BSAC Advanced Instructor Course
March 2009
Dive Deep Blue, Malta
Marine Life Recognition during a Dive
Mick Peakman
OWI 5367
Dive Deep Blue
IntroductionOne 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 Life A diver could catch it
Fast moving Marine Life No 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 GunardBarracuda
Bottom dwelling Mid-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 creaturesFish, eels, rays, octopus.
• Fast moving creaturesStarfish, Sea Horse, Snail.
Sea HorseEagle Ray
Marine Identification
Moray EelConger
• 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
• Scorpion fishWell camouflaged in grasses, timid.
Raised dorsal fin when threatened.
Marine Identification
Starfish• Starfish Five legs, star shaped.
Marine Identification
Jelly fish
• 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
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