Phillipe Gallabert, our roving correspondent floating around and over the East Indian Ocean tropics, sent in this series of pics he shot in the Comores.
Unfortunately for Mako Sharks, as vicious and as fast as they are, they taste really good – much like a marlin. And so fall foul of the apex predators that inhabit these islands and tropical areas. As the coastal populations grow chasing the tourism dollar, protein becomes a big problem and the sea life in these areas suffers directly.
Roger Davidson may have entered the elite 100 pounder club, with this massive ‘couta (king mackeral) taken on a live bonito, off Hibberdene this weekend. Unfortunately Roger gutted the fish before he weighed it, so we will never know!
The photo does not do the fish of this size any justice. Although it does look like Roger could stick his entire head into that fish’s mouth!
Either way, it’s a magnificent catch – the catch of a lifetime for sure! Maybe it bodes well for another bumper big ‘couta run – like last years.
There are very few shoal ‘couta coming out anywhere, it seems the ‘couta population on our coastline is starting to age and we only have the big ones left?! Luckily the worldwide couta population is spread far and wide and in certain well maintained fisheries like Australia, the stocks are still healthy and should be able to bolster the stocks that are being so hammered, on our side of the Indian Ocean.
Roger fishes from a jet ski. The fish was 1.9 metres long. Must have been quite an interesting ride home!
The environmentally friendly crew at The Watchers – follow the link below to get acquainted with them – are doing a great job of keeping tabs on what is going on all over our ailing planet.
…and a particularly good graphic depiction of the problem…
From One Earth .Org…
However, it’s not just yellowfin tuna and it’s cousins. ALL our fish are being subjected to mercury pollution this way. All studies on the subject show increased levels of mercury in our fish – redfish, pelagics…all of them!
We were releasing a sailfish off the Umzimkulu one afternoon. The North Easter had been blowing for days and was finally stopped by a buster South Westerley – ideal conditions for a billfish on the dirty water line, especially in February.
Stepped over and into the engine well which is always full of water. Had a deep cut between two of my toes from an earlier incident that day – and a devillish bluebottle floated in and got its tentacles right into that cut. Right in. The initial searing sensation – which we alI have experienced hundreds of times, was nothing like anything I felt in the past. The poison had a marked advantage as the blue bottle injected its lethal payload of poision right into my raw flesh.
My lymph glands in my thigh started to swell with excruciating pain, and stupidly with my fingers I put pressure on the golf ball size gland – it seemed to burst and the poison entered the rest of me – searing pangs of pain right through my consciousness. Which I nearly lost a number of times.
6 Hours later and the pain finally subsided. There was just nothing to be done . Just crawled into the cabin and lay in asemi- paralysed state – unable to move or anything, until we got back in. Normally the pain only lasts 20 minutes, before it becomes barely an itch. Not this time!
Beware the (blue) bottle! They love this time of the year.
Bluebottle. Even when lying on the beach like this one…they are a danger.
Bluebottles vs Portuguese man-o-war
The Portuguese man-o-war is a monster – with up to 30 cm long float sometimes, with numerous long stinging tentacles and one fully loaded main stinger. Lucky for us, we don’t get them in our waters. These guys really leave you with problems. The stings open into wounds like welts and all sorts of complications can, and do arise.
Our Bluebottle is much smaller and more friendly, normally an inch or two, but up to 15 cms sometimes. Their single stinging tentacle is proportionately longer – the bigger the bluebottle. And fortunately, the sting is a lot less severe.
They both shoot tiny hooks into your skin which unfold and squirt the poison into you, with no chance of stopping it, once it has found its mark.
KZN South Coast Dorado bite on! Elvis Olimpio get’s in on the seasonal and exciting dorado run going on on the KZN South Coast right now
The “dollies” are officially in the hood…although very little is known about these widespread pelagics, they do seem to prevail season to season just fine. Being open ocean spawners, the dorado (and the sailfish) are purported to be the most hardy of all our pelagic fish species and that they will likely outlast most other fish species, as the fish holocaust progresses.
Spectacular surface feeders, they are ferociously aggressive when on the bite. Warm blue water above 24 degrees – the same conditions as sailfish and marlin like, bring the shoals down south from the tropics, maybe to spawn – hence their hungry disposition, when they get down here. They are rated GREEN by SASSI, who admit that very little is actually known about this beautiful fish. Their scientific name is Coryphaena hippurus. They are closely related to their most feared predator – the marlin.
Dorado spawn all year round in warm water currents like our Mozambican freight train. They eat almost anything that swims. They reach sexual maturity in 6 months or so and even a foot long dorado can start spawning – usually three times a year, with up to a million eggs each time!
Baby dorado can be found all over the place – deep waters, shallow waters, even in rock pools – often tangled up in floating sargassum seaweed for protection. These fish love floating logs and things and sometimes a whole shoal can be found hiding in the shade ready to ambush anything smallish that swims past. Which they can do at speeds of almost 100kmh!
Dorado love a plain sardine, or with a skirt, on the drift, but they are even eager enough to take a rapala for those who like to burn the environment up. The most fun though, can be had throwing a lure at them as they swim past. There can’t be much more exciting than watching a huge, hungry and beautiful dorado chasing and smashing your lure in the clear warm blue water right in front of your eyes!
The following video shows the extreme conditions the dorado love here on the KZN South Coast. Just as the south wester busts through, the dorado go absolutely wild!
