Until now, explains the president of Pastinaca, Felix Viña, “That species of eel was already scientifically documented in Tenerife and Gran Canaria, according to the Canary Islands Biodiversity Data Bank (Biota)”.
Felix described as “Important” the finding, which has been possible thanks to the control actions that Pastinaca has been carrying out on the expansion of the diadem hedgehog in the bay of Arrecife, which has made it possible to recover many species that were not seen before as the blanquizales have been decreasing. The overexploitation of marine resources and the use of poaching gear in Arrecife, such as traps (this time Pastinaca did not find any), have been reducing the populations of sea urchin predators. African headband. This is the case, for example, of old women, parsnips and other rock fish, says Viña, “so the hedgehog has been roaming freely and from Pastinaca we act as artificial predators of them.”
The reduction of blanquizales due to the decrease in hedgehogs, has led to an explosion of fauna and flora in the depths of the city, also at night
The nocturnal behavior of diadem hedgehogs in mature blanches is very aggressive, says Pastinaca, “since in the dark they move a lot in search of rocks to scrape off any kind of algae.” It also highlights that “the drastic decrease in the African Diadema hedgehog population has caused a significant change in its behavior and it is now observed how the specimens do not move, but remain in their safety zone. The presence of a greater quantity of food and less competition means that they do not have to travel so much ”.
Abundant species
The recent night dive of the stingray divers is part of the ecological monitoring of the Arrecife marina that the club carries out for the Lanzarote Biosphere Reserve in order to analyze the evolution of the flora and fauna of Arrecife. After several actions during the day, Pastinaca performed this first one at night to observe life without hours of sunlight and it was not indifferent. On the contrary, in addition, of the eel, they saw “a large number of bogas with a clearly protective behavior forming a very dense group and very close to the bottom, fabianas and many octopuses, some large (weighing more than three kilos each one), cuttlefish preying on rock fish, old women sleeping among the stones, black moray eel, horse mackerel, angelfish, salema, blacksmiths, alfonsitos, rascacios, anemones and cerianthos, Canary crayfish, dancing shrimp, narwhal shrimp, spotted shrimp, spiny shrimp and ‘Lady Scarlet’, ”as detailed in Parsy’s report.
“The conditions of immersion and the organisms that can be sighted vary profoundly when the immersion is carried out at night, in total darkness. With the arrival of night, hundreds of species hidden during the day take center stage to fulfill their life cycles ”, explains Pastinaca. The club adds that “in addition, common species during the day change their behavior to protect themselves from predators that, under the cover of darkness, tend to approach shallow waters in search of food.”
“With the arrival of night, hundreds of hidden species during the day take center stage to fulfill their life cycles”, explains Pastinaca
Species with nocturnal habits such as anemones, worms, corals, crustaceans and mollusks, as well as angel sharks and rays, “the latter very active at night,” are included in the Pastinaca report, which also indicates that “many diurnal species are easy to observe resting on the rocky bed of the bottom.”
Pastinaca plans to carry out studies towards the south of Arrecife, in the areas of El Cable and Playa Honda since it considers that there may be more specimens of eels.
Finally, the report states that although the immersion did not reveal any threat, “it is true that certain illegal practices such as underwater fishing at night or setting gillnets under cover of darkness are actions to be taken into account.”
