Pete Thomas Outdoors

Mysterious sharks greet scientists probing shadowy depths off California; video

By Pete Thomas

One of the planet’s largest shark species is rarely encountered because it roams the shadowy depths between 600 and 3,000-plus feet. The sixgill shark, which can measure to about 18 feet, is therefore mysterious and alluring.

That’s why scientists aboard the EV Nautilus were excited to document the presence of two sixgill sharks last week while using an ROV to probe the depths around California’s Channel Islands.

 

Appearing out of the darkness 200m deep in @NOAA_CINMS, a bluntnose sixgill shark cruised by us last night! Species max length: over 16ft! pic.twitter.com/NbTWphijX5

— E/V Nautilus (@EVNautilus) July 11, 2017

Both encounters, although brief, were caught on video as the sharks entered the ROV’s lights. (Videos accompany this post.)

“That could be a sixgill shark,” one of the crew says in the first minute-long clip, posted to Twitter on July 11.

Moments later the robust shark is fully in view, prompting a scientist to marvel, “Wow… check this out,” as the shark swims slowly through artificial light.

 

The next day a different sixgill shark provided a longer and closer look, inspiring this remark, “He’s giving us a little show.”

During the second encounter, a crab briefly stole the spotlight as it crawled across the ocean floor, and into the ROV’s lights, toting another crab in its claws. (In the YouTube video at 1:07.)

“Is that a taxicrab?” a scientist wondered aloud, prompting another scientist to answer, “It’s an Uber crab.”

The researchers did not identify the crab species, but there was no mistaking the shark species.

Sixgill sharks are so-named because they possess six gill slits on each side of their heads, versus five for most other shark species.

The peculiar-looking sharks, which prey largely on seals, fish, squid, crabs and smaller sharks, are most closely related to fossil species dating back 200 million years to the Triassic period of the Mesozoic Era.

Scientists capture rare video footage of a Mola mola 200 feet beneath the surface

Mola molas are observed sporadically off Southern California as they drift with the currents and prey largely on sea jellies.

Spotting one of these bizarre-looking creatures is usually considered a bonus for boaters who might be fishing or searching for whales and other marine mammals.

But late last week scientists aboard the EV Nautilus received a super-rare treat when a Mola mola appeared in the video feed of the vessel’s ROV – at a depth of 200 feet.

How do you totally derail an ROV exploration dive? Two words: Mola mola. Spotted at 200ft in @NOAA_CINMS. pic.twitter.com/qi54NEiwEx

— E/V Nautilus (@EVNautilus) July 14, 2017

The scientists, exploring within the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, were in awe of the sight of the alien-like denizen, which appears to have been attracted by the ROV’s lights.

“It’s staring right at us… wow!” one of the scientists says.

The EV Nautilus is conducting a yearlong exploration of the Eastern Pacific, from Canada to Mexico’s Revillagigedo Islands.

Mola molas are the planet’s heaviest bony fish. They can reach sizes of about 14 feet vertically and 10 feet horizontally, and can weigh as much as 5,000 pounds. Only sharks and rays, which are cartilaginous rather than bony, are heavier.

–Image is a video screen grab

Massive bait ball, feeding humpback whales, photographed from the air off Ventura

With picture-perfect weather on Wednesday, Liz Vernand and a friend decided to enjoy a 30-minute helicopter ride into the Santa Barbara Channel.

They had no idea that they'd soon be hovering over a swirling mass of anchovies so enormous that it dwarfed the dolphins and whales that were feeding on the schooling bait fish.

"We actually watched the two whales traveling toward the bait ball," said Vernand, explaining that dolphins had corralled the anchovies into the massive bait ball.

The photograph atop this post lends a unique perspective. Viewers can see two humpback whales just to the right of the anchovies (the white streak is the underside of one of the whale's pectoral fins).

A surfacing dolphin is visible next to the whale at the lower right. Another dolphin is swimming alongside the bait ball, above the second whale. The birds, of course, are waiting for any chance to nab some of the fish.

 

Vernand said the whales were lunge-feeding into the mass, horizontally. The bait ball, she added, would sink down during the lunges, making it hard to capture in a photograph from straight overhead.

Late Wednesday, however, Channel Island Helicopters posted video showing the whales lunge-feeding through the mass of anchovies (shot by the crew, posted above). The helicopter pilot did not fly low enough for closeups, out of respect for the animals and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Humpback whales can measure to about 50 feet. The bait ball looks to measure at least 100 feet across, and could involve millions of anchovies.

Its location was about five miles offshore, beyond Rincon Point in northern Ventura County.

"But it was just amazing," she said. "We were supposed to be on a 30-minute trip, but we ended up staying out there for an hour."

A Channel Islands Helicopters spokesperson said it was one of the largest bait balls the company's pilots have ever seen.

–Note: This has been a boom year for anchovies off much of California, and humpback whales have been feasting in this manner for weeks, most notably in Monterey Bay

–To view more of Liz Vernand's photographs, visit the Channel Islands Helicopters Facebook page

Guadalupe Island great white shark enters Southern California waters; journey is unprecedented

**Update: On Friday morning the shark's position was to the north past San Miguel Island

A great white shark tagged in 2012 at Guadalupe Island, west of Baja California, is closing in on Southern California and is the first known adult white shark from the Mexican island to have entered California waters.

The adult female white shark, which was tagged by Michael Domeier and the Marine Conservation Science Institute, on Thursday had passed Cortes Bank and was closing in on San Clemente Island (see graphic posted below). Cortes Bank is about 100 miles west of Orange County. Guadalupe Island is 165 miles west of Ensenada.

The adult female shark (pictured above) is named Arden Grace.

"Have you got a SCUBA trip lined up at San Clemente this weekend? If you do you might want to watch your back," MSCI posted on its Facebook page.

Another post reads: "This is a strange time of year for her to be in the coastal region. We've never had a female in our cold winter waters at this time of year, and we've never had one of our Guadalupe white sharks swim to California...

"She's headed towards San Diego now! Will she make it or turn around?"

(Those who wish to follow the movements of sharks tagged at Guadalupe can do so via the MCSI's Expedition White Shark app, available through iTunes.)

Great White sharks in the northeastern Pacific are known to have site fidelity during the fall and early winter to either Guadalupe Island or Northern California elephant seal rookeries, such as the Farallon Islands west of San Francisco.

During this time of year, however, the vast majority of adult white sharks from both aggregation regions are hundreds of miles offshore, in areas stretching as far as Hawaii.

Interestingly, sharks tagged at Guadalupe Island have never visited Northern California white shark aggregation sites. In 2008, an adult female white shark tagged near the Farallon Islands was tracked to Guadalupe.

--Pete Thomas

Early humpback whale sighting logged off Santa Barbara

**Update: The Condor Express crew logged sightings of six more humpback whales on Wednesday

A humpback whale put on a show Tuesday for  passengers aboard the Condor Express out of Santa Barbara, marking that vessel's first humpback whale sighting of the season.

"We've heard rumors of these beasts coming back into the Santa Barbara Channel for a few days, and BINGO! Today we had one," read an email alert sent to frequent customers.

It's an early sighting. Humpback whales, which migrate into Southern California waters from the south, typically don't start showing until late April or early May.

The sighting comes less than a week after rare sightings of a large sperm whale pod off Long Beach and San Diego.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo: Humpback whale shows its fluke to passengers aboard the Condor Express during a friendly encounter on Tuesday. Credit: Bob Perry

Scientists unearth fishing equipment dating back 12,000 years

There's antique fishing equipment, and then there's stuff so old that it becomes historical treasure, providing a glimpse into the lifestyles of ancient civilizations.

That's the case with fishing tools unearthed recently by archaeologists at two of the Channel Islands off Southern California.

Looking for signs of ancient human settlement, they found meticulously-crafted spearheads and other artifacts (see photo at right) that date back 12,000 years.

The discoveries, at three sites on Santa Rosa and San Miguel islands west of Santa Barbara, support the theory that when the first traces of humans appeared in the archaeological record in North America, a seafaring coastal culture existed that was distinct from the well-chronicled inland Clovis culture, which consisted of big-game hunters who subsisted on mastodons and other large mammals.

A 15-member team led by Jon Erlandson of the University of Oregon's Museum of Natural and Cultural History found chipped stone tools, used for fishing and hunting, along with an abundance of discarded seashells and bones.

A story about the finds appears in the March 4 issue of Science; it was summarized by New Scientist and Science Daily. New Scientist's headline: "Found: fine American fishing tackle, 12 millennia old."

Blue whales a big-time summer attraction off Santa Barbara

It's a little-known secret that this is prime time for whale watching off Southern California, particularly in the Santa Barbara Channel, where only one boat makes daily offshore excursions in search of blue and humpback whales.

That's the Condor Express out of Sea Landing in Santa Barbara, and its passengers have been enjoying almost predictable encounters with both species of leviathans, plus dolphins, seals and sea lions.

The high-speed catamaran -- which generally runs from 10 a.m. -2:30 p.m. -- on Saturday will run a full-day trip hosted by the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Cetacean Society.

 It's an annual odyssey members and non-members look forward to each summer, because this is when the whales -- primarily blue whales -- are in the channel feeding on shrimp-like krill. Cost is $93 for members and $103 for non-members, and departure time is 8 a.m. For details call (310) 847-0516.

For those wondering about recent sightings, Condor Express passengers on Sunday saw four blue whales, which are the largest creatures on earth, as well as two humpback whales, 150 common dolphins and an elephant seal.

On Saturday the tally was three blue whales, three Dall's porpoise, 100 common dolphins and a giant mola mola, or sunfish.

Marine mammal enthusiasts might also be interested to know that Island Packers vessels ferrying hikers and campers to the Channel Islands will pause and inspect whales along the way.

Farther south, Harbor Cruises in Long Beach runs daily trips, and Dana Wharf Whale Watching and Capt. Dave's Dolphin Safari also venture offshore in search of migrating or feeding whales.

-- Pete Thomas

Photos of feeding blue whale (top) and friendly humpback whale by Pete Thomas
 

Killer whales targeting sea lions off Southern California

Orcas Gone Wild: Now playing in vivid color off Southern California.

On Tuesday afternoon as many as a dozen mammal-eating "transient" killer whales were encountered by passengers and crews of whale-watching boats running from Dana Point in Orange County.

A sea lion kill had been made. Orcas were feeding on the carcass. But that's not all. The killer whales were in a mood: They spy-hopped, lob-tailed and breached. One turned upside down directly beneath a boat. One performed a back flip before awed spectators, as though it had been trained at Sea World.

But there's more. On Sunday, 130 miles to the north off Oxnard, fishermen might have seen one of the same killer whales. A sea lion kill had been made here, too, and this orca was seen using its tail fluke to hurl the sea lion carcass through the air as though it were a baseball being pitched over the plate.

"It was truly amazing to watch," wrote Tom Mattusch, in an email that was forwarded to this website by a friend. "He would swim under the floating seal and bat it with his tail. He did this about 10 times before swimming away leaving the seal behind."

Tom's friend Marc Gorelnik shot an amazing sequence of photos, one of which accompanies this story. I'd have suspected this as being contrived but Alisa Schulman-Janiger, a killer whale researcher, has identified the killer whale as a young male who is presumably orphaned and has been seen with other small groups of transient orcas.

The researcher also ID'd some of the orcas seen off Dana Point. One was an adult female cataloged as CA 138, a.k.a "Scratchy," who was first documented off Monterey in 1995. With her was two offspring, including a calf born this year. Also ID'd, based on dorsal fin and saddle shapes and markings, were five other killer whales spanning three generations.

The young whales, most likely, were learning to regard sea lions as prey and how to dispatch them. Transient killer whales, however, are not frequent visitors to Southern California, so this is an exciting time  for scientists and whale-watchers.

If you'd like to venture out in search of the sleek predators here are some good options:

Dana Wharf Fishing and Whale Watching and Captain Dave's Dolphin Safari in Orange County. Harbor Cruises in Long Beach and Condor Cruises in Santa Barbara.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo:  "Copyright 2010 Marc Mager Gorelnik, all rights reserved"

Free white seabass seminar tonight at Hooters of Anaheim

The weather in Southern California is warming up, and the days are getting longer, which means spring is at hand and it's only a matter of time before the white seabass bite erupts at Catalina and other Channel Islands.

With this in mind white seabass is the theme of tonight's 976-TUNA Rod and Reel Club meeting at Hooters of Anaheim. There will be free raffles and somebody will win a trip for two to La Paz with Tailhunter International. The last club meeting at Hooters was packed and fishermen are advised to arrive early.

Hooters is located at 2438 East Katella Ave. A similar seminar is scheduled for next Thursday at National Sports Grill in Torrance.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo of angler with white seabass courtesy of Oceanside Anglers

Agents seize more than a ton of pot on Santa Rosa Island

Are the beautiful Channel Islands, which are so popular among hikers, campers and fishermen, being used by Mexican drug cartels to help deliver their product to the United States?

Or was Saturday's major pot discovery and arrest of four Mexican citizens merely the result of a delivery gone wrong?

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency today issued a news release detailing a coordinated bust involving the arrest and seizure of more than a ton of marijuana that had been concealed in bales stashed in vegetation on Santa Rosa Island, about 35 miles west of Santa Barbara.

Suspicions were aroused late last Thursday night, when the crew of a U.S. Navy helicopter sighted a panga traveling northbound 46 miles west of San Diego's Point Loma. These stealthy Mexican skiffs are commonly used to smuggle drugs and aliens.

A multi-agency search ensued and on Saturday afternoon agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, discovered fuel canisters and wreckage from the panga on Santa Rosa Island.

The helicopter the agents were aboard landed and they discovered, in a canyon near the wreckage site, 46 bundles of marijuana weighing 2,448 pounds. They also found four adult Mexican males hiding in the brush.

What remains unclear is whether the island was a dropping point or whether boat trouble forced the smugglers ashore on Santa Rosa Island, which is part of Channel Islands National Park and within Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.

Whatever the case, the more remote islands will likely fall under increased scrutiny because of this incident.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo of pot bales concealed in vegetation on Santa Rosa Island courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency