Heal the Bay Blog

Today’s blogger is staffer Jose Bacallao, senior aquarist at Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium.

Winter can be brutal in So Cal. I know all the East Coast transplants in L.A. are rolling their eyes right now – but it’s wet, cold and windy here, too.  Moreover, working as an aquarist at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium – shorts and flip flops being the uniform of choice – December can really hurt. Yes indeed, it hurts from our little toes to the tips of our fingers.

So, whether it’s hot or cold, we have to get in the water once a week to collect kelp and other organisms for the Aquarium. Collecting is a top priority as our animals need fresh algae, live mysid shrimp and other animals to thrive on exhibit, enabling us to educate the public and the students from hundred of schools that visit annually. This past week we went “jelly fishing”.

Over the past four years our team of aquarist staff and interns has been culturing and exhibiting Moon Jellies. We work hard to grow our sea jellies in-house and culture new “baby jellies” (ephyrae) to avoid having to collect live sea jellies from the wild. But over the past several weeks, following two power outages, we lost the majority of our moon jellies. The power outages devastated our culture and exhibit program. After much discussion and debate, staff agreed the time had come to bring in a few wild specimens and “start over” again. This was an exciting opportunity not only to revitalize the Aquarium’s sea jelly culture, but also to involve our aquarist interns on a fun collection trip.

We spent a few days communicating with colleagues from other aquaria in order to find the best collection spot and after getting a great tip, we decided that our best shot would be trying a secret spot in Long Beach. We were very anxious for the next morning and our chance to collect new moon jellies. Although moon jellies aren’t very good swimmers (they’re plankton after all) we knew that just because they were spotted on Monday didn’t guarantee they’d be there Tuesday morning. A lot can happen in just a few hours, just ask the Lakers and Chris Paul.

When we arrived the next morning, we were stoked. In the back section of the bay we spotted about 300-400 moon jellies. The collection plan was very direct and easy. Our interns were to walk the docks with buckets and collection bags and access the jellies from land, while Seth and I collected from the water. I’ll be honest, I had never tried the latter method but I had a really good feeling about it. You see for the past few months we’ve been spending our lunch hour on our stand up paddleboards (SUP) so we thought, why not? 

Let me tell you, there is no better way to collect jellies than on my C4 iSUP! Aquarist Seth Lawrence on his board and me on mine, with coolers, nets and bags and in no time we had collected our targeted amount. Together we collected 25 adult moon jellies. We carefully bagged our jellies for transport, careful to keep them free from air bubbles, treated our interns to a celebratory “victory coffee” and drove them back to the Aquarium. They are now on exhibit at the Aquarium and we are working hard to start a new culture of baby jellies. With some luck and cooperation from the moon jellies, we hope to be back to tip-top shape by end of winter.

Meanwhile, come visit these graceful creatures on exhibit at the Aquarium or for a meaningful holiday gift, aquadopt one »

We collected a sample of water off the Santa Monica Pier today, and got a bit of a surprise. Instead of the blue-gray water that we usually collect, a rusty, brownish-red liquid filled the collection jar. Welcome back red tide!

Aquarium staff has been bombarded with questions regarding what people perceive as “polluted water” these past few days. So here’s a little background on this interesting phenomenon.

The term red tide is a bit of a misnomer as the color of the water is usually not red, and the blooms are not associated with the tides. Hmm….ponder that wonder of science.

Red tides occur when there is a high concentration of mostly dinoflagellates, a small, single-celled phytoplankton that possess two flagella, or whiplike projections. The water appears as a rusty-brownish color as the light reflects off the accessory pigments in the cells of the numerous phytoplankton, or algae, floating on the surface.

Dinoflagellates reproduce by fission, meaning the single cell divides in half and then creates two new cells, and so on and so on as the population continues to grow exponentially. Under the right conditions the organisms can reproduce once a day, creating a massive population bloom. During the peak of the red tide there can often be tens or hundreds of thousands of dinoflagellates in one drop of water.

This phenomenon can occur all over the world, and about 200 species are known to cause the red tide. However, during a red tide other organisms aside from the dinoflagellates have been found, such as cyanobacteria and diatoms.

Contrary to what many believe, not all red tides are harmful. But to be clear, many can cause adverse health effects.

Many of the dinoflagellates that are responsible for these occurrences are simple organisms. However about a third of the species causing red tides have the ability to produce toxins as metabolic by-products.

During a toxic bloom, mussels, clams and other shellfish that filter feed plankton as a food source, end up concentrating high amounts of the dinoflagellates and can tolerate the toxins by storing it in digestive glands or other tissues. However, when people eat these animals they can suffer nausea/vomiting, diarrhea, tingling or numbness. Fatalities can occur in the most severe cases. This is known as Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) and one species of dinoflagellate in the genus Alexandrium is the culprit. That’s the reason behind the annual mussel harvesting quarantine along the entire California coast from May 1- Oct. 31.

Red tides are unpredictable and the causes of them are not entirely known, however, red tides have been occurring more frequently. Some factors that may contribute to the blooms are reduced salinity, optimal light and nutrients, warm surface temperatures, transport in ballast water of ships and pollution. Sewage and fertilizer found in urban runoff contribute a high level of phosphates and nitrates into the ocean environment. Burning of fossil fuels also contributes to the amount of nitrogen, and is considered the greatest source to the open ocean environment. Excessive amounts of these nutrients cause the primary producers to grow rapidly.

Primarily a problem in coastal habitats, the algae grow quickly and reduce the amount of sunlight that is able to penetrate to the bottom. As the phytoplankton blooms and then dies, and as metabolic wastes builds up from the zooplankton and fish that feed on the abundant phytoplankton, decay bacteria break down the matter and in the process use up the oxygen. Also, due to the turbulence in the water the decaying phytoplankton become crushed and create a foaming effect on the shore.

What does all this mean to the beachgoers and lovers of the sea? Some believe that swimming, boating, or breathing sea spray that is affected with red tide organisms can cause eye irritations, skin discomfort and sore throats, so be careful out there! But do go out there and check it out. It’s pretty amazing.

Oh, and if you have the chance to visit the ocean at night, check out the bioluminescence that occurs in the waves. These dinoflagellates can take energy from a chemical reaction and convert it to light energy so that they produce an awesome blue-green light that looks like a fireworks show in the water.

Happy exploring!

—Vicki Wawerchak, Director, Santa Monica Pier Aquarium

Today’s blogger is staffer Vicki Wawerchak, the director of Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium.

I could hear my Mr. Coffee beginning its drip in the room next door and I knew it would be mere minutes before the repetitive chirp from my bedside alarm would alert me that it was 5:30 a.m. It had been a few rough weeks at work; long hours at the Aquarium and my body resisted the notion that I needed to get out of bed. Not many things get me up at this hour—a plane ride to a distant exotic location, an early morning training walk (albeit begrudgingly), a drive to pick up out of town friends—but this morning I was diving the Star of Scotland, a former gambling ship that sunk just off the Santa Monica Pier in 1942.

There is a romantic eeriness surrounding the subject of shipwrecks that has piqued my interest since I saw a Titanic exhibit at the Queen Mary when I was eight years old. Since then, I’ve been fascinated by wreck diving and allowed my imagination to soar as to what went on before the ship found its final resting place at the bottom of the sea. I wondered about the conversations that took place behind the closed cabin doors, the shoes that were worn while ascending stairs to reach different decks, the food served to satiate the crew and guests, the color of the hand towels used by people decades ago and the unfortunate lives that were sometimes lost during its descent through stormy waves.

I first heard of the Star of Scotland about a year ago and was even more surprised to hear that it was situated so close to the Santa Monica Pier. We had talked about organizing a collection dive on it for months, but schedules had never cleared until now. Our dive team included Jose Bacallao (HtB Senior Aquarist), Seth Lawrence (HtB Aquarist), Sarah Sikich (HtB Coastal Resources Director), and Zack Gold (longtime Aquarium volunteer, Santa Monica High recent graduate, activist and friend). We met in Marina Del Rey, geared up and met up with Ron Beltramo from Eco-Dive Center to board his biodiesel vessel, the Bat Ray. Eco-Dive Center has supported the Aquarium and Heal the Bay for years—offering gear rental, tank fills, monetary donations and access to dive boats—and Heal the Bay is grateful for their continued partnership.

As the Bat Ray motored north the divers set up their gear, talked about their dive plan and discussed what needed to be collected for the Aquarium’s exhibits. Conversations circled around the site’s notorious sightings: lumbering, critically-endangered giant sea bass, nudibranchs so big you would think they were on steroids, and the colorful carpets of anemones that decorate the metal remains 80 feet under the surface.

We anchored at the site and were delighted that water conditions looked great—glassy, good visibility and no wind. We put up the dive flag, discussed our dive plan one more time, passed out collection gear and entered the water ready for our underwater adventure. On the surface we were pleasantly surprised at water temp–about 66 degrees–and the aquarists were laying breakfast burrito bets on how many thermoclines (temperature gradients) we were going to pass through on our descent.

As we descended, the plankton was thick and it appeared before my mask like a gelatinous viewing screen filled with various shapes and sizes. We bottomed out at a cold 55 degrees at 75 feet and colors exploded everywhere we looked. The ship was broken apart into various sections and covered a larger area than I had anticipated. Much of the surface was covered with pink, magenta and coral-colored Corynactis anemones and in some areas it was so densely populated that you could barely see the metal frame the anemones adhered to. The amount and size of nudibranchs was like nothing I had ever seen and I set out to collect some various species and had no problem finding Triopha, Peltodoris and Flabellina.

Our team moved with quiet precision, looking in window frames to find kelp bass, sheephead and blacksmith lurking inside. We swam towards the bow observing the size and abundance of cabezon, sand bass, scallops and cowries. We found an open area of the wreck that was large enough to carefully enter, allowing us to examine what had moved in and called it home. 

Jose and I communicated underwater about the number of species we needed for our exhibits, showing each other how many we collected and the various types of animals in our collection bags to ensure we weren’t taking more than was needed.  In the distance I heard a muffled regulator yell of excitement that usually meant something incredible was spotted but I couldn’t find the source and looked forward to the download when we got topside. 

The dive continued for about 30 minutes before we all regrouped and made the ascent to our safety stop before breaking the surface squealing and screaming in enthusiastic delight. Many of us were talking at once–not believing the size of the animals nor the abundance, the overwhelming sight of lost fishing lures, weights and fishing line, and hearing that the excited yell was because Seth and Zack spotted a giant sea bass.  I was excited for them but a bit jealous.

We loaded animals in coolers of salt water and started talking about how we wanted to organize an underwater cleanup for all the fishing gear that littered the wreck. It was a distracting mess amongst the natural beauty of the organisms that populated the habitat and we were all looking forward to further talks about making this happen. (Ron set up a Facebook page calling for help with underwater cleanups ongoing throughout October) Our surface sit time was about an hour so we lunched, watched pods of bottlenose and common dolphins cruising by, changed out tanks and were ready to embark on dive No. 2.

We decided that the first dive was fruitful enough with our collection, so we agreed to leave most of the gear bags on deck during this round. Jose asked if I wanted a light to explore the nooks and crannies of the dive and I practically knocked him over when I blurted out “No!” The thought of diving with nothing in my hands—no gear bags, no baggies, no rubber bands wrapped around my wrists—was amazing. I couldn’t remember the last time I went on a dive just to dive—to observe the liquid environment without the mission of collection sounded wonderful.

The second dive was amazing, visibility was a bit better and we ended up seeing four giant sea bass. To see a three- to four-foot fish suspended in mid column, looking straight at you, not moving a fin, parasitic copepods hanging from its scales, brought everything together for me.

Getting in the water that day was the best thing I could have done. That connection to the ocean recharges me. The reason I sit in front of my computer until all hours of the evening was right there, all four feet of it. To be immersed in this environment and see the ocean thriving because of the work we do every day with Heal the Bay is extremely rewarding. We do have to get back there to clean the site up, and we will, because that is what’s needed and that is how we work. We don’t stop until the ocean is clean. I came to the surface; I had one of the best mornings I have had in a long time and realized the giant sea bass and all the other beautiful animals we saw down there in the deep weren’t the only creatures thriving.

Sign up for an Eco Dive Center Star of Scotland cleanup here.

Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium joins more than 1,000 museums across the country this summer as a member of Blue Star Museums, a program offering free admission to all active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day 2011.  

Blue Star Museums is a collaboration of the National Endowment of the Arts, 1,300 museums nationwide and Blue Star Families. Blue Star Families is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit network of military families from all ranks and services, including guard and reserve, with a mission to support, connect and empower military families. 

The free admission program is available to active-duty military and their immediate family members (military ID holder and five immediate family members).  Active duty military include Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and active duty National Guard and active duty Reserve members.

The Aquarium is open regular weekend hours, 12:30 to 6:00 p.m. on July 2nd and 3rd, closed on Monday, July 4th.

View other museums participating in the Blue Star program.

Photo: brittanylynae via Flickr