07.05.2019 – Águas vivas

The Spring season often surprises us with fantastic sightings out on the Atlantic Ocean with a variety of cetacean species but also many other ocean inhabitants. Our day began with a dispersed group of Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) peacefully logging at the surface. These lethargic deep-diving dolphins are frequent visitors that can be appreciated all year long in the waters of Madeira, in contrast to the seasonal Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) who were seen on both tours today and tend to be abundant during the winter.

Near our interactive winter dolphins, our crew on the zodiac also managed to locate several Portuguese Man O’ Wars (Physalia physalis) at the surface that are brought to the waters of the island by surface winds and currents. If you know what they look like, these drifting zooid colonies are quite easy to spot due to their colourful, punk-like gas-filled sail. Most cnidarians, however, tend to be submerged under the surface and are hard to spot which means that we don’t see the majority of jellyfish beneath the blue blanket of the Atlantic. Some, however, are simply too gigantic to miss. Our zodiac came across a group of Pink meanies (Drymonema dalmatinum), an impressive and large species of jellyfish, gently drifting at the surface. These rarely sighted creatures are also commonly known as “cauliflower jellyfish”, due to the fluffy mass of tentacles below their pulsating medusa that is aligned with an additional ring of long, translucent tentacles that deliver a powerful sting. It feeds on other jellyfish, including Moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurelia) that are often abundant at the surface during the transition seasons.

The pink meanie is also a floating feast in its own right and can make a great meal for sea turtles, like the basking Loggerhead (Caretta caretta) we encountered during our trip. The jellyfish is also living proof why turtles are so vulnerable to plastic; their dangerous resemblance to a plastic bag is uncanny and often fools even the experience crew on board. People also tend to mistake the Portuguese Man O’War for plastic bottles, granting individuals from the Pacific subspecies the nickname “blue bottles”.

We live in a plastic age where we tend to expect more plastic waste than wild animals out at sea. While this is a sad reality, the diversity of life in areas like Madeira does leave a lot of room for hope for the future!

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

10:00 Short-finned pilot whales, Short-beaked common dolphins, Loggerhead turtle

Stenella

15:00 Short-beaked common dolphins