Coral Reef Photos » Endangered Species

Endangered Elkhorn Coral, Diving in Curacao, Corals

barry — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:55:26 +0000

Good morning friends, how are we all doing today?? I had a very busy day yesterday with diving with the sub and getting to be the first human ever to photograph new species of fish which I will send to you tomorrow. I then spent the evening on the computer working in PhotoShop cleaning up all the little specks of sand that seem to be an underwater photographers curse! Aimee came home super exited and showed me photos of her doing a Rocket-Ride with Copan out in the Open Ocean, I will try and get you a photo of that as well. For those of you asking the dogs are both doing well and yes I know we need to send a photo of them, it’s been a long time! We are still getting off and on rain showers and the island is again as green as green gets. If you go to my site www.coralreefphotos.com and go to the photo of Wendy that I posted yesterday, there is now a link to her website so you can see her fun artwork. The famous bikers are all starting to arrive for the big race here on Saturday, I think Frank and Andy Schleck arrive today. All over Curacao there are posters with Andy’s picture on it from the Tour de France this year. I will of course be at the beginning of the race shooting the stars at the starting line and I think Stijn will be there to help hold some camera equipment for me, should be a very exciting morning! We have guests from Rapid City, South Dakota coming for Christmas this year and I will most likely take some vacation days to play with them and make photos, we are getting very excited!

Here is a fun photo of a diver checking out the ever beautiful but very endangered Elkhorn coral. As you can see this coral is like a glowing beacon on the reef that screams, “come and check me out”! It’s major downfall is that it lives only in shallow water and each and ever major storm that passes rips this stuff from it’s home and sends it crashing thru the reef. If there is a good side it’s that if the broken pieces come to rest in a stable area without movement they will start to grow again, so just because they break doesn’t mean they die.

I need to get moving, another fun Caribbean day is ahead!! Take care, Barry

Endangered Hawksbill Turtle, Swimming with Turtles

barry — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:44:57 +0000

Good morning friends, I had a turtle request yesterday and found this one for you this morning that was taken a few months ago in Bonaire. This is our friend Jen swimming alongside her new best friend, a beautiful, calm Hawksbill Turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata. I remember this dive like it was yesterday and can remember how excited we all were to get to swim alongside such a majestic and endangered creature. This turtle acted like we weren’t even there and let us swim alongside for a very long time and we of course loved every second of it. The hawksbill turtle grows to lengths of 3.5 feet long and weights of up to 180 pounds. Hawksbill turtles were named for the shape of their beak, which looks similar to the beak of a bird like an eagle, parrot or hawk just to name a few.

Recent studies showed that 95% of a hawksbill’s diet is made up of sponges. In the Caribbean, these turtles feed on more than 300 sponge species. This is an interesting food choice as sponges have a skeleton made of needle-shaped spicules (made of silica, which is glass, calcium or protein), which essentially means, “a hawksbill’s stomach is filled with small glass shards.” And although sponges are their favorite food they also eat sea squirts, soft corals, shellfish, sea-grasses and seaweeds.

A female Hawksbill turtle can travel up to 2400 kilometers (1500 miles) between feeding and breeding grounds. They only breed once every two to four years but during the breeding season they may nest up to six times, laying about 130 eggs in each clutch. The sex of the hatchlings depends on the temperature in the nest.

After hatching, the baby turtles swim out to sea for several days. They then spend the next five to ten years drifting around in surface waters at the mercy of ocean currents, and they feed mainly on plankton. They are often found in huge rafts of drifting sargassum, a type of brown seaweed, where they are probably best able to hide from potential predators. Once they reach lengths of 30 or 40 centimeters they settle in one particular area around coral or rocky reef.

I had a busy day at the Substation yesterday and Aimee was home sick with a cold. Diving around Curacao hasn’t been so great this week we have had rain, and off and on ocean currents that are really stirring up the silt, will be glad when it’s back to normal.

Not much else to report, Have a great day, Barry

Yellowmouth Grouper, Mycteroperca interstitialis

barry — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 10:54:42 +0000

Good morning friends, we found a new fish for the collection yesterday, this is a young intermediate, not juvenile Yellowmouth Grouper, Mycteroperca interstitialis. We have a scientist named Barret here right now from the Smithsonian studying seaweeds, algae’s and moss on the coral reef so yesterday morning Jonny and I took him for a deep dive at Directors Bay. For those of you who haven’t been to Directors Bay in awhile let me be the first to tell you, they now have a suspicious security guard in the parking lot. When we pulled up and parked he walked over and said, “give me your cell phones and wallets and I will watch them for you”?? Say what? Yeah your on crack buddy! This is a known place for car break-in’s and personal robbery but still there is no way we are giving some guy with a two dollar security hat all our valuables!! We told him, if the car is safe when we return we will pay you something, I think we ended up giving him 10 guilders or $5. I have told folks before that visit here, just leave your valuable at home or in your hotel, if your not taking it with you on the dive, don’t bring it, chances are it will be gone when you return. Also leave your car open, trust me it’s better than getting your windows broken, all they are looking for is $ anyways! So back to the dive. It was an absolutely beautiful morning for a dive and the water was crystal clear!! We first swam on our backs for close to five minutes until we got to the selected area I called “the wall”. I had dove thru here many times before but this would be the first time ever I did a deep dive here. Barret was the first under and off he went straight down like a pro to 151 feet! Jonny and I followed but we both leveled out at 130 feet and just watched as our scientist searched hard in every nook and cranny for new species of algae’s. When he found something of interest he would call me over and I would photograph what ever he found and then go back to what I was doing. We can all thank Jonny for today’s photo, he found this beautiful little yellowmouth grouper at around 85 feet. We ended up seeing around 4-5 groupers here but all deep, I think we saw three of these, one big tiger grouper and an adult yellowmouth, they are completely reddish brown when older. The yellowmouth grouper is a marine fish found in the western Atlantic from the Gulf of Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean Islands south to Brazil. It occurs mostly on rocky or coral bottoms from the shoreline to depths of about 80 feet. Smaller individuals inhabit lagoons lined with mangroves. This species of grouper can reach about 33 inches in length and weigh about 22 lbs. I also found out that many of these species of grouper are becoming endangered because of over-fishing especially in Bermuda. These beautiful fish can also live up to 41 years and grow to be two and a half feet in length!

My find of the day was this cluster of weird but beautiful Tunicate looking things growing on the side of a sponge at 130 feet! Once home and looking at the photo I need to go back for some close-ups as no one seems to know what they are and they are not in the book? So, if I can talk Aimee into it, we may go back there again today! Our scientist ended up bringing back a bunch of unique specimens, Jonny took care of three big lionfish and I got some more cool shots, it was another fun dive! I highly recommend my local divers to visit here for a deep dive as well, it’s like a whole new dive spot and you will never look at Directors Bay the same way ever again!

Off to work amigo’s, Barry

Acropora cervicornis, Endangered Staghorn Corals

barry — Thu, 26 May 2011 00:21:43 +0000

Good evening friends, Here is a coral that is fighting for it’s very life each and every day and very well may be extinct in the next 10-20 years! This is called Acropora cervicornis or better known as Staghorn Coral. This coral was once abundant in many locations throughout the region, but has suffered mass mortality since the early 1990′s in many areas due to White Band Disease. Other, more localized losses have been caused by hurricanes, increased predation, bleaching, algae overgrowth, human impacts, and other factors. This species is also particularly susceptible to damage from sedimentation and is sensitive to temperature (global warming)and salinity variation. The dominant mode of reproduction for staghorn coral is asexual fragmentation; this life history trait allows rapid population recovery from physical disturbances such as storms. However, this mode of reproduction makes recovery from disease or bleaching episodes (in which entire colonies or even entire stands are killed) very difficult. The large role of asexual reproduction for this species also increases the likelihood that genetic diversity in the remnant populations is very low. Scientists are becoming increasingly concerned for this species based on its demographic parameters; specifically, how species recruitment and genetic diversity affect recovery potential. We are seeing less and less of this coral here in Curacao each year and with every passing major storm recovery of the survivors becomes harder and harder.

I just got home from riding, we had a fun, fast paced hour and a half ride thru the Curacao wilderness! Stijn won his big race this weekend, I was going to ride with him but I hate riding in mud and there was a lot of it!!

Busy day on tap at the substation tomorrow, I will be in the water most of the day! Take care out there, Barry

Hawksbill Turtle, Endangered Hawksbill Turtle, Sea Turtle

barry — Thu, 12 May 2011 01:29:42 +0000

Good evening readers, today we had a film crew show up from Canada and filming started at around 11:00. I jumped in the water at around 12:30 and photographed the film makers from outside as they started filming me from the inside. Then after around five minutes of me shooting them, I waved good-bye and off they went into the darkness of the reef headed to a big sunken ship at 450 feet. They ended up being down for the next few hours giving me plenty of time to work on their photos, eat lunch and get the camera ready for the next dive. I ended up not going on the second dive as they started so late and I had to meet some friends for a bike ride but tomorrow morning the film crew is going back out this time to 1000 feet! Once I get more information on where you can watch this movie I will let you know, I think it’s going to be great!!

Here is another great photo of my lovely Aimee getting to have a “close encounter of the turtle kind”!! Run-in’s like this are not normal. Usually when we see a turtle they don’t want anything to do with humans and almost always swim off at top speed but not this one. This was hands down one of the most relaxed Hawksbill turtles either one of us had ever seen and it was pure joy to get to be able to float next to him or her for what seemed like forever. The down side was it was near the end of a long dive and I was almost out of air! It’s hard to believe such a beautiful creature is on the critically endangered list, what will the ocean be like without sea turtles?? Food for thought!

Off to bed, Barry

Fossil Staghorn Coral Pieces at White Slave in Bonaire

barry — Mon, 02 May 2011 11:16:38 +0000

Good morning from Curacao. We are currently listening to the sound of pouring rain and thunder, it’s fantastic!! This morning ends a 3-4 month dry period for this side of the island and I can’t even begin to tell you how happy we are, everything really needed this! It had become so dry that last night for the time ever I pulled our garden hose outside and spent 30 minutes outside watering plants, and I kind of knew in the back of my head that after doing this it will probably rain. What a great way to start the day.

I had a crazy busy day yesterday starting with finishing the end of the new trail at Saint Joris. It was a blistering hot morning with very little wind, the dogs were hiding under bushes in the shade and I worked as fast as I could soaked to the bone and it was only 9:00 in the morning. I then raced the dogs straight to the water where they both just stood out there not wanting to come out so I sat on the edge of the water under a tree and let them cool off before going back home. It was then a day filled with diving, collecting glass, building my new driftwood creation, going riding and finally taking Aimee to see the new animated movie RIO before calling it a day! GO see RIO folks, it’s so great!!

Here is a photo I kept meaning to send but somehow it keeps going to the back of the pile. What your looking at is thousands of fossil Staghorn Coral pieces from a dive spot called “White Slave”. This is the end result of hundreds of years of big storms wiping out fragile corals that live in the shallows. Since corals are classified as “Stony Corals” their exoskeletons live on and remind those who see it, (now washed ashore) that we live in a fragile ecosystem. Staghorn and Elkhorn corals are now classified as Endangered and it’s a reality that one day soon this may be the only evidence left of such a beautiful but fragile coral. These pieces laying here are absolutely beautiful and have a beautiful “chime” if knocked together, and you can hear them tumbling out in the water as every wave washes ashore. All corals in Bonaire, “dead or alive” are protected, so even these pieces are protected by law so think twice before filing your pockets, the fine is high!

Off to work, we heard the puppy is doing great for all you who have asked! See ya, Barry

Endangered Hawksbill Turtle, Diving in Curacao, Sea Turtles

barry — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:26:55 +0000

Good morning all, I was finally able to get some work done out on the reef yesterday photographing the coral bleaching progress. Months ago, like in November of 2010 the reef was white, warm, cloudy and seemed so dead because of the worst coral bleaching year we have had to date since we have been here. During that time I swam around and photographed selected coral bleaching specimens and since then have been watching them either heal or in many cases die! It brought tears to our eyes yesterday looking at massive heads of grooved Brain coral that used to stand alone like a spotlight on the reef calling out to every diver to “come over and look at me”, but now they are dead and covered in green and black algae! Before I went out I had printed and laminated in color, a bunch of photos that I again had to find underwater and shoot them exactly the same as the photo, not an easy task. I did the first dive yesterday by myself and the second dive at noon I was joined by Aimee, seen here in today’s photo. The reef was beautiful yesterday, and you don’t hear me say that too often. The good visibility was due to a much needed deep water current which we really haven’t had much this year. Current is so hard to swim in but so necessary for the well being of the reef. It moves dirt and sand off corals and sponges and helps to circulate the ocean with constant clean water. On my first dive I swam around and searched for the corals on the photos but because the corals are no longer white and standing out, they are very hard to find again. So why didn’t I mark them when I shoot them in the first place?? It just plain looks bad and trust me, someone would have removed those markers over the past five months, it’s best just to re-find them. On my first dive I found about half and was shocked that almost all my specimens are still not completely healed, I would say they are at 90%. On the second dive, Aimee carried the clip-board and we again searched and searched and did end up finding all but around six of the last corals, it’s really quite a challenge. At the end of our dive in around 20 feet of water I spotted this young Hawksbill Turtle. I signaled to Aimee and we both quietly swam over as not to scare it and just watched as he or she swam slowly thru the corals looking for food or a place to rest. Folks, in all the years diving here this was the hands down calmest turtle we had ever seen! We ended up swimming next to him until I was out of air. This beautiful little endangered turtle never once showed any signs of caring, it was like we were the first humans it had ever seen and we presented no danger at all. Aimee pretty much hovered alongside it for what seemed like hours and just smiled ear to ear constantly giving me the look of “can you believe this??” I was wishing as usual that I had a different lens, the 10.5mm was just a bit to wide, but we did get a few nice shots just the same. When I signaled to Aimee that I was out of air and I had to go, we both just stopped and watched for the last few minutes as our calm turtle swam out of view and with an underwater kiss and a high-five we left with smiles on our face, it was a great dive!

I better get moving, I will send you a coral bleaching before and after photo tonight, you won’t believe the difference! Have a great day everyone!! Barry

Green Turtles in Bonaire, East Coast Dives in Bonaire

barry — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 00:17:57 +0000

Good evening friends, that’s it for the weekend, time sure flies when your having fun!! Stijn and I spent four hours working on the Saint Joris trail this morning and we still didn’t get it finished, but we did get close. Aimee said on Wednesday she will go finish up where we left off then we can finally start making tire marks all over it, I can hardly wait! Curacao is really starting to heat up and dry out, the beautiful lush green bush is quickly disappearing and everything is starting to turn brown, I really wish we could get a little rain right now. We had to leave at 10:30 this morning from the trail because the dogs were hot and overheating, I got them down to the water ASAP and of course they loved it!

The place where we collect our beach glass took a big hit this week as they took a bulldozer to it covering all the glass with sand and weeds! This is why we had been collecting it so hard because we knew this day would come, maybe with a few months of good waves we might still be able to get some good material but for now it’s game over for the beach glass.

Here is another fun shot from Bonaire, this was taken on their wild East coast and you need a boat to get here. I have been telling everyone to contact East Coast Diving Bonaire www.bonaireeastcoastdiving.com if you want to see and dive Bonaire the way it was meant to be, it’s an adventure from start to finish. On this particular dive our dive master said “once we leave the sandy area and ascend to the Sea Fan Garden, there will be Green Turtles everywhere, so be ready with your camera!” And just like he said, once we swam into the giant area filled with sea fans there were turtle laying everywhere on the bottom but upon seeing us they took off in every direction! I have never in all my underwater photo days been so confused as I was here with not knowing which one to follow, I bet we saw at least 10! I would start to follow one and two more would rise out of nowhere so I would then turn and give chase to those and then see another and end up following that one, it was a total mess! In the end I wish I would have stayed with the dive master and my buddies as they saw a giant Green Turtle resting on a coral head, they said it would have been a cover shot, isn’t that the way it always goes!??

I’m out, I have a full day of taking a rescue course tomorrow, Barry

Swimming with a Hawksbill Turtle in Bonaire

barry — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 11:19:08 +0000

Good morning friends, after getting home last night from my ride with Super-Kid, the soon to be fastest youngster in Curacao, I had no energy last night for writing. That ride last night was the fastest and best he has ever done, I was so proud of him after that I even called him at home to tell him. I started ridding with 13 year old Stiyn about a year ago and he was nothing like he is now, I can hardly wait for his first race which I think is coming up in April, they won’t know what hit them!

My friend Aaron was asking this morning what the trails are like here? Well many of you know I built most of the single-track from the Sea-Aquarium, (which is where most riders start) all the way down to the Jan Thiel area. In 2006 they used my trails exclusively for the World Cup Mountain bike course which was a huge honor. The trails we ride are for advanced riders only, there are some serious down-hills, obstacles and climbs which most new riders would not even walk their bikes thru. I think the World Cup course is around a 5 mile loop, the riders in 2006 had to do 6-7 laps and most said they loved it, the only bad thing we heard about it was there wasn’t enough room to pass. In all, if you start at the Aquarium parking lot you can ride hard for one hour and not do the same trails twice, there is some super fun single-track just waiting to be ridden. Besides this area, I built a new trail at Saint Joris last year which is currently closed due to standing water at the end but in two weeks we are going to go and re-open that as well. Also on the West end of the island there is now a course set up with single-track as well, I haven’t seen it but have heard it’s pretty fun. You can always contact me for a tour or I will most likely just point you in the right direction.

Here’s a cool photo of Jen (my underwater turtle model) swimming next to a very relaxed Hawksbill turtle that we found on our dive to the East coast of Bonaire. We did two of the best dives ever with a company called, East Coast Diving Bonaire. www.bonaireeastcoastdiving.com For anyone reading this and on their way to Bonaire, book this dive immediately, it’s a two tank boat dive you will never forget! On our first dive we found this beautiful turtle who could have cared less about me and my stupid camera and we ended up swimming next to him or her for like 10-15 minutes. After that we found a Giant sting-ray laying in the sand, then saw another turtle, then another sting-ray and this is how the whole dive went, it was fantastic! Not only do you see lot of animals on the East side you will see a beautiful reef full of sea-fans and gorgonians, it’s a photographers dream! On the second dive we saw countless tarpons and swam right up next to them, schools and schools of fish and turtles everywhere you turned your head, it’s really the best diving in Bonaire! I need to get back there soon as I saw some species of sponges and yellow tunicates that I have never seen in Curacao, that will require some dives with the macro lens.

I have to cut this short I can hear work calling! More tonight, have a great day, Barry

Ride for the Roses Curacao, Hawksbill Turtle

barry — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 10:46:29 +0000

Well, it’s Monday again! I wish I could say that was a long weekend but would be so untrue! Yesterday I left the house at 6:30am on the mountain bike and returned 2 hours later soaked to the bone! I was asked a week ago to set up and check the course for this years annual ”Ride for the Roses” mountain bike course and like a good volunteer did what was needed. The Ride for the Roses www.ridefortheroses.net is a big fundraising event for cancer that happens here every year. The events you can enter are, walking, long bike ride, short bike ride, extreme mountain biking and swimming, all for fun it’s not a real race. So back to me getting up early. It had rained during the night and everything was nice and muddy. The race started at 8:00 so me and a friend took off to make sure our part of the event was good to go. We pretty much just made sure ribbons and arrow boards were in place at all the corners so no one would really be getting lost. At around 7:30 while on the Calabash trail a storm came in and it just started pouring, I yelled to my buddy, “save yourself” there is a cave a few meters back you can hide in, I will continue on and do the rest of the course! So on I went, my head down as the rain was making it difficult to see and within seconds me and the bike were covered in mud! Moments after finishing the course the rain stopped and my phone rang, the race or ride had started and I finished just in time. The course is very difficult and even says so online stating that this years trail is difficult even for experienced mountain bikers, so enter at your own risk. I honestly felt bad for anyone being on that trail today, what a mess! Besides the mud and mosquitoes, everything is overgrown and the thorn bushes continually cut your arms and legs, the rocks are very slippery and you have to a bunch of walking along the coast where the rain has flooded the trail, I am sure there were some unhappy riders yesterday. Once I got home I had to clean everything twice! After eating breakfast we then took Aimee to the start of the “Swim for the Roses” were she entered and got ready for her swim down the coast in the open ocean. Her event started at Zanzibar and ended on Mambo Beach, that’s past the Sea Aquarium. The swim was around a mile and a half, something I for sure would not want to do but Aimee is made for this event. She looked great at the start joined by hundreds of others, she had her one pieces Speedo suit, big black numbers written on the sides of her arms , hat and goggles and pretty much just looked like a professional triathlette! Bernard, Rosa and I watched from shore as the countdown began and off they went, we instantly lost her in the swarm of waving arms and kicking feet but boy oh boy was it ever cool to watch! The group instantly headed out to sea and followed the edge of the coast protected by dozens of boats and the Coast Guard. She ended up with a time of around 45 minutes, she did great, we are all so proud of her!! So very busy morning and afternoon! Bernard and I then went exploring for awhile while the girls rested and then at 6:00 went to the movies followed my dinner at the Ribs Factory, game over!

Here is a cute little Hawksbill turtle I ran into the other day and just stopped and watched as he or she ever so gently lifted from the reef and swam to the surface for a breath of air. Most of you now know these turtles are on the decline, their numbers get less and less every year! If you type in Hawksbill Turtle into the Search box on the www.coralreefphotos.com site you can learn a little more!

I got up at 5:00am this morning in order to get to work on time and I am still running late, more tonight! Good luck with your Monday, bye now, Barry