Marine Temperate Ecology - Biotopes
Diving in Mare Nostrum
Written by Thursday, 08 August 2002 01:00
Nearly every weekend the scuba divers, who comprise the largest part of the Nautical Ecological & Cultural Association of Kini bay, organize a dive. After their last dive, they kindly gave me these photos for MCH visitors. So we all have the opportunity to enjoy the underwater life of the Cyclades.
Shortly after their first contact with the clear water, they were encircled by a big school of Chromis chromis, known as the Mediterranean damsel fish.
One of the divers, George Rigoutsos, discovered an octopus (Octopus vulgaris), laying in the safety of its hiding place. An anelida worm (sorry I haven't classified it yet) is sharing its refuge and the remains of its food.
But the eyes are not allowed to focus for long on one subject, no matter how beautiful it is. Time for divers is always limited and the subjects to be covered are always too many. Therefore George had to turn his camera on some yellow and brown sponges colonies (also unclassified).
It is obvious from this photo that Mediterranean Sea is a subtropical sea. The colors are similar to the ones found in tropical seas and especially in the Red Sea. After all, more than 300 aquatic species from the Red Sea (Lessepsian migrants, that have been recorded in the Mediterranean after 1967) have all adapted well in the Mediterranean which proves it. You may notice the whitish chambers that feather worms construct to live in, among the sponges' colonies.
The whole "mission" ended with the exploration of one of the thousands of underwater caves that a diver can find in every part of the Aegean Sea, and especially in Cyclades, because of their volcanic origin.
Meeting George Rigoutsos
George Rigoutsos was born in the island of Syros (Cyclades, Aegean Sea) in 1969. His wife is also a hobbyist scuba diver and underwater photographer. Their son is just a future scuba diver. "Unfortunately he is only three months old now, so he cannot dive yet", his mother told me the other day. George and his wife like the sea very much, so two years ago they decided to start scuba diving for fun. Underwater photography became their speciality and passion. He likes very much the colors of the unknown creatures of the underwater Mediterranean world, like this unidentified yellow with red dots sea star (see below) and this (also unidentified) brown sponges' colonies (bottom photo). Although a professional car engineer (he has the exclusive service of a well known European car manufacturer for the island of Syros) he manages to find some time to dive with his other half and give us the pleasure to watch such beautiful photos.
George is shown in the picture below (left) fully equipped in one of his underwater "missions":
The big sea snail on the right (it can reach up to 40 cm in size) is considered as rare and the divers of the Nautical, Ecological & Cultural Association of Kini Bay, use to hide them under rocks when they find them during their dives, because its shell is appreciated as a decorative item (they make lamps or horns with it) and its meat is - as said - delicious. George just prefers to take pictures of them.
This hermit crab (I will remember to give the scientific name of this animal as well as all the other animals which are unidentified in this section), attracted George's camera with its astonishing colours.
Some of the photos taken by the Rigoutsos family will be exhibited after July the 15th, along with the photographs of other underwater photographers at the lounge of Nautical, Ecological & Cultural Asocciation of Kini Bay.
This sea cucumber (photo below) is strongly colored and there was no case for George to miss this chance. All he needs is to find the correct angle for the best shot.
As very active hobbyists, George Rigoutsos and his wife take a lot of underwater photographs. MCH will present any photographs that will be provided by this young couple of committed hobbyists.
NB: Mare nostrum is the name the Romans gave to the Mediterranean sea. It simply means "Our Sea".
Photos by G. Rigoutsos