In Reply to: Re: Question for the Board..... posted by Ken Kurtis on November 21, 2007 at 10:20:14:

As I said in the original post, these were working dives; our hands were full of slates, tapes, etc. I did have a camera but in both encounters was unable to capture the great mass of little buggers in pixels – and it just killed me. Thanks Ken for bringing up that painful moment, by the way. ;)

Anyway, for those who doubt my acuity of vision and/or veracity, the two encounters were also viewed and confirmed by NPS Ranger, Ian Williams who has great familiarity with both terrestrial and marine flora and fauna of the Channel Islands. He confirmed the ID of the huge mass pipefish and also was amazed.

I have often seen pipefish - probably hundreds or more times over the years, but usually just one individual, and never more than three together. On the two occasions of seeing three pipefish in close proximity, it seemed unusual enough for me to remember and more of a coincidence that they were together than a planned grouping or mating thing. That is why I posted the question, and why we were so blown away when this herd of pipers came swimming through like ‘chovies, sardines or jack mackerel.

Yet another reason to LOVE California diving.

Stay wet