Anemones on dive trip to Fiji

[Seths Dad]

I posted this in the dive forum but thought some of you may enjoy.

Here is my first video of our dive trip to Fiji earlier this year. This is just anemones and not all of the ones we saw. I have over 3hrs of video to sort through. I am very much a novice at editing but I hope you enjoy.Watch it in 720P, it takes a while to load but makes a big difference.

http://youtu.be/zbNQUi_rgzI

 

[Scorpius]

Cool video, but watching it at 720p 60fps gives me motion sickness with how much the camera shakes. :lol:

 

[Seths Dad]

Cool video, but watching it at 720p 60fps gives me motion sickness with how much the camera shakes. :lol:

There was a lot current to deal with, hard to keep steady.

 

[Scorpius]

There was a lot current to deal with, hard to keep steady.

I bet. I'd love to go scuba diving someday and see corals and fish in their natural habitat.

 

[D-Nak]

Wow... nice video. Thanks for sharing. Seeing anemones and clownfish in their natural environment is on my bucket list.

 

[ratienza80]

Just checked out your video. Very cool! It's cool to see these creatures in their natural habitat. And how widely spaced they are.

 

[ShaunMonahan]

Just Awesome!!!

 

[garygb]

Beautiful anemones! Thank you for posting. We anemone aficionados love seeing anemones in their natural habitat. Just curious about the depth of water for the Heteractis magnificas (if you're not an anemone person, those are the ones that look like mops, often purplish in the video)?

 

[Winwood]

Wonderful video and thanks for posting it. Two things that really stood out to me while watching it were:

1. The magnifica that was naturally perched on a pedestal, and

2. The Amphiprion barberi associating with Stichodactyla mertensii. I am fairly certain that species of anemone is not listed as a natural host for A. barberi

 

[Daniel62]

Great Vid. Thanks

 

[Seths Dad]

Beautiful anemones! Thank you for posting. We anemone aficionados love seeing anemones in their natural habitat. Just curious about the depth of water for the Heteractis magnificas (if you're not an anemone person, those are the ones that look like mops, often purplish in the video)?

I actually have a mag in my tank. They were anywhere from maybe 20 to 60 feet. The yellow mag was awesome, and the rock that had the 4 or 5 big purple ones on it was very cool.

 

[addictedreefer]

I actually have a mag in my tank. They were anywhere from maybe 20 to 60 feet. The yellow mag was awesome, and the rock that had the 4 or 5 big purple ones on it was very cool.

I find it interesting that although mags have a reputation for being the most light-loving host anemones, they are often found at significant depth, while other anemones that have a reputation for being tolerant of lower light, such as s. haddoni and e. quadricolor are often found at extremely shallow depth (sometimes even exposed at low tide).

 

[Seths Dad]

I have video on top of some pinnacles about 15 to 20 feet deep that are covered with bubble tips and clown fish I will post when I get them edited that are very cool.

 

[garygb]

Thanks so much for the info. From what I've read, magnificas are found in a wide depth range, from intertidal all the way down to 90 feet or more. Always nice getting more information on this species in the wild.

 

[Seths Dad]

Thanks so much for the info. From what I've read, magnificas are found in a wide depth range, from intertidal all the way down to 90 feet or more. Always nice getting more information on this species in the wild.

You're welcome, glad you enjoyed the video!

 

[D-Nak]

I find it interesting that although mags have a reputation for being the most light-loving host anemones, they are often found at significant depth, while other anemones that have a reputation for being tolerant of lower light, such as s. haddoni and e. quadricolor are often found at extremely shallow depth (sometimes even exposed at low tide).

I concur. I'm willing to bet that the color of the nem plays a part in this. Notice that the mags in the video are the nicer variants -- yellows and purples? My hypothesis is that while all mags can probably adapt to any depth within their range, the ones with more brown tend to be in areas with more light. I've spoken to other people about this and many feel the color can act as a sunscreen. No way to prove this of course, just food for thought. Granted, it could just be the local population and/r geographic dispersion of colors.

You're welcome, glad you enjoyed the video!

Please share more videos! I find it funny how we worry about the depth of our tanks -- most less than 30 inches -- and the effect of light. Then we see these videos that show the difference at 30 feet -- the two don't really compare.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Awesome video for sure. I see you were having "fun" trying to get the video with all of that current. LOL

 

[garygb]

D-Nak, based on what you're saying, it seems that the ones in shallower waters would be the more colorful (since the color serves as a sunscreen) and the brown ones would be at greater depths.

 

[swhobbie1]

Great video. Although you could see that there was a clownfish pair in those nems... it also looked like each had a bunch of Dominos around it that looked like they were trying to host it... Do Dominos host nems like clownfish ? I don't think I have ever seen or heard they do.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

swhobbie1 it sure looked that way didn't it