Black Grouper on the Spiegel Grove Spawning
on April 24, 05 about 3pm!
Click to see video
BGSpawn/SpiegelGrove4--24-05GrouperSpawning.wmv
Note: I had problems with my video cameras auto focus
because there was some lint on the lens. The camera kept trying to
focus on the lint (a sharp line) because the lighting at the 100 ft depth
where the Grouper were at, was very low contrast. I did not edit out these
bad segment because I wanted the viewer to see exactly what the camera
recorded.... |
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Hello
In the picture
below there is about 8 Black Grouper in an aggregation. What this picture
does not show is that there was another 15 or 20 grouper within my view and
near this group. This happen on April 24, 2005 about 3 pm (about
two days after the full moon).
This picture in
my opinion is a poor representation of all the activity that I saw. Because
of the large number of Black Grouper that I saw from amidships of the
Spiegel to the stern. There was least 40 to 50 ( 20lb +) Grouper on the
back half of the Spiegel.
I did not
approach too close because I didn't want to disturb the natural activity
that was occurring and because to the depth. I stayed at about 80 ft while
most of the activity was 100 ft and below. They were staying fairly close
to the bottom. There were a lot of small groups of 3 and 4's in various
place. Also, I think an important factor for the time of this activity is
the fact that April 24, was a few days after the Full Moon.. The visibility
at the stern was poor. Low visibility greenish water seemed to be moving in
on an outgoing tide.
I have logged
about 25 dives on the Spiegel and have never seen the Groupers this thick...
Glenn Patton 305-451-4891 Feel free to call
if you have any questions.... |
.jpg)
These photos are taken with available light. I realize that
they are low in contrast.
These Grouper definitely try to blend into their environment, so it is
difficult to
photograph with available light.
The light color displayed on the bottom half of the trailing grouper has
been documented
as a courtship display in other publications (like "Reef Fish Behavior" by Ned
DeLoach).
These pics are frames for the video that I shot on 4/24/05.
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Courtship Color Display???
A frame from the video... |
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.jpg)
