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Dive type : Recreational
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Water: Salt
Data provided by EOL.org
Species Identified
Bolbometopon muricatum (Valenciennes, 1840) (Green humphead parrotfish)
The gregarious humphead parrotfish is always found in small shoals, sometimes consisting of up to 75 individuals . It feeds on a diet of live corals and algae that grow on the ocean bottom, and uses its large bulbous head...
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The gregarious humphead parrotfish is always found in small shoals, sometimes consisting of up to 75 individuals . It feeds on a diet of live corals and algae that grow on the ocean bottom, and uses its large bulbous head to ram the coral to break it into smaller, more easily digested pieces . Its beak-like front teeth and pharyngeal teeth at the back of the throat adeptly grind down this food, reducing the hard coral to a paste and breaking down the algae . Any hard, un-nutritious material is passed out in the fish's faeces . As a consequence, adult humphead parrotfish, which are estimated to consume five to six tonnes of coral each year, produce substantial amounts of sediment and influence the structure of coral reefs, thus playing an important role in the coral reef ecosystem . Humphead parrotfish aggregate to spawn at a certain time each month, often around the time of the full moon, in reef channels and passages. Spawning often takes place in early morning , when females release eggs to be fertilized in the water by the sperm released by the male. These large spawning aggregations may consist of around 100 individuals. Large groups of humphead parrotfish are also found when they are sleeping. These large fish can live to an age of at least 40 years .
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
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Thierry
New Caledonia
Date: 1997-03-20 - 10:00
Max Depth: 21m Duration: 36mins
Houle -- Banc de perroquets à bosse - Tortue