Blog
Soft 'cauliflower' corals and wide mouthed monk fish
02/07/14
Day3 01/07/2013
After a disappointing end to the day before we set off in hope of diving a more biological diverse site. Erling Svensen, the Norwegian guru of dive sties and marine life, had put forward to dive a wall where there is a soft coral that has only been identified at five other sites in Norway. We had what had as become the 'normal' passage through narrow fjords and stunning scenery, as we made our way to the dive site.
Dropping through the standard shallow plankton soup layer, the visibility improved considerably to show a vertical rock face drop away to oblivion with no sign of the seabed. The rock face was covered in what can only be described as large cauliflower structures from thirty meters down. The soft coral Drifa glomerata adorned the walls, it was like looking at a garden stuck to a rock face. A northern species this octo-coral has eight tentacles round the polyp and I assume feeds on small planktonic animals and phytoplankton brought to the colony by the tidal currents. It is slow growing, and extra care was taken by all the divers not to unintentionally disturb the colonies.
Leaving the wall of cauliflowers we headed off to get round Stadt a very exposed part of the coast where it is only calm for around 65 days a year. There is nothing between Norway's coast and Canada, and storms sweep in from the north Atlantic battering the coastline. Lucky for us the weather had been still and it was very calm and sunny. It was decided that we would dive off Stadt as not many people manage to dive Stadt and the site we decided on probably has never been dived before.
This felt a little more like diving round Shetland as even though it was calm there was some swell. Jumping in off the Halton the first thing we noticed was several large jelly fish, in particular the lion manes jellyfish that had at least 10 to 15 small fish living amongst its tentacles. The bottom was rocky and covered in small kelp, kept small due to the frequent storms. There were several small gullies with small vertical rock faces that had another soft coral attached called deadmans finger. The highlight of this dive was coming across several monk fish. Monk fish are ambush predators, they sit on the seabed waiting for an unsuspecting fish to pass by and within a flash one gulp by the large wide mouth and the fish is gone.
The Bryo team had a very successful day with lots of samples collected from the soft coral site, looking at wall bryozoans. Fourteen species were identified by Mary Spencer Jones from the NHM in the make shift evening lab on the Halton, with many more specimens making their way back to the Natural History Museum (NHM) for further investigation. No horse mussels were found but then horse mussels do not occur in these types of habitats.
We carried on round Stadt and it got a little rougher but before long we were back in the shelter of the fjords and reaching Alesund, a beautiful town where we moored for the night with kittiwakes nesting on the sills of houses along the harbour wall. Great end to a great day!
Wrecks, marine snot and no mussels
01/07/14
Day 2 30/06/2025
Leaving Mjoemna the following morning we had another incredible passage through the Norwegian fjords. Its rugged wild landscape , big vertical rock faces with trees on the more gentler slopes. Many wooden house are down to the water's edge, emphasising the coastal existence for many Norwegians.
A two hour steam saw us arrive at dive site number three, Krailhellensundet . Two wrecks lay almost side by side, as a barge that had come to salvage the first wreck only to get into trouble and become a wreck itself. Next to the wrecks is some rocks that caused the first vessel to sink that are covered in marine life. The scientists set out to collect samples, while I could not help myself but drop down on to the wreck before making my way up the slope to the rocks. Similar to yesterday the visibility was excellent below fifteen meters and it was breathtaking to see both wrecks falling away down the steep slope to well below 50m. Spending time photographing the wreck and then moving to the wall it was not long before Rach and I were in the murk swimming round the rocks that, if the visibility had been a little better, would have been an outstanding dive in its own right. The bryo scientists surfaced happy, with another collection of samples and rocks with bryozoans growing on them to take back to the lab.
A beautiful journey through the fjords brought us to our second dive of the day, Tansoyosen next to Askrova island. This was truly a exploratory dive to look for horse mussels. Scientist Dr Bill Sanderson had spent the morning studying charts, depth contours and currents to predict a potential dive site that could be good for horse mussels.
All kitted up, full of anticipation, one giant stride later and we're falling through what can only be described as marine snot. Long green clumps of algae floating in the water column all the way to the bottom at 20m. Twenty minutes later, after swimming over sand and not really seeing much apart from a few scallops and hermit crabs Rach and I aborted the dive and headed back to the boat. Every dive team suffered the same fate and no Modolious for the scientists. You win some, you lose some, this is all part of exploratory diving. I wonder what tomorrow will bring?
Diving Norway: Biodiversity hotspots, climate change and sharks
30/06/14
Day 1 29/06/2025
Leaving the overcast grey morning on the Shetland Islands, an hour later Rachel and I had crossed the north sea to land in a surprising sunny warm Bergen. The direct flight from Shetland to Norway was as quick and easy as flying to Aberdeen.
We met the vessel the MV Halton skippered by the great Bob Anderson, the master of sarcasm. The dive team consisted of seven scientists from Heriot Watt and the Natural History Museum. Dr Jo Porter, Dr Piotr Kuklnski, Mary Spencer Jones and PhD student Sally Rouse made up the bryozoan team, studying the affect of climate change on the marine environment. Dr Bill Sanderson, Prof Hamish Mair and PhD student Rebecca Grieves made up the Modilous team, researching horse mussel beds/reefs as biodiveristy hotspot and how climate change may affect these important habitats.
Rachel and I joined the vessel as photographers, along with a couple of other photographers. Erling Svensen the Norwegian guru of dive sties and marine life, author of the identification guide 'Dyreliv i havet', translates into 'animal life in the ocean', a great book full of pictures of marine life and can be brought in English and is well worth it. Sue Daly a photographer from Sark in the Channel Islands has joined the expedition along with Pat Spencer. There was a strong up-beat feel of excitement and anticipation on the vessel at the thought of some great diving ahead and discoveries to be made.
It wasn't long before we were heading to the first dive site Vatlestraumen, straumen meaning current so we were expecting some tide. The aim of the dive was to collect bryzoans and horse mussels, but only one dive later a call came through of a missing person and we had to leave the area. The first dive was great for the bryozoan team, who collected a bag full of samples and during the evening microscope's came out for a short time and 17 species of bryozoan were identified with many more needing detailed work back in the lab to be identified.
A move to another site for the second dive proved to be spectacular, and I am not sure the images really do it justice. For around six weeks a year spiny sharks congregate along the fjord wall, and this just happened to be when we were diving it. Dropping down the first fifteen meters the visibility was poor due to the plankton soup but once you had dropped below the halo clime (two different densities of sea water) there was a dense layer of moon jellies that seemed trapped at this boundary and the visibility improved considerably to over twenty meters. Hanging out on the wall we saw big anemones, many of them eating moon jellies and a constant movement of sharks along, and up and down the wall. Like all dive sites it would have been nice to dive this again, as the first dive showed many potential images. However, being part of this type of expedition meant that is not possible, so with a feeling of elation but a longing to repeat dive the site we headed north to Mjoemna for an overnight stop.
