Pictures
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Temp: Surf 27°C Bottom 27°C
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Dive type : Recreational, Drift, Reef, Photo, Connies' frst dive as PADI open water diver
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Visibility: Excellent
Water: Salt
Recent Pictures in Cozumel
Dive Shop & Buddies
Dive buddies:
Dennis,
Patti,
Kayla Wilson,
Madayln Wilson
Dive Profile
- 1. Air
- 10L Aluminium
207 → 55 bar
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- Average depth: 15m
Data provided by EOL.org
Species Identified
Ginglymostoma cirratum (Bonnaterre, 1788) (Nurse shark)
During the day the nurse shark is a sluggish animal, spending most of its time resting on sandy bottoms, or in crevices in rocks and coral reefs. Often several nurse sharks may congregate when resting, sometimes even pili...
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During the day the nurse shark is a sluggish animal, spending most of its time resting on sandy bottoms, or in crevices in rocks and coral reefs. Often several nurse sharks may congregate when resting, sometimes even piling on top of one another . At night however, the nurse shark actively roams the sea bottom and reef for prey. It feeds on bottom invertebrates such as spiny lobsters, shrimps, crabs, sea urchins, squid and octopi . It is also feeds on fish, its nocturnal nature enabling it to prey on resting fish that would be too active during the day to capture . The nurse shark's small mouth and large pharynx enable it to feed by a unique suction method, effectively making the nurse shark the 'hoover' of the ocean floor. By cupping its mouth over a hole or crevice and expanding its throat, it creates a vacuum that sucks prey out of their hiding . This suction-feeding is also useful for extracting snails from their shells , and it will dig in sand to root out prey sensed by its fleshy barbels . The nurse shark is one of few sharks in which courtship behaviour is relatively well known . The male swims alongside the female, grabs one of the pectoral fins in his mouth, rolls her over and they mate . A large number of males will often try to mate with a single female, and females often bear numerous bite-scars and bruises received during mating attempts. It is therefore not surprising that females frequently try to avoid males by swimming in very shallow water, where they can bury their pectoral fins in the sand . Nurse sharks are ovoviviparous , a method of reproduction whereby the young develop inside a weakly-formed egg shell within the mother, receiving nourishment from their yolk sac, for five to six months . The females move to shallow seagrass beds and coral reefs to give birth to 20 to 30 pups in late spring and summer . Like many sharks the nurse shark is slow growing, with males not reaching maturity until 10 to 15 years of age, and females 15 to 20 years .
Aetobatus narinari (Euphrasen, 1790) (Bishop ray)
Large groups of spotted eagle rays may be seen outside of the breeding season. These rays swim close to the surface and can occasionally be seen jumping clear out of the water (known as 'breaching') . Females give birth to...
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Large groups of spotted eagle rays may be seen outside of the breeding season. These rays swim close to the surface and can occasionally be seen jumping clear out of the water (known as 'breaching') . Females give birth to around 4 live young . Spotted eagle rays have heavy dental plates which they use to crush their hard-shelled prey ; they feed predominantly on bivalve shellfish .
Melichthys niger (Bloch, 1786) (Black triggerfish)
Canthidermis maculata (Bloch, 1786) (Spotted oceanic triggerfish)
Sphoeroides nephelus (Goode and Bean, 1882) (southern puffer)
Caretta caretta Linnaeus 1758 (Loggerhead Turtle)
Adults are primarily carnivorous, using their powerful jaws to crack open crustaceans such as crabs and even seemingly impenetrable molluscs such as the queen conch (Strombus gigas) and giant clam (Tridacna s...
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Adults are primarily carnivorous, using their powerful jaws to crack open crustaceans such as crabs and even seemingly impenetrable molluscs such as the queen conch (Strombus gigas) and giant clam (Tridacna spp.) . Loggerheads may reach sexual maturity at around 35 years old, and females appear to nest an average of three to five times in one breeding season, returning to breed every couple of years . Nesting occurs at night throughout the summer; females drag themselves out onto beaches beyond the high-tide mark and dig nests into which around 100 eggs are laid . Hatchlings and small juveniles appear to spend some time in pelagic environments, often drifting amongst rafts of sargassum and/or flotsam in the open ocean before migrating to benthic habitats in shallower, coastal waters .
Chelonia mydas Linnaeus 1758 (Green Turtle)
Green turtles are long-lived and may take up to 59 years to reach sexual maturity Undertaking tremendous feats of navigation, adults return to the same beach to breed each season, part of the population in Brazil astonish...
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Green turtles are long-lived and may take up to 59 years to reach sexual maturity Undertaking tremendous feats of navigation, adults return to the same beach to breed each season, part of the population in Brazil astonishingly migrates around 2,250 kilometres across the open ocean to breed on the Ascension Islands . Mating tends to occur just offshore of the nesting beaches; using a curved claw on each front flipper and a flat nail at the end of the tail, males are able to grip their mates . Females haul out onto the beach at night and dig large nests with their back flippers beyond the high tide mark, they typically lay between 100 and 150 eggs in one nest and then proceed to cover the eggs with sand; the whole process takes around two hours . A single female returns to breed only once every two to five years but will lay up to nine nests in that one season . Incubation takes between 45 and 70 days, and temperature has been shown to determine of the sex of hatchlings; with females being produced at warmer temperatures . Breaking open their eggs with a special hooked 'egg tooth' that will subsequently be lost; hatchlings use their powerful front flippers to reach the surface, and then proceed to the sea . The soft-bodied juveniles are particularly vulnerable at this time from a variety of predators, such as ghost crabs and gulls on the beach to sharks and dolphins in the water . Unlike other marine turtles, adult green turtles are almost exclusively herbivorous, grazing on seagrasses and algae ; it is assumed that juveniles are more omnivorous although the exact composition of their diet is unknown
Lepidochelys kempii Garman 1880 (Kemp's Ridley Turtle)
Along with the olive ridley, Kemp's ridley turtle used to exhibit mass synchronised nestings known as 'arribadas' (Spanish for 'mass arrivals'), where thousands of females came ashore on the same beach to nest at the same ...
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Along with the olive ridley, Kemp's ridley turtle used to exhibit mass synchronised nestings known as 'arribadas' (Spanish for 'mass arrivals'), where thousands of females came ashore on the same beach to nest at the same time . Since the precipitous fall in population numbers however, these spectacular phenomena are now much smaller . The nesting season peaks in May and June and unusually amongst turtles, nesting occurs during the day . Females lay an average of two to three clutches during the breeding season, each clutch containing about 90 eggs, they return every year or two to nest . During 2004, a record 42 Kemp's ridley turtle nests were found on the Texas coast. Most were located in the southern part of the state, but some nests were found on the upper part of the Texas coast as well. In addition to the Texas nests, four others were found in the U.S. during 2004 in northwest Florida . Adults are carnivorous bottom-feeders, eating a wide range of prey including fish, jellyfish, although crabs are the mainstay of their diet .
Sphyraena barracuda (Edwards, 1771) (Alho)
Panulirus argus (Latreille, 1804) (Caribbean spiny lobster)
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Big Daddy
Mexico
Date: 2011-12-25 - 11:46
Max Depth: 22.6m Duration: 50mins
Dive with Matu from Dahab Dive Paradise
Connie is now PADI open water diver! Merry Christmas!! Dennis, Patti & Matu all helped calm her, but she did incredible. Very memorable, and I tok a lot of good photos.