Ocean Aliens
Ocean Aliens
Wonders Of The Night
There is a certain beauty to diving at night, for some, plunging into the pitch black can be an eerie concept, but I ind it therapeutic, and I encourage anyone
to try it. Sinking below the surface you are shrouded by complete darkness; you succumb to your senses as they intensify, compensating the loss of sight. You feel the water hug tight to your body and each breath resonates in your ears; everything else disappears.
Then you switch on your lights... immediately the invisible scene before you is brought to life: shape and colour replaces the blackness.
With the greater sense of the unknown, night dives feel like more of an adventure, everything you could possibly see is hidden by darkness waiting to be discovered. Lighting up every crack and every crevice to look inside, will rarely leave you feeling disappointed. Your light against the darkness helps to pick out signs of life you may miss during the day: ish eyes glinting under a rock, shimmering scales against dark kelp or even the hypnotic iridescence of a squid, there is so much that shines back at you.
Not only is picking out animals made easier, lots of weird and wonderful
creatures are attracted to light; sometimes pointing a torch up into the water
for a few minutes can bring all sorts of unique and beautiful species to you.
Night dives deliver many surprises but it’s the weird and
wonderful creatures that you might not see during the day
that make night diving so special. This encounter is one I will
never forget!
Out of the darkness shot a large squid, just over a foot long. It briely soared above our heads, before settling down amongst the kelp and weed below us. After a period of motionlessness, it suddenly reared up, spreading its ins wide, rippling them back and forth like a wave or ribbon, performing a hypnotic dance. It seemed to stare intently at my brother, as though it were just as fascinated in him as he was by it. Conceivably content with its study of us, it jetted off, disappearing back into the surrounding blackness.
Although this interaction was leeting it was by far one of the
most memorable I have had to this day.
Many different species of squid inhabit Britain’s seas, and as night falls and the water darkens, plankton rise up from the depths, providing the foundation for a squid’s dinner. Smaller individuals picking off plankton while the larger ones come to hunt bigger game. Some of the best times to see squid are at night during a plankton bloom, it is like a banquet for them.
Floating mid water amongst a starry constellation of plankton, my torch light a beacon for squid, I have been able to witness some amazing activity at night. Large squid shooting past my head or taking an interest in my torch, and tiny little ones jetting about sometimes iring a cloud of ink as they dart around. The open water encounters I have had, have been very energetic but very short, however, down on the seabed, amongst the sand, I have had prolonged encounters with some of the smallest squid I have ever seen.
As she lifted her head, I noticed she was carrying a piece ofish in her mouth, a prize she had retrieved from inside the pot. Brolli then proceeded to lay the ish on top of the pot. I assumed she was going to eat it, however, instead she decided to leave it there. Moving away from the stolen bait she settled a few feet away on the seabed. Now I was bafled.I then noticed small little ish begin to appear. They edgedever closer to the bait before eventually they began to nibbleand start eating Brolli’s prize. Immediately, Brolli rushed up shaking her head around and scattered the small gathering of ish, obviously defending her food, or so I thought. She then retreated back to the seabed only to lay in wait once again. All this while, her good eye remained transixed on the little ish loating nearby. Sure enough, after a second or two, the little ish got brave and decided to try for the bait; a few of them landed on it and once again Brolli pounced, shaking them off the meat.It was as though she was playing with the ish; enticing them in, only to scare them off then repeat the process. She did this a few more times before completely leaving the bait and swimming off.