(no subject)

[senoritafish]

For O.C. man, it was day of the dolphin - OC Register

Nice little slide show of Risso's and bottlenose dolphins right off Newport Beach. I took courses from Dennis Kelly (quoted in the article) right out of high school at Orange Coast College - he was studying southern California dolphins even then.

We've seen him at the school's Community Science Night (an open house aimed at kids), and I've introduced myself, but of course he doesn't remember me. Maybe if I mentioned I was the one who invariably spilled her drink all over the table when a few of us went out after class was over, even though it didn't contain alcohol at that point in time (I was still in denial as to whether a science career conflicted with being a Christian Scientist then), it might ring a bell?

I also use to help feed the catfish in the doughboy swimming pool on the weekends (he taught aquaculture), and had to help clean up when the campus security guard saw a tiny pump smoking and turned off the power to the entire complex, including the greenhouse the pool was in. If he'd looked a little closer or called one of us, the little pump only powered some small bubblers and could've been unplugged. All the power off meant all the circulation in the pool was shut off, and all the residents, about 600 6-inch catfish were found floating on the surface of the pool the next time one of us came in.

I also got some experience cleaning a dolphin skeleton and dealing with dermestid beetles - ooh, that was fun.

Comments

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

That's cool! I mean, it's too bad, if the article is correct, if they've scared away the whales.

I like dolphins. They seem happy.

[senoritafish.livejournal.com]

Not that I'm out there all that much, but I do remember seeing pilot whales more often along the beach when I was younger. And when I've been out on boats lately, I've seen Risso's dolphins, but I didn't know they only started showing up here fairly recently. And it seems odd they would scare off pilot whales, as pilot whales are generally just big dolphins too (as are orcas), and bigger than Risso's. But I'm no behaviorist; maybe they're more aggressive.

It's always exciting seeing dolphins. They do seem happy, especially these guys, they're really acrobatic. Seems a lot like they're saying "Silly humans, stuck in those floating cans. Look what we can do!" Phbbbbt!

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

My iPad desktop is Gus's picture of spinner dolphins from Hawaii. I assume you've seen them? They're completely insane.