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GalapagosQuest is an interactive expedition developed by Classroom Connect that will take a team of scientists and explorers on a journey of discovery through the extraordinary Galapagos Islands of Ecuador. Follow along here for daily reports on their quest.
GalapagosQuest: Arrival and Survival on the Currents of Life
March 5, 1999 By Jack Grove (Classroom Connect) -- Days like this remind me why I came to the Galapagos Islands 24 years ago and spent most of my career studying the animals that live in these waters. Just before lunch I led the GalapagosQuest team on a snorkel trip near Española Island. It was a typical day here -- sunny and 90 degrees. Turquoise blue waters swirled under the billowy clouds over head. In other words, paradise! My goal was to demonstrate to the team how currents come together in the Galapagos. I put on my fins, wet suit, weight belt (you're more buoyant in saltwater) and placed the mask snugly over my face. Then, I flipped backwards over the side of the boat into the colorful, serene world where I'm most at home. The moment I hit the water, a 400-pound sea lion swam by with one of his mates to check us out. The big one dove deep and then came straight at me, so close that I could even hear his bark and feel the bubbles in his wake. Did you know that sea lions bark underwater?
Over a rocky reef, I took one long breath and dove downward. As I descended, I felt the mask push against my face and my ears began to hurt a little from the pressure. I took care of both problems by holding my nose, closing my mouth and blowing. This is called "equalizing." Once on the bottom, I was completely surrounded by a rainbow of fish as schools of sergeant majors puckered their little faces and bubbled past. Angelfish, hawkfish, giant damselfish and yellowtail surgeonfish flitted around me, all showing off their brilliant colors and different shapes. In the shallow 10-foot deep water, the colors stood out with neon brilliance. (Since water absorbs light, colors fade as you go deeper. A red fish, for example, looks black below 30 feet.) Moorish idols stayed near the bottom, pecking around the rocks and barnacles in search of food. The sergeant majors fed on plankton near the surface. In a single breath, I could see fish from opposite ends of the Earth. The Galapagos Islands sit at a crossroads where five major ocean currents come together. These currents have brought most of the sea life to the Galapagos. For example, today we saw the yellowtail surgeonfish, which arrived here with the Panama Flow, a moderately warm water current, originating off the west coast of Panama. We also saw Moorish idols, which came to the Galapagos on the warm North Equatorial Counter Current from the west Pacific. Even my sea lion friends have made a journey. Their early ancestors probably came from the California coast, with yet another current, the North Equatorial Current. Currents are the highways of the ocean. They transport many kinds of plankton and marine plants. Currents carry fish, as well as their eggs and larvae -- like hitchhikers, they colonize faraway parts of the world. Since so many ocean currents pass the Galapagos, it's no wonder we find fish here from around the world. Ocean currents, by the way, are caused by a complex variety of forces. Weather, winds, the Earth's rotation, and even the position of the sun and the moon can influence the direction and power of currents. After an hour of snorkeling we had seen nearly 30 species of fish! I gestured wildly, and the team was wide-eyed behind their masks. I wanted to tell them how much more we still have to see. Next week, when we enter the coldest waters of the archipelago, around Fernandina Island, we'll search for the harlequin wrasse and the rusty damselfish. These fish came on the Humboldt current, the same one that brought the penguin to the Galapagos. Join us as we explore the seas known as "the icebox of the Galapagos." Fair Winds, Jack RELATED STORIES: Galapagos volcano eruption forces evacuation of giant tortoises RELATED SITES: Classroom Connect
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