18 January 2007

Saving critters

Updating our last post, we're still picking up glass and saving beached sea creatures on Umm Suqeim 2 beach.

Apart from the turtle, we've rescued:

Lots of Jellyfish


A seahorse which we were very surprised to find still alive


and we also throw back starfish which have been marooned, but silly me hasn't taken a photo of any of these.

These last 2 pics are for our friend Lirun who is suffering from a lack of surfing action.


Small waves, but big enough to surf.

Eat ya heart out, mate!

12 comments:

Dubai Sunshine said...

Cool...A seahorse! Never seen a live one before :) I've only seen one in Disney movies!

Pandabonium said...

Beautiful. I've never seen a live seahorse either. There is a clear, round jellyfish tank at the Maui Ocean Center (Hawaii). They are really graceful as they swim.

Lucky to be on that beach. Some really big waves are pounding northern France right now. Germany's got heavy weather too, yeah?

CG said...

That jelly fish looks like the one that attached itself to my inner thigh when I was about 18 yrs old (oh no, he would be long dead I suppose), anyway it left me with a million purple lumps that throbbed like crazy for days, and it left the whole of the Rashid Hospital emergency room buzzing with excitement. (things like that didn't happen in those days).

nzm said...

DS: they are gorgeous creatures, and, the fathers give birth to the babies - even better! lol

PB: I think that the best jellyfish tanks I've seen are the ones at the Monterey Aquarium. They are blue and illuminated with black lights, so the detail in the jellies is amazing.

CG: Yeesh, you were very lucky. Pays to swim with your legs closed, I guess! lol.

Sandie said...

hey you seemed like you had great fun during your holidays. I love your blog I always check it. Sandie

Anonymous said...

In the past 2-3 years theres been a LOT of Jelly fish on the beaches.

I always wanted to touch one, but mom tells me horrifying stories about an aunt being stung when I was little.. so I havent had the courage to touch one yet.

nzm said...

Sandie: thanks - I always check yours too!

Harsha: I'm sure that touching most of them on the tops is ok, but you never can tell. That's why when we handle them, we scoop them up with a layer of sand underneath them as you can see from the top image.

Peceli and Wendy's Blog said...

I've never seen a seahorse in the flesh but they are beautifully shaped.
The striped seasnake looks similar to the ones on Vorovoro Island in Fiji where tribewanted are staying. Supposed to be poisonous but haven't heard of anyone bitten.
w.

nzm said...

Wendy: Yes, it looked like a dadakalaci, so we were very careful with it!

We came across eels in Mauritius that had the same markings, but had a dorsal spine running along their backs. They were very snakelike, but of course, they could breathe underwater through gills, unlike the snakes which have to surface to get air.

Passionate Dilettante said...

Liverpool Dock (England) is absolutely full of little jellyfish. You look down and the surface of the water appears to pulsate - and it's armadas of these little guys heading for a little sight-seeing at the Albert Dock. Tropical Liverpool.....

nzm said...

MamaDuck: You remind me of when I was learning to waterski in NZ. I was about to fall off, when I looked down to see that I was in the middle of a jellyfish swarm.

It was great incentive to stay on the skis!

Lirun said...

hehe thank you