BSAC Advanced Instructor Course March 2009 Dive Deep Blue, Malta

Marine Life Recognition during a Dive Mick Peakman OWI 5367 Dive Deep Blue

Introduction One of the great pleasures of diving for many people is to see marine life in its’ natural environment. There are thousands of different species of fish, hundreds of different types of coral, sponges & so on, so how can we possibly recognise them all? The answer is, of course, that we can’t! What we can do is to recognise classes & families by their unique features & where we might find them. That way we start to build up our knowledge of marine life & increase our diving pleasure.

Marine Life The subject of todays lecture is Marine Life Recognition during a dive. I will be concentrating on diving in the Mediterranean.

Classification All creatures are identified by Class, Order, Family, Genera & finally Species. Stationary Marine Life Slow moving Marine LifeA diver could catch it Fast moving Marine LifeNo chance! We are going to look at three types of Marine Life.

Recognition Demersal Starfish, sea cucumber, Gunard. Some slow, some fast. Barracuda, Damsel fish, Jacks, Groupers. All fast moving. Pelagic Flying Gunard Barracuda Bottom dwellingMid-water dwelling

Recognition Benthic Sea urchin, sea fan, neptune grass, sponges. Sea Urchin Sponges Attached to bottom

Stationary marine life Examples include Sponges, tube worms, grasses, sea fans, anemones & sea urchins. Tube Worm Sea Urchin

Moving marine life Slow moving creatures Fish, eels, rays, octopus. Fast moving creatures Starfish, Sea Horse, Snail. Sea Horse Eagle Ray

Marine Identification Moray Eel Conger Eels Snake like.

Marine Identification Ornate Wrasse Wrasse Often brightly coloured.

Marine Identification White or Saddled Bream Bream Silvery colour, often banded.

Marine Identification Scorpion fish Well camouflaged in grasses, timid. Raised dorsal fin when threatened.

Marine Identification Starfish Five legs, star shaped.

Marine Identification Jelly fish Jelly like with long trailing tentacles.

Marine Identification Cuttlefish Chameleon, hovers in water, no fish-like fins. Cuttlefish

Today we have looked at how we can recognise Marine Life during a dive. Summary Many thousands of fish species. Marine life can be classed into three habitat types. Are there any questions? Many hundreds of coral, sponges & grasses. Need to recognise family features including physical & habitat. What does this mean?

BSAC Advanced Instructor Course March 2009 Dive Deep Blue, Malta Thank you for listening Mick Peakman