biologische kalender Zeeland blad 1

BIOLOGICAL DIVING CALENDER FOR ZEELAND

What is there to see and When!

As soon as you tell people you like to dive in Zeeland, they all say: but there is nothing to see?Yes, there is a lot to see, in spite of the current, the cold and the bad visability.

pictures:

Marion Haarsma

Paring Sepia's

Gestippeld mosdierslakje

Snotolf

Parende zee-egel

Biological dive calendar:

PERIOD	OOSTERSCHELDE	GREVELINGEN
Jan-March	Aeolidia papillosa	Sea scorpion + eggs
Febr-Apr	Aeolidia papillosa + eggs	Aeolidia papillosa + eggs
March-May	Tubularia + eggs Lumpsucker + eggs	Tubularia
April	Whelk + eggs	Zagers (nachtduik)
Apr-May	Onchidoris bilamellata	Onchidoris bilamellata
Apr-June	Dendronotus frondosus + eggs Moonjellyfish (Aurelia aurita) Coryphella gracilis	Gasterosteus aculeatus Moonjellyfish (Aurelia aurita)
May	Jorunna tomentosa	Black goby + eggs
May-July	Loligo vulgaris + eggs Sepia officinalis + eggs Lionmane Jellifish Sealemon + eggs (Archedorus pseudo-argus)
May-Aug	Acanthodoris pilosa Elysia vindis
May-sept	Janolus cristatus + eggs
June	Cuthana concinna Facelina coronata Goniodorus castanea Facelina bostoniensis mating seaurchins
June-July	Sabella pavonina Dahlia anemone Archidorus pseudo-argus Tecacera pennigera Aequipecten opercularis
July	shedding Fiddler crab	Pipefish
August-Sept	Compass Jellyfish juvenile sepia's horseshoe worm	Lobster Parablennus gatrugina Sepiola atlantica
Sept	Rhizostoma pulmo Elysia viridis	Palaemon serratus
Oct	Pandalus montagui	Agonus cataphractus
Of course there are many animals who are always there, like the sandshrimp, lobster and seabass. These are also fun to keep track of. Have a lot of fun with your logbook!

I wrote down all the special animals I have encountered in my 20 years of diving experience in our dark and murky waters.Of course there is a lot more to see than is written down in my overview.But this information was gathered from my own logbook. The meaning of this is you make your own diving calender with the entries from your own logboek.

Nursery

Some animals only manifest themselves during nightdives, other you will only encounter during mating season. Some species come especially to the Oosterschelde for mating and depositing their eggs, like the lumpsucker and the squid. These animals use the Oosterschelde as their nursery.

New encounters

Even if you are an experienced diver there are always new discoveries to do. Especially the summer season of the year 2000 was a discovery highlight

Twee loligo's met eieren

for me with many new animals I have never encountered before. Like the satin nudibranch, the sea lemon, sepiola and a horned blennius and a new jellyfish. Also the seaurchins completely stunned me by showing their reproducing eggs all at the same time . This was during the full moon in June!

The question is being raised: are there more animals to see or are we more aware and see things better?

Sources:
Leven onder de Zeespiegel, David en Jennifer George
Het Zeeboek, strandwerkgroep van de NJN en ACJN
De Atlantische Oceaan, Noordzee en het Kanaal, Steven Weinberg, een Dominicus onder water uitgave.
Giftige daklozen, videoband van Bas Grootjans

Sepiola in het zand

Paling

Sepia bruiloft

Drie gedoornde zeeslakjes

Bruine plooislak

Lampekapje