Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
billions of planktonic larvae into the northward-flowing current—
swarms of barnacle larvae just waiting for a nice boat hull to come along
on which to settle and grow.
The rocks around Coquimbo, at least in the areas where I dove, were
almost bare of algae. Although Chile is known for its rich growth of
seaweeds, these are found farther south, where the water is colder. In-
stead of plant life, almost every crevice between the rocks was crawl-
ing with one- or two-inch-long red shrimp. When I stuck my hand in
between the rocks, the little shrimp crawled on it as if they were clean-
ing me. I was struck by the rather ominous thought that if you should
die in this water, you would be picked apart by hordes of these hun-
gry little crustaceans.
Northern Chile has a commercial diving fishery for a mollusk the
natives call
loco
(
Concholepas
), also known, inaccurately, as the Chilean
abalone. The loco looks more like a giant limpet, but unlike limpets
or true abalone it is carnivorous and feeds on the abundant barnacles.
I felt sorry for the loco divers I saw. Although the water temperature
isn't very cold, their wet suits were tattered and full of holes. Not only
that, but they were using hookah diving, where the air to the regula-
tor and mouthpiece is supplied by a compressor on a small boat rather
than by a self-contained air tank; because their air supply is unlimited,
hookah divers can—and do —stay down for hours. In addition to hy-
pothermia, then, these divers ran the risk of the bends. There were also
occasional white shark attacks on the loco divers. It looked like a hard
life.
TINY EASTER ISLAND
As a thank-you for my help with the university's aquarium design,
Dr. Cea gave me a return flight to San Francisco via Easter Island, Tahiti,
and Hawaii, with the option of staying as long as I liked in each place.
He'd spent a few years on Easter Island as the sole medical doctor, he
said, and he loved the place. He told me of a dream he had to build a
public aquarium there. I listened politely, not wishing to disillusion
him by pointing out that this island, the most remote inhabited spot
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