Bubbles from the Naturalist Jerry's tank - by Jerry Ligon

IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN KNOWN AS A QUAINT.........

It has always been known as a quaint saying that teachers are often repaid by their students for the bits of knowledge and insights that were given to them. The students return and make the educator proud. This was demonstrated this spring when two students of mine came back to Bonaire to dive. They had taken my Dive with the Naturalist last year and I showed them what a Longlure Frogfish looked like on our dive on Bari. They knew to expect them to look just like the sponges that they prefer to sit on, and to expect them to be almost any color, making them one of the most challenging creatures to find.

Courtney and Michael DeLoach found a pair of frogfish on their checkout dive on the day they arrived and right after their orientation. Of course I was delighted that there were two new frogfish on Bari that none of us knew about, and that one was a purple/gray one that looked just like the purple sponge that it rested on. I found them later on that day, 14 May, 2008 and began to log data on my new subjects. At the time of discovery, the purple one was larger than the gold/brown male and was, indeed a female, g and p. This translates to her being gravid and panting, with a noticeable swelling of the abdomen and rapid breathing, which indicates that she was hydrating the mature eggs-getting as much oxygenated water to the eggs as possible for their proper development.

I have taken on the task of studying Longlure Frogfish since I saw my first one in 1994. Their habit of staying in one location makes them ideal ocean subjects to compile natural history data on. However some of them do move around quiet a bit, often being 10 feet away from where they were seen the day before, and others stay on one sponge for 4 to 7 months. The difference I have surmised is due to whether the frogfish have settled on a spot that is the territory of a damsel fish. Damsel fish do not want anything on their territories and become quite agitated when something or someone comes near their territory, They refuse to leave the interloper alone and will make them move around as they try to find a spot that is not so hotly defended. Seahorses also face this same behavior from damsel fish. Divers, especially with cameras who are trying to get photos of either of these charismatic creatures, also suffer the ire of territorial damsels and will get physically nipped by the resident damsel.

I remember one particular territorial damsel that went so far as to physically pick up an orange seahorse at Barcadera divesite and swim out of its territory, then, unceremoniously dropped the seahorse, like a piece of refuse, right in front of my unbelieving eyes. I felt like wagging a finger at the damsel and warning him that "he does not do that to seahorses."

The more I study frogfish and seahorses, the more I realize that there is no getting to the bottom of them. They always leave you with more questions than answers, but a few things that I have noticed about each of these two sought after species is that their reproduction is directly related to the moon phase.

This is a YouTube video from Ellen Muller, taken here on Bonaire of spawning frogfish, after sunset, on 4 September, 2006.

Full moon during that time period was 7 September, 2006. I have been keeping records from anyone who reports to me of any reproduction or courtship behavior that they happen to witness while diving here on Bonaire, and by keeping notes, I can predict to see certain signs of courtship during certain weeks here on the island.

The chart below the image is a summary of recordings going back to 2006. Remember, when I list a certain EVENT for a particular species, it is the day that someone sighted reproductive behavior, and also remember that we may have been watching this particular pair of seahorses or frogfish for sometimes 2 or 3 months in which we did not see any reproductive behavior. Also, I have noticed that those that we do see almost every day, do not follow every full moon reproductive cycle with another on the next full moon. Most likely the acquisition of energy to produce gametes can not be accomplished within a one-month time period.

Michael and Cortney DeLoach, vacationing on Bonaire, mid-May, 2008

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