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Marine Life & Conservation

Diving with the Ocean Sunfish or Mola Mola

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Each year, between August and November, the Ocean Sunfish or Mola Mola come to the clean, clear waters off the East Coast of Bali near the island of Nusa Penida to be cleaned and groomed.

Diving with them gives you the adrenaline rush of diving with Great Whites in the Cape but without the protection of a cage. However, the danger comes not from the fish but from the sea itself.

These are volcanic islands, and the sea bed is often hundreds of metres below. The cleaner stations are in Crystal Bay and Manta Point, which are both subject to tidal fluctuations and unpredictable current changes, with vertical walls where the swirling currents can drag a diver down before he can react. To dive there at all you should always take an experienced guide. This is diving at its most unpredictable, and all the early diver training skills come into play. This is where things can go wrong and you have to be very aware of the dangers.

As always with diving, nobody can guarantee a sighting of anything in nature. In Mola Mola season the whole Balinese diving community is focused on the sightings. The sunfish don’t always come and only the best dive guides can predict with any certainty where they will be. Factors that play a role are tides, currents and of course the unpredictable whimsy of large marine animals.

The sea was rough, and we only kitted up once we had arrived at Nusa Penida. There we were given a full briefing on how to behave around the Mola Mola. I felt heavily over-weighted, as though I had an extra 5kg on my weight belt, and inflated my BC a little. Then I realized it was not weight, it was current, and the downward pull was so strong that I had to fin like hell just to stay in one place. At last we reached the cleaner station, and there he was, massive, primitive, his vestigial tail already being picked at by banner fish. Our first Mola Mola.

I slowly circled round the animal, filming as I went. Once I had reached the other side of him the cameras kicked in and the water was filled with photographers with their apertures wide open and their shutter speeds on slow… taking hundreds of pictures of this amazing creature.

He obligingly hung for 12 minutes while all around him the cameras went ballistic, bony mouth half open, hard round tongue visible, gulping and gasping with his huge round eyes staring into the deep, apparently oblivious of the divers all around him. The banner fish swarmed around him, picking off parasites, burrowing into wounds, sucking up the debris. Then he seemed to get bored, turned his back on us and with a leisurely flick of his fins, vanished into the distance.

In the days that followed we explored several more dive sites fruitlessly looking for another Sunfish, and our persistence was eventually rewarded.

We could not even enter Crystal Bay as the tide was low, the currents dangerously unpredictable, and Parman felt we should try Manta Point again; at least we could look at the pelagic mantas if nothing else.

This time we were alone, there were no other photographers, and we had no expectation of seeing anything, when suddenly out of the misty blue a Mola Mola arrived, totally unselfconscious, posing for photography… and then another arrived, also relaxed, ready for a grooming.

The Ocean Sunfish are bony fish, with large lateral fins like a whale, but they hang vertically in water like blaasops, and they used to be classified scientifically as Molidae until fairly recently.

Viewed side on, they are huge, like oval elephants, but from behind they are almost 2 dimensional, like a playing card. They seem to get a lot of parasites in their vestigial tails, which are not actually tails at all, but in fact a fusion of their dorsal and anal fins to make a sort of rudder, called a caudus. This is flat, rounded and scalloped, a bit like pie crust. There are 12 fin rays in the caudus and it is here that the parasites lodge. It is because of this that Mola Mola need help at cleaner stations.

They are by far the world’s most prolific egg laying fish. Their eggs scatter over vast areas, and the baby sunfish look a little like puffer fish, and bear little resemblance to their bizarre parents in their early years. They are born with a tail fin, which eventually fuses with maturity and have all the normal bony spines characteristic of the puffer fish or blaasop. They swim in schools to start with, only becoming solitary as they reach sexual maturity.

The adults are huge animals, growing up to 3 metres across and weighing around a ton, making them the largest bony fish in the ocean.

So how do they sustain this huge bulk? They mainly eat jelly fish, plankton, small fish and zooplankton. When you compare the small round mouth of the Mola Mola with the massive mouth of a whale shark, they must spend most of their time trying to ingest enough food to sustain this bulk. They suck water and food in through the mouth and their teeth have fused into a beak-like structure, while they have crushing teeth at the back of the throat that enable them to tear crustateans into smaller bits.

Speculation is that they are extremely vulnerable to the cold, as they are sometimes seen lying near the surface on their sides looking dead. The scientists think this is to expose as much of their bulk as possible to the sun and certainly they cannot survive cold oceans, preferring temperatures of over 10 degrees. This makes finding enough food difficult, as zoo plankton and jellies mainly occur where there is a cold upwelling or current flooding in from the colder depths of the ocean. To obtain sufficient food it is thought they may also have to dive down to great depths, as side-catch Mola Mola deaths have revealed stomach contents from vegetation and shrimps living at depths below 200 metres. Their cumbersome structure makes travel fairly slow and by swishing the dorsal and ventral fins they can only travel at a rate of up to 26 km a day.

Diving with this animal was an absolute revelation and a huge privilege. It was really worth the long flight, the tedious hours waiting for planes, the interminable boat rides, braving the dangerous currents and staying calm when all the early diver training was tested to its limit, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat.


Words: Jill Holloway

Pics: David Holloway

Copyright: Ocean Spirit

www.osdiving.com

Jill Holloway lives in Mauritius and at Sodwana Bay Isimangaliso Wetland Park in South Africa. A PADI qualified Nitrox diver with over 1,500 dives, she is a passionate observer and preserver of the marine environment, and has a database of over 35,000 fish pics and hundreds of Gopro videos on fish behaviour, which she shares with her readers.

Marine Life & Conservation

New report shows simple measures needed to cut beach plastic pollution

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The Marine Conservation Society has launched its annual State of our Beaches 2023 report, highlighting the need for less single-use plastic items and more refillable options.

The charity’s beach cleaning programme, now in its 30th year, asks volunteers to record all litter that they find within a 100-metre stretch of beach. By gathering vital data from across the UK and Channel Islands, the charity creates change for cleaner seas and a healthier planet through policy and industry change. Last year, over 148 kilometres of beach were surveyed by volunteers, who removed 17,208kgs of litter from our coast.

Using data collected by over 14,000 volunteers, the State of our Beaches 2023 report shows that half of all litter collected came from public sources – either dumped, blown or washed onto our beaches.

Drinks-related litter, such as plastic bottles, caps and cans were one of the most found items, with an average of 16 found per 100 metres of beach surveyed. This figure is up 14% compared to the charity’s 2022 report.

Plastics caps and lids were recorded on 89% of surveys, with over 30,000 found in total. Plastic bottles were also commonly collected, with 73% of surveys finding this single-use item – a 4% increase compared to 2022. The charity’s inland litter pick survey, Source to Sea, also reported finding plastic bottles on 92% of cleans.

However, the charity’s State of Our Beaches 2023 report also indicates that some types of litter are on a downward trend. Although still in the top 10 litter items, disposable plastic cutlery, trays and straws were found on 5% fewer beaches across the UK, showing that bans on these plastic items between 2022 – 2023 could be working. The presence of plastic cotton bud sticks also dropped by 14%.

Lizzie Price, Beachwatch Manager at the Marine Conservation Society, said, “Half of the litter found on our beaches originates from public sources, underscoring the pressing issue of single-use plastic. Evidence shows that refillable alternatives and litter return schemes effectively reduce rubbish, as demonstrated by the decline our data has shown in items like plastic bags and disposable cutlery.

“Urgent and decisive action from UK governments is needed to accelerate our shift towards a circular economy, where we reuse, repair and recycle. The public needs greater access to refillable products and systems need to be implemented in which manufacturers are responsible for their waste.”

Governments across the UK have committed to delivering deposit return schemes from October 2025. However, the proposed scheme in England does not include glass items, despite glass being found on 52% of beaches in 2023. The charity is calling for governments across the UK to introduce compatible all inclusive deposit return schemes as soon as possible. This would see aluminium cans, and plastic and glass bottles have a 20p deposit which would be returned when recycled which would reduce drinks-related pollution.

Businesses are, however, starting to take refillable and reusable options into their own hands. Supermarket chain, Aldi, the largest corporate funder of the charity’s 2024 Beachwatch programme, is already leading the charge in refillable items by trialling refillable options for cereals and porridge oats in their stores over the past 5 months.

Plastics and Packaging Director, Luke Emery, from Aldi, who are running 4 beach cleans for staff and volunteers in 2024, said, We are continually working to reduce single-use plastics and packaging, and making unpackaged product options more commonplace for our customers is a key part of this. We are really pleased with the uptake of our refillable range so far by customers. Not only are we making sustainable shopping more accessible, but we also offer refill products for a better price than the packaged alternative, helping our customers save money.”

Marine litter is one of the biggest threats to our seas, with plastic breaking down over time into microplastics and threatening marine life which can ingest or become entangled in them. The Marine Conservation Society is urging the UK Government to move faster on its policies to cut down plastic waste and prevent items from reaching our seas.

To find out more about the charity’s beach cleans and how to get involved, please visit mcsuk.org/beach-cleans

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Guarding Against Coral Invaders

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Protecting (Dutch) Caribbean Reefs from Unomia stolonifera

Recent reports highlight the concerning spread of the invasive soft coral, Unomia stolonifera, currently devastating Venezuela’s marine ecosystems and detected in Cuba. With the potential threat of its expansion to the (Dutch) Caribbean islands, urgent action and awareness are essential to safeguard marine biodiversity and local economies from possible catastrophic consequences.

Invasive species are animals or plants from another region of the world that don’t belong in their new environment. These species can have major ecological effects by decimating native flora or fauna. They can also cause large economic losses and impact human health. Invasive species also pose a significant threat to marine ecosystems worldwide, including the Dutch Caribbean. Among these invaders is the octocoral species Unomia stolonifera or “Pulsing Xenia”, originally from the Indo-Pacific. With its rapid growth and lack of natural predators, this species can outcompete native species and disrupt fragile marine habitats such as seagrass beds and coral reefs.

Background

The invasive soft coral U. stolonifera was first identified in 2014, off the coast of Venezuela. It is believed to have been introduced via the illegal aquarium trade.  Since this species can reproduce sexually and asexually (or fragment), even small pieces can regenerate to spread.  Once introduced it quickly took over shallow reefs and hard substrate at depths of 0-50 meters, outcompeting local corals and seagrass for space.  Follow on surveys found that this coral species exhibited average percentage cover as high as 80%, vastly outcompeting native corals. In highly colonized areas, fish are disappearing due to loss of habitats.

In 2022, during a survey conducted in Cuba by the University of Havana, an unknown octocoral was discovered which was later identified as the invasive Unomia stolonifera. It is suspected that the coral larvae arrived in ballast water from fossil fuel ships originating from Venezuela, as nearby sites adjacent to Venezuelan ports have been heavily affected by the invasion.

How to help

Prevention through continuous monitoring, particularly in high-risk areas such as marine harbors and oil facilities, is paramount. Early detection plays a pivotal role in mitigating the threat posed by Unomia stolonifera.

The public’s involvement and awareness are also vital. Local communities, recreational divers, tourists, and all stakeholders are urged to participate in early detection efforts by reporting sightings (photo, location and date) of this invasive coral to their respective Protected Area Management Organization (PMO’s)- the Fundacion Parke Nacional Aruba (FPNA)STINAPA BonaireCARMABI Curaçao Saba Conservation Foundation (SCF)Nature Foundation St. Maarten (NFSXM) and St. Eustatius National Parks (STENAPA). If an invaded area is confirmed, follow the recommendations by the local PMO’s.

Keys to Success

Despite the challenges, early detection is key to mitigating the threat posed by Unomia stolonifera. With continued vigilance, research, and community engagement, there is hope for containing this potential issue before it becomes a major threat.

About the DCNA

The Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) supports (science) communication and outreach in the Dutch Caribbean region by making nature related (scientific) information more widely available through amongst others the Dutch Caribbean Biodiversity Database, DCNA’s news platform BioNews and through the press. This article contains the results from several scientific studies but the studies themselves are not DCNA studies. No rights can be derived from the content. DCNA is not liable for the content and the in(direct) impacts resulting from publishing this article.

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