Once upon a time, OrcaLab's Orca-live website had webcams in the kelp forest at Cracroft Point. (Details of how it was done then. Understand, that was then and this is now: no cams. But yes, still delicious audio when the orcas are singing.) For months at a stretch, several summers in a row, we got to put our heads under the sea and watch the life there. If orcas passed by, there might be surface views from a handheld camera, but all day the kelp waved and flocks of fishies passed by and such beloved echinoderms as Waverly the sea cucumber and Spike the sea urchin (ok ok, there were LOTS of Spikey Guys and I madly loved every single one) performed slowly for watchers all over the globe.
And on September 17, 2005, a Pycnopodia helianthoides (sunflower star) fell into view (from where?), re-organized his topsy-turvey self, and slithered off camera. I happened to be sitting at my desk just then, with my finger on the screen capture button and my head joyfully under the sea...
PS. Note the Spikey Guy in the bottom left corner, a purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. He's probably still around, somewhere. His close relative the red sea urchin is thought to live up to a couple of hundred years.
2 comments:
Sweet! Thanks!
Yes, that was one GRAND day! Another favourite was when Spikey Guy took a very long time to work his-her way across the lens. Endless enjoyment of sneak peeks while at work. Ohhh to have the cams again. Sigh.
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