To Sea or Not to Sea: Protect Our Reefs

After a hiatus due to moving back to Florida, I will start June with this environmental video. I created this video for the Our World Underwater competition. It's a compilation of footage from Mexico, the Philippines and Indonesia that I hope will inspire others to protect and preserve our marine environment. Enjoy your summer!

I love sharks, so here are some Whitetips for Valentine's Day! Filmed in Socorro, Mexico.
Royalty Free Music "Riding the Tundra" by Purple Planet

Shark Action

Hammerhead Sharks and Whitetip Reef Sharks in Socorro, Mexico.

Sharks have been around since before the dinosaurs. Yet, as many as 100 million sharks are killed each year for their meat and fins. Three sharks are killed every second by humans. Their population is being decimated by our ignorance and fear.
As the ocean's top predator, they keep the ecosystem in check. Personally, I am more terrified of alligators, as sharks don't target humans. In fact, at 1:45 in the video, you'll see a Whitetip cruise by with an octopus tentacle hanging out of its mouth. The Whitetip could not have cared less that I was in his domain and would have been a much larger morsel to munch!

Royalty Free Music "Firesong" by Kevin MacLeod

Octopus Odyssey

A master of camouflage, the octopus can change color and texture to blend in with its environment. They are clever and very curious. An octopus has eight tentacles, which, if necessary, can be detached to distract an enemy. It can also spew a cloud of ink to disable a predator's sense of smell while making a hasty escape. With three hearts and eight tentacles for hugging, what’s not to love about the octopus?! 

Royalty Free Music "Finding the Balance" by Kevin MacLeod

Seahorse Serendipity

Delicate and beautiful, these amazing fish are like something out of a Brothers Grimm fairytale. Take a look at this wonderful photo essay on the Project Seahorse website for interesting facts as well as some impressive photos. 

Introduction to Seahorses: Photo Essay

Royalty Free Music "Little One" by littlegreenman from the website Soundclick

Magical Manta Rays

These graceful creatures careened past me while making eye contact. They seemed to peer deep into my very soul. I was in awe and mesmerized by these gentle angels of the sea. They hovered and glided over the divers, frolicking in the bubbles that percolated up and onto the ventral surface of its smooth skin.

The Manta Ray (Manta birostris) is the largest of the rays and has an average wing span of 22 feet.

These filter feeders are closely related to sharks. The cephalic lobes unfurl to direct nutrient-rich water towards the mouth. The lobes are rolled into a spiral when swimming.

The various color patterns on the Manta serve as a unique identifier for each ray.

Royalty Free Music by opsound

Do Not Disturb!

Tucked into the reef to sleep, this Queen Parrotfish (Scarus vetula) hides its scent from predators with a mucus bubble. The mucus, which is secreted from glands in the gill cavities, protects the Parrotfish from parasites. The mucous cocoon might also serve as an early warning system if a predator approaches. The most common predators include groupers, eels and sharks.

It takes about thirty minutes for a Parrotfish to secrete its mucous bubble and if the bubble is destroyed, it can secrete another one that same night.

The clip is quite short, as the Parrotfish was trying to sleep! Sweet dreams...............

Royalty Free Music by Purple Planet

As a side note, I learned that mucous is an adjective and mucus is a noun!