Mysterious Fish
posted in Conservation, Letting Off Steam |We were on a Dive site off the coast of Taba (I can’t remember the name of the site, Henry’s Hill or something) enjoying the scenery. On this particular site, it was common to see large Napolean Wrasse, several different types of Moray Eels and occasionally a few Rays swimming about.
We had been to 25 meters around the northern side of the hill, we were a group of 8, and had seen a bit of everything the site had to offer. Viz was pretty good, about 15 meters, which isn’t too bad for the Mud Flats of the Northern Gulf of Aquaba. We had returned to the Plataeu which lay in about ten meters and were preparing to ascend to our safety stop depth on the mooring line when one of the group spotted a strange shape at the edge of Viz and duly rang the alarm.
We all had a good look, it was difficult to see exactly what it was but my first impression was a wayward ray cruising near the surface. After a few minutes of squinting and gesticulating the arguement moved us toward the thought that it was a rather large Jelly fish. The current was nearly non-existent but it was heading our way so we waited. Eight people, hanging on a mooring line, all attention towards the mystery animal making its way slowly toward us.
As it came nearer I became absolutely sure it was a jellyfish as the amount of activity around it was evidence of a large population of small fish feeding away. It seemed to be in a half eaten state as one side was curiously shaped and the bunch beneath that should be its tentacles were not trailing anything of length.
When it came within 10 meters I was shocked, and a bit surprised to see that it was actually a rather large plastic bag drifting aimlessly through the water. Fish were all around it, picking at it and eating the algae off its well crusted edges. As a nursery for small fish, it was quite bountiful but I could imagine what it would do to a Turtle or other such creature who was in the habit of eating Jellyfish.
I did grab the bag and took it topside with me, possibly robbing several families of small fish of a food supply, but I felt justified in doing so.
In the Red Sea, I have seen so many plastic bags and so few Jellyfish that whenever I dive there now, I automatically sign “Plastic Bag” to my group and wait in the hopes that I will be proven wrong. Sadly, I am almost never proven wrong.