How To Be A Mermaid/Marine Biologist
Looking throughout old sketchbooks of rockfish and found these from my NOAA/NMFS days as a Research Fisheries Biologist. Fun, fun, fun…. contemplating Quillback Stock Assessment. oh the memories of analyzing all the West Coast spatially enabled trawl data for groundfishes, making conclusions about Rockfish Conservation Areas and other such mer-things.
Quillback Stock Assessment
Flag Rockfish
Coral Doodles
Original watercolors are for sale at Mama Ganache Chocolate Shop in downtown San Luis Obispo, California
R is for Reef Realestate
Native Name: Bahura
The Reef is an underwater ocean city
Made of the colors & creatures also found in the depths of your imagination.
Brilliant blue angels & purple porcupines
Tangerine sponges & lemon sharks
Dolphin queens & dugong kings
Creepy crawlers, poisonous spines, silky pearls & polka dots
of every shape and size.
Some eat plants, some eat each other.
Forever living, forever breathing, watching, building, swimming and eating.
They dance, enchant and take your breath away.
Forever & ever & ever
Q is for Quinque
Scientific Name: Quinquelineatus
Common Name: Five-lined snapper
Tagalog: Maya maya
A lot can be found in a name.
This is a school of Five Lined Snapper aka Lutjanus quinqueliniatus
We enjoy swimming and eating together over the coral reef.
Quinque means five.
Qunique is an important part of our scientific name.
It describes who we are and what we look like.
We have five of something, can you figure out what?
Hint: it’s long and blue.
P is for Purple Parrotfish Poop
Scientific Name: Scarus niger
Palawan: Mol Mol, Tagalog: Loro Loro
These Parrotfish are one of many contributors to the beautiful tropical white sand beaches in The Coral Triangle. They are particularly fond of eating the algae film that grows on coral. They chomp into the coral with their beak (actually fused teeth) to get a mouthful of both coral and algae. The crushed coral helps the fish digest the algae and is then pooped out in the form of particularly perfect, soft, white sand. Next time you are relaxing on your tropical vacation, remember to thank the parrotfish.
Side Note: These particularly pretty purple parrotfish look most like the male Swarthy Parrotfish – Scarus niger. The ones observed here have slightly different spot patterns behind the eyes but it could be a local variation or due to a shift between initial and terminal phases. This is the way I saw them so this is the way I paint them. There is also that glorious possibility that they are a new species, sigh, the scientific holy grail.
pen ketch of Female (above) and Male (below)
M is for Mola Mola
Scientific Name: Mola mola
The Mola Mola is also known as The Sunfish because she likes to bask in the sun. She dives into the cold dark depths of the ocean to fill up her belly with jellyfish. When the cool deep waters chill her bones, she swims all the way back up, up, up to the surface, lies on her side and soaks up the warm sun rays. Sometimes a sea bird will drop down and pick off all the little hitchhiking bugs on her tail. Because they are so slow and docile, they are the most highly parasitized fish in the ocean (Disgustingly long tape worms are a common hitchhiker).
The little orange fish on the left is a baby picture, from when she was a teeny tiny microscopic mola mola floating in the plankton as she grew and grew. Molas are the largest teleosts and grow from 10 microns to over 10 feet wide.
J is for Jellyfish loving Juvenile Jack
Scientific name: Gnathanodon speciosus
Tagalog: Leson & Labong Labong
Juvenile Jacks love Giant Jellyfish.
They have tough skin so the jellyfish tentacles only sting a little bit.
Having jellyfish protection when a big fish wants to eat you is worth a little sting.
This bright yellow jack is also known as Golden Trevally and like most trevally, they get HUGE.
Jacks are truly a « Jack of all trades ». Jacks patrol their reef, but they can also compete in the open ocean or expore sandy shallows or swim around the mangroves.
They are large and in charge predators and even boss around the reef sharks.
At least they are once they grow up, and to do that they have to survive with tricks like swimming with jellyfish.
The Bluestreaked Cleaner Wrasse
Labroides dimidiatus
The fastidious and diplomatic nature of the reef cleaning station is impressive. The technicians are nimble fish with a bold, electric blue stripe running the length of their body, Labroides dimidiatus. The venue can be any rocky outcrop, shelf or coral head. Fish and turtles stop in for a free aquatic body scrub, mani-pedi, or teeth whitening (algae and parasite removal is not as catchy and I imagine they would use something more modern on their signage). Customers float through and they rush out like 50’s gas station attendants, plucking, pulling and buffing under fins and scales, between teeth and gill rakers. This is a neutral zone, the Switzerland of the reef world, nobody eats the beauticians and nobody is turned away. You could be a 6-foot toothy shark or a 3 inch angelfish, and everyone is accepted, no discrimination.
Or is there?
The creatures in this particular bay are heavily fished, giving them a natural fear of people. My slow, relatively cumbersome snorkeling is regarded with suspicion. I’m a floating Godzilla creating waves of panicked colorful reef fish spasming with their evasive maneuvers. Trying my best to look benign and nonthreatening I float by the stations, again and again and again. The secret “I’m ready to be cleaned now” ON button eludes me. There are no parasites hanging off my legs or algae growing on my back, this alien air breather does not really NEED it so it’s not that surprising to be ignored. I am American, wanting what I don’t need comes natural to me. I want to be cleaned too. I want to feel included in the action, a part of the community, treated like everyone else.
Side Note: It has been a lonely last few months out on this island, I’m logging a lot of alone time. I am not sure how it started but there is now a regular dialogue between me and the Tiger gecko living in my kitchen. He responds to my random thoughtful statements so I justify talking out loud “to him” because he is the only one listening. I started calling him Wilson but he didn’t like it so I stopped.
The executive decision was made (between me, myself and Wilson) to do a daily survey of what has not worked so far. Yesterday I wore the red polka dot bikini, no sunscreen, possible remnants of bug spray and sweat, high tide, morning. Morning mental notes that will help me get closer to discovering the magic combination.
On an early morning low tide, after weeks of rejection a break through. (Powder blue bikini with lavender piping, sporty and supportive, no bug spray). Floating over an unimpressive algae covered rock, I stood up to clear the fog from my mask and a pair of wrasses peeked out to investigate. They swam around my legs, up and around down and through. Finally! “Yaaaaay!” floated up out of the snorkel. Perhaps business was slow at this station. They politely gave me a once over and pecked a few times here and there until they were satisfied. Their approval felt good. Godzilla can make friends with the natives.
One fine Day. A nice leisurely morning swim. The light danced cheerfully over the benthos, fish flitting about the reef in a less panicked pattern than usual. Suddenly, out of depths: CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP! Excessively strong pain to the derrière! Then another one! Yikes!
A big fat cleaner wrasse looked up at me, straight in the eyes. Like a giddy teen I giggled. He continuing to peck his way down my legs. Unexpectedly being bitten from behind, on your behind, is always startling but all is immediately forgiven in the neutral land of Switzerland.
For the rest of the week, cleaner wrasses zipped out to clean me at every rocky outcrop. What was different? Had my leg hair grown out significantly? More freckles than last week? More bug bites? Maybe some new moles, skin tags, or parasites? Algae growth higher than usual? I can only conclude that juicy gossip is unstoppable on an island. Word got out around the reef that I was safe, game for some cleaning and a nice piece of ass. I am now accepted by my fishy neighbors and colleagues, they can’t get enough of me.
How do you turn on a cleaner wrasse? I have no clue but I did it.
Mermaid Scientist 