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Temp: Surf 28°C Bottom 27°C
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Dive type : Recreational
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Visibility: Good
Water: Salt
Recent Divers in Darwin Island
Dive Shop & Buddies
Dive buddies:
Jennifer McDonald,
Tracy Newton,
Cathy Dingman,
James Shawver,
Dennis Zullig,
Johnny Kerr,
John Dingman
Dive Profile
- 1. Nitrox 32
- 12L Aluminium
203 → 22 bar
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- Average depth: 13.3m
Data provided by EOL.org
Species Identified
Rhincodon typus Smith, 1828 (Whale shark)
These sharks are usually solitary, but loose groups of up to 100 individuals have been sighted, often when they are feeding . Whale sharks appear to be highly migratory , and have been tracked for thousands of kilometres ....
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These sharks are usually solitary, but loose groups of up to 100 individuals have been sighted, often when they are feeding . Whale sharks appear to be highly migratory , and have been tracked for thousands of kilometres . Individuals who regularly visit the Ningaloo Reef in Australia, between March and May every year, appear to be mainly immature males . It is not clear whether movements across deep ocean basins follow prey routes or are undertaken for other reasons. Very little is known about the reproduction of the world's largest fish, but in 1995, one pregnant female was captured who contained nearly 300 foetuses . The species is ovoviviparous; the young hatch from eggs retained within the mother so that she then gives birth to live young. Whale sharks are fairly docile creatures and feed on planktonic organisms and small fish by suction filter-feeding . This species is thought to be a more dynamic filter-feeder than, for example, the basking shark, actively sucking food in through their vast mouths and passing the water over the gill arches, where prey are retained and then swallowed . They have also been observed actively swimming through shoals of fish with their mouth agape or hanging vertically in the water and drawing food into their mouths .
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
Sphyrna lewini (Griffith and Smith, 1834) (scalloped hammerhead)
Forming impressively large schools, female scalloped hammerheads gather in the Gulf of California during the day, around underwater mountains known as seamounts, where they perform a wide range of poorly-understood behavio...
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Forming impressively large schools, female scalloped hammerheads gather in the Gulf of California during the day, around underwater mountains known as seamounts, where they perform a wide range of poorly-understood behaviours . These aggregations are thought to be a result of many sharks, particularly younger females, seeking refuge in a safe place near a rich food supply, although many alternative theories have been put forward . Young scalloped hammerheads also tend to live in large schools, whereas adults usually occur singly, in pairs, or in small groups . These sharks feed on fish, cephalopods, lobsters, shrimps, crabs, other sharks, and rays. They are thought to be potentially dangerous to humans although few attacks have been recorded . The teeth of the scalloped hammerhead are best suited to seizing prey that can be swallowed whole, rather than ripping into larger prey. The hammer-shaped head is thought to be a mechanism to spread out the ampullae of Lorenzini – sensory organs that detect electric currents, chemicals in the water, and temperature changes . Larger shark species may attack young scalloped hammerheads, but adults have no natural enemies. Adults visit cleaning stations where fish known as cleaner wrasse remove parasites from their skin and mouths . During the 9 to 10 month gestation, the eggs of the scalloped hammerhead hatch inside the body of the female. After hatching, but before birth, they are nourished by a yolk sac placenta. The female moves to shallow waters during the summer where she will give birth to between 15 and 31 live young .
Carcharhinus galapagensis (Snodgrass and Heller, 1905) (Galapagos shark)
Fistularia commersonii Rüppell, 1838 (Bluespotted cornetfish)
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Smmcdonald
Ecuador
Date: 2018-06-15 - 09:47
Max Depth: 20.4m Duration: 48mins
Dive with Paulo from Explorer Ventures Liveaboard Diving
Giant hawkfish are unusually beautiful: they perch themselves up on their pectoral fins in recessed areas. Bigger than other hawkfish, they are usually about a foot in length. Their scales are smooth, and reveal a beautiful camouflage pattern of olive and grey-blue, with a brighter blue outline. I first saw them in Costa Rica in 2016. Here they are abundant as well, but always seem to attract my attention, and that of my camera. I was met by one soon into our second dive of the day. Above, the skies were still partly cloudy, but the rain storm on the horizon seemed to have moved off a bit. it was my turn for the attention of the mexican hogfish. I hung out a bit higher on the ledge than everyone else, staying about 40' for the first half of the dive. After a bit, I swam down to the others, and then as a group we headed out over the wall into the blue and among a large school of pacific creolefish. Not long, we heard a rattle and I turned to see Paulo quickly swimming out; we followed, and were soon rewarded with the site of another whale shark! Jen kicked into overdrive, but I knew it was too far and too fast. We missed a close encounter with this one, but the other group got a good shot. And after this morning, I was excited to be two-for-two, regardless of how close I was to the second one; icing on the cake. In the blue, we caught a glimpse of some tuna racing by overhead. Another successful dive, and time for lunch.