Strange little sea creatures (Salish Sea)

[Kenneth K]

I did a one hour 'dive' on the boat the other day to prep it for haul-out. I have to motor/sail for about 3.5 hours to the haulout facility so I usually scrape the bottom clean before the trip. The prop and a good part of the shaft were completely invisible and covered in a glob of mussels and growth. Much of the keel too.

When I came out of the water, my usually black wet suit looked like it was half covered in reddish brown sludge. When I took a closer look, the sludge was moving...I was covered with little sea creatures clinging to everything I had on. Anyone know what these are?



They were difficult to remove while alive and clinging, but after a day or two of dying and drying out, they fell off with a quick shake. I've done several dives in the past, both summer and winter, but have never encountered these before.

 

[Milagros]

I think those are likely bryozoans, or "moss animals" They are pretty commonly found on docks, etc.

 

[bgary]

Aliens! They're here, and they're taking over..... <O_O>

 

[Kenneth K]

Well, at least they are small, and don't seem to bite, and don't live long outside a seawater environment. How they stand up to masks and social distancing has yet to be determined.

 

[Scott B.]

Those little creatures are called skeleton shrimp, but they are not actually shrimp, they're a type of amphipod (like beach hoppers).

 

[Kenneth K]

Nice. Thanks.

Caprellidae - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

And their behavior isn't entirely foreign to some of us....

"After mating, the female in some species have been known to kill the males by injecting venom from a claw within their gnathopod."

 

[Stuphoto]

That females behavior sounds a lot like my last girlfriend, sucking the life right out of the male.

Please tell me i didn't just post that on line for everyone to see.

I scrubbed the bottom of my boat on Hornby last week and had several of them on the brush.

Pretty nasty growth here.
The bottom was relatively clean in February when I moved it from Comox to this island.
And I already had a jungle growing on the bottom and one mussel appeared on the brush.

I am wondering what the best bottom coat paint is for this region to help reduce it.

 

[Frank Langer]

I am in Nanaimo just south of you. Sailors here use mostly Micron CSC Ablative antifouling paint, usually two coats every haulout. In the winter the growth slows significantly, so a good cleaning in the fall, and again in very early spring is likely enough. But by April the water temp starts to increase and I find I need to scrub the bottom every two to three weeks to keep the green algae slime off. I'm pretty particular, and I like swimming, so it's no big deal for me to keep it clean.
Frank

 

[Stuphoto]

Thank you Frank,
I have just been using the brush so far but am planning on heading to Little Trib soon and swimming under her then.
I also have to replace my centerboard cable and am hoping I can accomplish that too.

My plan is to haul her out in either the fall or spring redoing the bottom.
At the moment I am slowly preparing for my first trip in her.