A RAINBOW SEA

IN A RAINBOW SEA.

Scunthorpe Camera Club member John Naylor, assisted by his diving partner Brian Jubb, gave a superb presentation of what life looks like under the waters around Britain, the Med and the Red Sea.

John and Brian have been diving for many years and have experienced seeing wonderful colourful corals both hard and soft and many types of tropical fish in amazing colours and shapes.

There is a Marine Reserve off Berwickshire where soft corals grow and John showed close-ups of the polyps on the Deadman’s Finger coral. Polyps feed on plankton and the pink species has stinging tentacles which sting their prey and it falls into the mouth of the coral. John showed images of the Dahlia anemone in a variety of sizes and shades of pink and orange. John explained that the water around St. Abbs Head is very clear so the colours of the corals are seen to advantage.

An ugly looking wolf fish had swum down from the Arctic but would not look very appetising on a fishmongers display!! Jellyfish with long stinging tentacles were avoided but photographed. It was unusual to see a red-shelled lobster instead of the usual black one.

When diving in the Mediterranean John and Brian take all their diving gear with them and then hire space on a special diving boat. The water here is so clear as there is no plankton at all. Scorpion fish come in many guises and colours, but here again they can sting if touched. The Feather Worm has beautiful pale coloured waving frond like tentacles and was a delight to see on the screen. John said the Gorgonia coral probably took ten thousand years to grow to its present state but again this was beautiful to see.

On another diving trip John and Brian went to the Red Sea, this time with their digital cameras and here they saw many Grouper fish that looked as if they had the measles but the spots were a variety of colours. John said they kept away from the Moray Eel as they didn’t fancy being attacked. When trying to photograph a Wrasse, John said it actually tried to attack him, so he backed off smartly. In several areas under the Red Sea the fish have cleaning stations, where the fish actually appear to queue up to be cleaned by smaller fish.

Everyone in the room said how much they had enjoyed the presentation and wished John well with his entries in club competitions. President John West thanked both John and Brian for giving their time to present their hobby to club members.