Category Archives: Archived Video

Elephant seal Catastrophic Moult

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Race Rocks is at the northern limit of distribution of the Elephant Seal. They often number from 2 to 3 large males and 4 or 5 females. Arriving in January, they usually stay through the summer on the middle island and then leave for several months in the winter. Elephant seals often undergo a juvenile moult on the local beaches of Victoria when several years old. This individual may be at the end of such a moult as it still has a few sore spots on it’s coat. They end up on beaches where they wallow in the sand to keep the flies off. Members of the public often report them to the “authorities” as being diseased in appearance as their skin is blistered and raw. There has even been an example in the past few years in the local Victoria area when an animal in such condition was reported to the authorities as sick and due to ignorance, the animal was shot by an animal control officer. Of course this outraged some of some local residents who had been observing it for weeks as it was going through the moult, but the mistake had been made. So humans — leave well enough alone. Misguided intervention is not helpful for this rather rare pinniped

Elephant Seal Moulting 2

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Race Rocks is at the northern limit of distribution of the Elephant Seal. They often number from 2 to 3 large males and 4 or 5 females. Arriving in January, they usually stay through the summer on the middle island and then leave for several months in the winter. Elephant seals often undergo a juvenile moult on the local beaches of Victoria when several years old. This individual may be at the end of such a moult as it still has a few sore spots on it’s coat. They end up on beaches where they wallow in the sand to keep the flies off. Members of the public often report them to the “authorities” as being diseased in appearance as their skin is blistered and raw. There has even been an example in the past few years in the local Victoria area when an animal in such condition was reported to the authorities as sick and due to ignorance, the animal was shot by an animal control officer. Of course this outraged some of some local residents who had been observing it for weeks as it was going through the moult, but the mistake had been made. So humans — leave well enough alone. Misguided intervention is not helpful for this rather rare pinniped.

Sunset on Race Rocks Video

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Race Rocks, with its location in the Strait Juan de Fuca, often gets illuminated in the evening by sunsets such as this one. It adds to the beauty of the site and reminds one of the importance of protecting such a place. In this video, the Pearson College Choir accompanies the video with the singing of the ‘Skidigate Love Song’. This video was made and edited by Jean-Olivier Dalphond (PC 26) in June 2001.

Saltwater Images of Race Rocks and music of Holly Arntzen

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When Race Rocks was declared Canada’s first Marine Protected Area, Holly Arntzen offered Pearson College the opportunity to use some of her songs as video backgrounds. Her CD entitled “The Salish Sea” is about the fading beauties of the oceans and it stresses the importance of their protection.

Using the song “Saltwater” as a background, this video shows images of divers and the bull kelp, Nereocystis leutkeana, a species of brown algae present in high density throughout the summer and fall at Race Rocks. Their lamina provide a special protective canopy for a delicate ecosystem with many species of invertebrates and fish under their canopy. This video was filmed and edited by Jean-Olivier Dalphond (PC yr26) and Damien Guihen (PC yr27) in June 2001.

California Sea lions hauled out at Race Rocks Docks

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From August to November, a group of California Sea Lions hauls out on the shore to the East of the Docks with a few even staying on the docks. They get very used to the boats docking there and are often joined by a few large Northern sea lions as well. The constant barking sound comes from the California Sea lions, and the low growls are from the Northerns.”

Anarrhichthys ocellatus: Wolf Eel –The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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Anarrhichthys ocellatus

wolfjas

This video shows Pearson College Diver Jason Reid with a wolf eel and was broadcast live in the Underwater Safari Program in October 1992

Description: Although the behaviors of the wolf eel are relatively limited at this moment, they still deem to be one of the most interesting species found in the waters. Its name originates from the greek word Anarhichas-– a fish in which the wolf eel resembles– and the latin word ocellatus which means eye-like spots. In general, Wolf-eels are easily to identify. There name suggests that they resemble eel like structures which range in colour from grey to brown or green. Starting from a young age, their coloration starts with a burnt orange spotted look graduallty changing into a dominant grey for males and brown for females. The males and females both have a dorsal fin that stretches from head to the end of their body. On average, a Wolf-eel is seen to possess a body of 2 meters long and characterized by a unique pattern of spots that appear to be individualized both in males and in females. In addition, the Wolf-eel possesses a large square head coupled with powerful jaws and canine teeth allowing for easier mastication– a beneficial adaptation to its environment of hard-shelled animals.
Classification:
Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Actinopterygii
SuperOrder Acanthoptergygii
Order Perciformes
SubOrder Zoarcoide
Family Anarhichadidae
Genus Anarrhichthys
Species ocellatus
Common Name: Wolf-eel

Habitat and Range: Wolf-eels can most abundantly be found from the sea of Japan and the Aleutian islands continuing southwards to imperial beach, Southern California. Wolf-eels live from barely subtidal waters to 740 feet (Love, 1996). The island of Racerocks is one of the sites in the Pacific Northwest in which the Wolf-eel can be found. Exploring the island, the most common places would be near the Rosedale reef and along the cliff near the docks. The rocky reefs and stony bottom shelves at shallow and moderate depths serve to be the abodes of the Wolf-eel. They will usually stake out a territory in a crevice, den or lair in the rocks. In addition, the Wolf-eel possesses a long, slender body which allows them to squeeze into their rocky homes. During the juveniles years of the Wolf-eel, they can most commonly be found in the upper part of the water, residing there for about two years. As the Wolf-eel ages, it will slowly migrate to the ocean floor and maintain an active lifestyle. Eventually, the Wolf-eel will find a rock shelter and “vegetate” for the remainder of its lifespan.

Diet: The adaptation of the Wolf-eel’s jaw to crush hard objects, as mentioned, deems to be beneficial for eating other organisms around its environment. The gourment delicacies that the Wolf-eel feeds upon are crustaceans, sea urchins, mussels, clams, snails some other fishes.

Mating and Other Interesting Facts: In aquaria, males and females form pairs at about 4 years of age and produce eggs at 7 years old. Spawning usually occurs from October into late winter. A male will butt his head against the female’s abdomen then wrap himself around her as a sign for a mating call. It has been found that the male fertilizes the eggs as they are laid and up to 10 000 eggs can be released at a single time. The father and mother will then wrap themselves around the egg masses and will guard the eggs for about 13-16 weeks when the eggs will then hatch. Possible predators that prey on the eggs include Benthic rockfishes and kelp greenlings. This process will continue periodically and repetitively for the lifespan of a Wolf-eel as it has been found that Wolf-eel’s mate for life.

Conservation Notes: At the moment, many fishers use rockhopper trawls to fish rough, rocky sea floors. This method causes the destruction of the rocky reefs in which the Wolf-eel resides. At the current moment, scientists are calling for a halt in the use of rockhopper trawls and an alternative method of using longline traps which don’t harm the rocky reefs.

References: Love, Milton, Probably more than you want to know about the fishes of the Pacific Coast: A humorous guide to Pacific fishes, California, Really Big Press, 1996, pg. 298
Lamb, Andy and Edgell, Phil, Coastal Fishes of the Pacific Northwest, BC Canada, Harbour Publishing, 1986, pg. 94.
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.
Dec. 2001 Zaheer Kanji, (PC) Edmonton Alberta

 

Webcast to Conference in New York from underwater Race Rocks

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During a presentation to the ETC conference at the United Nations School in New York in the spring of 2001, we tried out the underwater audio link from DIVELINK . An audio signal is relayed by SONAR for Ryan to a receiver near the docks. This receiver was connected to the audio input on the G3 laptop computer and to the shore tender as well. Both voices could be carried by the Sorenson Broadcaster first by wireless AirPort and then onto the internet. In this way we were able to communicate from underwater in the Pacific Ocean live by internet to the Altlantic coast. In this video, Ryan Murphy, a student at Pearson College, operates the device and the camera was operated by Jean-Olivier Dalphond, also a student at the college.

Release of Entangled Sea lion- DFO and Vancouver Aquarium

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On December 13, 2009, Ryan Murphy reported to DFO that a sea lion on Middle Island was entangled in ropes. (See Ryan’s comments below) The ropes were snagged so it could not leave the rock. A rescue was mounted by DFO and the Marine Mammal Rescue Centre of the Vancouver Aquarium on December 16. This was the first time a sea lion had been successfully released from such an entanglement.

 

Further comments from resident marine scientist and ecoguardian at Race Rocks Ryan Murphy
: December 21 2009

Ryan was interviewed for this article in the Goldstream Gazette: Daring Sealion Rescue at Race Rocks

“Normally, neither DFO or the Vancouver Aquarium will intervene with entangled pinnipeds (seals and sea lions), but this case was special for a number of reasons.
1.  The sea lion was actually tethered to the rocks.  These animals are really tough and can often survive for years with their entanglements.  If tranquilized, these animals would take to the water and most likely drown before a rescue team could get to it.  This wasn’t the case here and so a rescue operation was a viable option.
2.  Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) like this one are listed as a species of special concern under SARA and as such are afforded a higher priority than other more abundant species like harbour seals and california sea lions.
3.  This animal was most likely spotted within 24 hours of its entanglement and was still in relatively good health.  Mike Demarchi of LGL who was on the island monitoring DND activity on nearby Bentinck Island and Rocky Point first spotted it on the morning of the 13th and his team and I were able to keep a very close eye on it during the daylight hours.  It was reported to DFO’s Observe, Record, Report (ORR) line (1-800-465-4336) and the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rehabilitation Centre (at 604-258-SEAL (7325) or via the emergency phone at 604-862-1647).  A case like this on an offshore haul out would most likely have resulted in death by starvation, hypothermia, or drowning long before it was sighted.  In the 3 days between the first sighting (first photograph) and its successful rescue, this animal had further tangled its tether from about 10m to 3m and exacerbated the wound to its flipper.  The gale yesterday would have drowned it had it not been rescued.”

 

Installation of Sensor Bar underwater at Race Rocks

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In this video, the diving students of Lester Pearson College brave several cold hours in the water to bolt down the 5 meter aluminum sensor bar in 8 meters of water off the docks at Race Rocks. Faculty members Garry Fletcher and Chris Blondeau join them to help install the first three sensors.

The orange rope previously installed in the 3 inch conduit is attached to the top end of the sensor cables. These cables are pulled through the buried conduit from the installation location in the ocean, up to the top of the docks where they connect with the instrumentation to allow the data eventually to be made available on-line. The sensors are brought down by a diver and fitted to the bar as the cable gets pulled through. Next the crew straps the sensors and their electrical terminal boxes to the bar. The hydrophone points upwards, the other two sensors, for chlorophyll and turbidity point down. A special thanks is due to our video expert Jean-Olivier Dalphond for enduring almost three hours in the 8 degree Celsius water to video the process.

See other Diving Videos: