reefs around Tom Owens Caye and all were taken home for dissection and a selection were had for tea.

*howterriblybritish*