Reef 365 Reports

​Launched in 2008 in celebration of Year of the Reef as Reef Rally, the program was designed to document unique observations of marine life observed on the Belize Barrier Reef and territorial seas.  The reports of whales migrating between Turneffe and Lighthouse Atolls spurred this program.   There are other unique observations of marine life that go unrecorded.  With the widespread use of digital imagery many of these observations are captured, but sadly taken back on visitor's SD cards and not shared with researchers in Belize.  With the new technology in smart phones it is easy to snap a picture and submit your report!
Starting with the most recent exciting find!
DEEP SEA SIPHONORE ,  Agalma okeni - AUG 11, 2016 - Northern Ambergris Caye
  • Found washed ashore in the Bacalar Chico Marine Reserve
  • Found throughout the world's oceans but uncommon deep sea siphonore, possibly the first record for Belize.
  • Siphonophores belong to the Cnidaria, a group of animals that includes the corals, hydroids, and true jellyfish.
  • There are about 175 described species
  • Some siphonophores are the longest animals in the world, and specimens as long as 40 meters have been found.
  • Some deep water species have dark orange or red digestive systems that can be seen inside their transparent tissues.
  • Feed on plankton.
  • Depth range 50-5400 meters
Identified with the assistance of Dr Charles Messing, Nova Southeastern University's Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography
Picture
Agalma okeni, Photo Colleen Creedon 2016
Picture
Photo Sonke Johnsen/Visuals Unlimited, Inc.
References:
www.siphonophores.org
 DEEP SEA SQUID - Apr 3, 2016 - Northeast Mauger Caye,  ​Turneffe Atoll
  • The first confirmed report of a "giant" squid - one much larger than the common Caribbean reef squid - was made by angler Stefan Musa while fishing off Turneffe. The dead squid was found floating at sea.  
  • Polly Wood, from Reef CI based in southern Belize at Tom Owen's Caye in the Sapodilla Cayes, reports a dead squid about 25 pounds was observed last week. 
  • These reports are  important for several reasons, it is the first report of a large squid, hitherto unreported,  and it provides evidence of prey for migrating whales.
  • ​Anyone encountering another large squid floating at sea is asked to retrieve the specimen and return for positive identification.
  • The photographs were share with cephalpod experts for their input on species ID.
WHICH SPECIES IS IT?
I am pretty sure that the squid in the photo is an Asperoteuthis acanthoderma (see http://tolweb.org/Asperoteuthis_acanthoderma/19466), a large species in the family Chiroteuthidae. It is not a giant squid, which refers to the family Architeuthidae (http://tolweb.org/Architeuthis/19408 ).

Over the past several years, it has not been unusual to find Asperoteuthis floating at the surface in the Gulf and Caribbean. Although we don’t know why, these sightings may be related to hunting by sperm whales or could be related to spawning at the end of the life cycle. The really interesting aspect is that we didn’t even know that they were in the region until the specimens reported by Judkins et al. (see attached publication) were found. Now we have caught them in deep-sea nets and seen them with submersibles.

Michael Vecchione
​NMFS National Systematics Laboratory
National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution...
From the photo it is difficult to id this specimen with any real certainty. However, the coloration, large size, arm sucker pattern and the very large, partially detached, wings suggests to me that this may be a specimen of Cycloteuthis sirventyi. Judging from the overall condition, I suspect the specimen had been floating dead at the surface for at least several hours prior to being found by the fisherman. The eyes, tentacles and arm tips are missing, probably scavenged by marine birds. This is a tropical, mesopelagic species found in both the Atlantic and Pacific. Over the last 3 years Robin Baird has collected over ten specimens of C. sirventyi for us that were found dead at the surface off the Hawaiian, Kona coast.

William Walker
NOAA / NMFS
Alaska Fisheries Science Center
National Marine Mammal Laboratory
2013.  Walker, W. et al.  Diurnal occurrence of dead mesopelagic fish and squid at the sea surface and their importance as a previously unrecognized predictable food source for oceanic sea birds.