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More on small creatures...
December 18, 2007 - Day 162 8.9020N,164.3681W
Whenever I trailed the fishing line behind the boat trolling for a lazy catch, I noticed that a fibrous life form would wrap itself around the clear line. These appeared light brown, covering the line over about a 0.5-0.75 centimeter length of the line. I never figured out what they were.
The way to clean them was to slide the line through my fingers, collecting all of these guys at one end. Then I would have to drive my thumb nail on one side to cut through the circular tissue.
I know that barnacles exist in larva form until they find a surface to attach themselves. Could these be a starter form of barnacles trying to establish themselves?
I have been mentioning how the flying fish are the food for everyone else out here, from dorados to birds. Dorados chase the flying fish, which drives the fish out of the water. Birds circle around to spot the churning water during the chase, then if the dorado does not get the fish, often the birds do. It is a tough life to be a flying fish, and perhaps only the good fliers get to reach maturity.
This begs the question: what do the flying fish eat? Anything smaller than them is the easy answer. Smaller larvae, smaller fish fry, plankton come to mind. One flying fish which landed on my deck still had a small shrimp-like creature in its mouth that it did not get a chance to swallow...
This brought back memories of my return trip after climbing Mt. McKinley (Denali) in 2003. I had bicycled 5,500 some miles roundtrip from Seattle to Alaska, Göran style, towing my own climbing gear on a trailer behind me, then had snowshoed in 67 miles from Petersville on the south side of the mountain with two friends, walking the length of the Kahiltna Glacier. Two more friends had joined us at the Kahiltna basecamp, then five of us had pressed on to reach the summit on May 29, 2003.
On the return trip, days were extremely long in the boreal forest range, the snow had lifted, and the mosquitoes were swarming. The dragon flies were out after these and all the other insects. I had found one dragon fly on the roadside, knocked out of the air by a passing car, still with a mousquito between its jaws. That was just as rare a sight for me then, as was finding this flying fish on deck with its prey in the mouth...
On a separate note, these days, the Muslim world is celebrating the days of the feast. Just like the few days at the end of the month of Ramadan, these few days are important, when everyone looks for ways to be charitable. The traditional way is to sacrifice a lamb or a sheep, then to divide the meat three ways among those in need in the community, neighbors and friends, and family. The skin for leather is collected by charities. A family feast much like the Christmas dinner is part of the tradition to use the meat. Depending on the level of income, a ram, a cow or even a camel is acceptable, though the latter is not at all common in Turkey. In this age of plenty, there is access to so much food and conveniences that, especially in the cities, individuals now look for other subtle ways to spread the goodwill in the neighborhood.
The Muslim calendar is based on the lunar cycles, making the months shorter and bringing Ramadan as well as the two religious celebrations, a couple weeks earlier each year. It is a nice coincidence that the Muslim holiday of the feast this year is so close to Christmas and Hanukah in the holiday season.
Erden.
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Are these barnacle larvae on the fishing line?
Flying fish landed on deck before having a chance to swallow its catch. My index fingernail is next to it for size comparison.
