Seagrass hunting

[Samala]

I will eventually have a whole write for this on my website.. but thought I would post a quick little 'fishing report'. I've spent the last two days on the Indian River Lagoon and Mosquito Lagoon here in Brevard county of central florida (on the Atlantic side) and have had such a blast playing in the mud.

As far as hunting I have not been able to snorkel or dive for seagrasses because visibility is terrible at this time of year with phytoplankton, and its actually been unnecessary. Manatee grass, shoal grass and even star grass is abundant if I just walk the shores to the lagoon. Its a bit disturbing, I've never noticed seagrass ripped up and on the shorelines like this before, but then I was never really looking. So whole plant colonies (very long length of rhizomes) have been finding their way to me. I also collected mud substrate from two manatee grass sites. This is nice on one point as it means I'm not taking plants from their beds and disturbing the sites any more than they are already.

I also sufficiently weirded out a fisherman today when I spotted him throwing dwarf seahorses back into the lagoon - he had caught them while seining for bait fish. I was very excited and asked if I could look at them and he just considered them junk. The horses are in an area where they hang out 'constantly thru the winter' - that's what he told me.. pretty neat.

Pictures:
Stargrass (sadly not in sediment as this was already washed up on shore)
<img height=300 width=400 src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/slardizabal/halophila1.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">
Bucket full o' seagrasses..
<img height=300 width=400 src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/slardizabal/bucket2.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">
Shoal grass in 8" of water..
<img height=300 width=400 src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/slardizabal/shoal2.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

>Sarah

 

[fishy_mcfish]

pics arent working? and did you take a bunch of this home with you? if so hows it doing?

 

[Samala]

Fishy.. lets try redirecting to the webpage I posted a little fishing report on..Seagrass collection trip

I did take a lot of this home with me and its all settling in at the moment.. looks like it all survived the ride home and the transplanting thus far. I had quite a time getting rid of the invertebrates that hitched a ride along with the grass. I only ditched inverts which looked like they might be detrimental long term.. which was mostly larvae that looked to be saltwater dragonfly or mayfly larvae. I'm not sure, I gave a few specimens to a entomology professor to ID yesterday. There were quite a few sponges and other interesting encrusting things on the grass and it'll be a few days before I can see if they survived the trip or not.

>Sarah

 

[moggyhill]

the hurricanes did so much damage to the lagoon here and the ocean, it will be interesting to see how stuff regenerates over time.

 

[Samala]

Moggy, yeah, I agree. Last year at this time I was kayaking through Bairs Cove/Haulover areas and took lots of pictures. Comparing those pictures to what I just saw on a similar venture through the mangrove areas made me realize how much damage there was. Interestingly, whole seagrass beds have vanished.. I imagine they were scoured out of existence by the winds ripping up the water.. (?)

And the ocean, man oh man.. hardly any beach left at Cocoa or Playalinda at the park, I even saw the local news do a report on the Canaveral AFB's beachfront that was due for sand restoration.. the access ramps were just hanging from what was left of the dunes.. no beach at all!

What worries me most about the lagoon is the infrequent dolphin/marine mammal problems they have.. something on the lines of lung infections I hear from my parents. I really hope they can figure that out.

>Sarah

 

[moggyhill]

I agree, winds were awful and we had terrible flooding.