Spearfishing sand dwelling species

Sometimes, what begins as a boring dive can turn into something exceptional! Recently, on an annual Fiordland jaunt, Darren Shields ended up in a quiet sandy area that, at first glance, looked like it wouldn’t produce anything more than a few cockles and starfish…

Despite the seeming emptiness of this area, a couple of the more observant divers started coming across the odd flounder and then a gurnard or two.

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These were taken before the team headed back to the boat to pick me up; I was having a catch up with the skipper about where an exciting dive might be for us that morning. On seeing what the boys had found, I suggested we should investigate a bit more here and see what we could discover – the crays could wait.

A couple of the guys rolled their eyes at my suggestion. I could understand what they might be thinking: boring, boring, boring. They hadn’t seen much and our limited time could be wasted.

We headed back to the area they had been in and immediately a couple of big flounder were found. I asked that we try and get some good photos and footage before we speared any. What unfolded next was some very interesting action.

Flounder know how to camouflage!

Flounder know how to camouflage!

One flounder I followed let me swim right beside it, stopping every now and then. On one of these stops, a little crab in its shell raced across the sand and leapt on the flounders back!
Next thing I knew, Mr Flounder was off with me right beside him rolling the camera, all the while Mr Crab was getting the rodeo ride of his life – he just wouldn’t let go! It was a great spectacle while it lasted, the ride eventually getting too much for the crab – or maybe his stop came up, and he let go to catch up with mates!

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All the group were finding flounder – they seemed to be everywhere. We quickly decided to make sure only one each for dinner would be speared, so the photographers and filmers kept rolling, and the spearing team got on with getting us dinner. While this was happening, the guys got their gurnard glasses on and started finding ones and twos of these hard-to-spot critters.

Iris Andrews with his first flounder.

Iris Andrews with his first flounder.

I have filmed and followed gurnard before and believe it or not they can be a very aggressive little fish if chased. A few years ago one eventually turned on me in what seemed like a high-speed attack, which I later worked out was more of a tactic to confuse a predator chasing it than an attempt to strike. This little fish turned and swam straight at my face at high speed, passing millimetres from my mask before disappearing behind me!

Back to this dive, I got as much flounder footage and photos as I needed so proceeded to find a gurnard myself. One of the boys called me over. It took a few seconds to see what he was pointing at, but then I saw a gurnard sitting beside a horse mussel. His camouflage and stillness certainly gave it an edge over the untrained eye. This fish was eventually taken by one of the guys, and we moved on to find more.

Gurnards camouflage makes it hard for the untrained eye to spot them.

Gurnards camouflage makes it hard for the untrained eye to spot them.

We soon found a couple sitting together. I took a different tack with these fish by diving very quietly and laying my video camera on the sand very close to them before drifting slowly back to the surface. The gurnard stayed dead still for a bit, then the one closest to the camera slowly started using its little feelers beside its gill plate to creep away from the perceived danger. Not once did it use its tail or ample wings until we gave chase. It then gave a full body waggle, out came the beautiful wings, and it was off.

We went on to find plenty more gurnard, and the spearo crew took a few for the pan, but many were left unharmed. We continued our swim into what appeared a new zone that had no flounder or gurnard but lots of seahorses. These beautiful little creatures were all over the place, curled up on the sand trying their best to look like a piece of weed or debris on the bottom.
We carefully picked a couple up, taking photos and filming their actions. What beautiful, gentle creatures they are.

We didn’t want to harass them too much, as some appeared to have extended bellies, maybe full of babies. We had now burned up a couple of hours on what could have been a very average dive but had instead provided several new experiences for many of our group.

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   This article is reproduced with permission of   
New Zealand Fishing News

June 2019 - Darren Shields
Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited

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