Sepember Sea Gram

The September

Sea-gram

from MilaBooks.com

For ocean lovers, divers,

and "deep-thinkers."

The Beauty of Coral Reefs

Meg Kiley Photo; Paul Diving a Coral Reef, Curacao ©

Welcome to the September 2022 Sea-gram, from MilaBooks.com

This month we're celebrating coral reefs.

Professional photographer Meg Kiley shot the headline photo above in 2019, me cruising over one of Curacao's beautiful coral reefs at a dive site called Small Wall.

Be sure to take a look at this month's featured article, showing life on a healthy coral reef, and learn about the Coral Reef Alliance, a great conservation organization.

This month's Featured Creature is the Four-eye Butterflyfish, sporting a special trick provided by nature.

In Story Behind the Photo, we show the importance of good lighting for taking colorful photos underwater.

For local NY Sea-gram fans we take a look at the exciting activity just off Jones Beach.

HEY, we got sharks & rays up here too!

Finally, please visit the Book Corner, where we have several interesting books to tell you about.

First, we take a moment to recognize the passing of Patricia Perry, a beach-loving conservationist, shown here on a beach walk with her "picker" helping keep Jones Beach clean.

Patricia was also a member of Sierra Club, WWF, Greenpeace, Earth Justice, and several other conservation organizations.

She would have been 87 this month.

I hope you enjoy this Sea-gram, and share it with your friends and family.

Paul Mila

* * Featured Article * *

Healthy Coral Reefs Support Life!

Diving Cozumel's Yucab Reef last August with ScubaWithAlison.com we saw an amazing variety of fish feeding on a healthy reef. The video is a bit shaky because there was so much activity I didn't know where to aim my camera next.

Can you name all the different species that appear in this 90 second video?

In this one tiny area I counted stoplight parrotfish, queen angels, rock beauties, blue tang, porkfish, sharp-nose butterflyfish, 4-eye butterflyfish, spotted filefish, a pair of spotted trunkfish, and I probably missed a few species.

You can also see some "human fish" in the background.

It's a good example of how a healthy coral reef can support a wide variety of sea life.

For more information about coral reefs, such as the impact of climate change, efforts to combat the sargassum sea weed infestation in the Caribbean, and how you can help preserve coral reefs, visit the Coral Reef Alliance web page.

Click here:

CORAL REEF ALLIANCE

You can support the Coral Reef Alliance with a donation, and receive their 2023 photo calendar for your help!

** Featured Creature **

The Four-Eye Butterflyfish

Nature has endowed these tiny fish, usually seen in pairs, with a special trick to fool predators: scales in the shape of a false "eye" at the rear of the fish.

When predators aim for the direction they think the fish will go, they're aiming at the wrong end . . . and the butterflyfish safely scoot away. Pretend you're a hungry barracuda.

Would you be fooled?

* * * * * * * * *

Story Behind The Photos

Good Lighting For Great Photos

You've invested money in a good underwater camera, and hope to return from your dive vacation with stunning photos. But it won't happen without good external lighting.

Water absorbs colors quickly. Lower energy waves are absorbed first, so red disappears at about 20 feet. Orange and yellow disappear next, approaching 50 feet.

Blue and violet light waves have more energy, so they travel deeper through water and are the last colors to disappear. That's why photos taken without external light have a blue tint.

Using a red filter can offset the color loss to some extent, but the colors won't "pop" like photos taken with good external lighting.

Sea turtles are great subjects for experimenting with lighting since they tend to hang around, unless you do something to spook them, like trying to touch them.

This isn't a bad photo of a green sea turtle posing for me in Cozumel . . .

. . . but turning on my SeaLife Sea Dragon strobe makes the colors really "pop" and improves the photo.

I saw these two green sea turtles at a dive site called Double Reef in Curacao. Once again, the first photo using ambient light is a nice clear shot, . . .

. . . but using the strobe brings out the true colors of the turtles and the reef!

The lesson: You need good light for good photos.

Visit SeaLife cameras and explore their many options:

https://www.sealife-cameras.com/

* * * * * * *

New York Beach Action!

Taking some end-of-summer beach walks, I was surprised to see what the local fishermen were catching and releasing just off Field 6 at Jones Beach.

In this first video, fisherman Michael Urbaez landed a blacktip shark. Watch the angry shark go for Mike's leg as he was about to get into position to extract the hook and release it!

A few days later, I watched another fisherman struggle for over 20 minutes to land something big and heavy . He finally landed a large stingray, either a Southern or a Rough Tail. He then posed for a quick photo and released it.

Southern Stingray Caught at Jones Beach, NY

The increase of these tropical visitors to our local area is a reflection of two factors: warmer water (climate change?) and more bait fish and prey due to our cleaner water.