Daily Archives: Monday,July 25, 2016

Foggy Nights

Posted on by

Weather

We had a very windy Friday . The whole day the wind stayed around 30 knots from 5:00 AM to 18:00 PM . The rest of the WE was beautiful but foggy at night and in the morning. The fog horn has been working a lot those last mornings and nights but in the afternoons it has been really gorgeous .

Maintenance

The pump has been working for 8 hours in the WE, actually 4 hours each day, at the high tide and more hours will be necessary. The zodiac is now clean underneath and will be lighter and faster. Usual chores ;we have to clean the house windows almost 2 times a day.

Ecological

First flying exercises for the older chickens. I found a dead body with the guts above ! River otter ‘s job pretty sure. At the most 15 Sea lions on the adjacent rocks . Not one on Main and only 2 elephant seals .they have lost a lot of weight now.

Boats 

Many watching vessels and because there is not so much to see they make people enjoy their speed ,forgetting sometimes or often, where they are .

Scorpaenichthyes marmoratus: Cabezon–The Race Rocks Taxonomy

Posted on by

Scorpaenichthyes marmoratus

cabezonCabezon are normally benthic or bottom-dwellers, living among rocks and seaweeds in tide pools. Sometimes they live just below the water’s surface among the marine plants. Their coloration allows them to remain well camouflaged. Their habitat is most likely rocky, sandy and muddy bottoms, living in areas with a depth range of 0 to 200 meters. Moreover, young cabezon feed on small crustaceans like amphipods, shrimp, and crabs. The adults feed on crustaceans, marine worms and mollusks, including clams and abalone. They can swallow a whole abalone and later regurgitate the indigestible shell; therefore, their tropic level is that of a secondary carnivore. In addition, the limiting factors that will affect the development and growth of this population in a certain habitat will be the presence of enough light, temperature and the availability of food and living space.

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Sub-phylum Vertebrata
Class Actinopterygii
Order Scorpaeniformes
Family Cottidae
Genus Scorpaenichthyes
Species marmoratus
Common Name: Cabezon, Scorpion Fish

The cabezon ( literally big head in Spanish ) is a benthic fish that lives among the kelp holdfasts and rocky areas, usually very close to the bottom. It is often so confident of its camouflage that it will not move when approached by divers. Note the multi colored eye. These fish will lunge at almost anything that moves on the bottom. Dissections of their stomachs reveal amphipods and small crabs, pieces of kelp (and even rocks they have grabbed when foraging for other invertebrates.)

Their maximum length and weight are 99.0 centimeters and 14.0 Kilograms respectively. This organism can be seen in the Eastern Pacific, which covers the areas from Southeastern Alaska to Punta Abrejos, in Central Baja California, Mexico. Race Rocks is located in the centre of this range. In this map we can see the range of this fish.

mapReference The National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) BioBot
http://www.elasmodiver.com/BCMarinelife/BCML%20Chordata.htm

 

https://www.racerocks.ca/category/species/class-actinopterygii/
Other Members of the Class Actinopterygii at Race Rocks.

taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.

 

October,2009 : Original text by Diomedes Saldana Greco