Boring Seagrass

David Barrio · Issue 67, Jul/Aug 2012 · pp. 66–69

Products mentioned: Nikon D300, Nikon D7000, Tokina 10-17mm, Nikon 105mm VR, Kenko 1.4x teleconverter, Kenko 2x teleconverter, Subsee +10 diopter, Hugyfot housing, Sagadive cone flat port, Sea&Sea YS250pro strobes, Sea&Sea YS110alpha strobes, Subtronic Nova strobes, Inon Micro Semi-Fisheye Relay Lens UFL-MR130, Glowdive optical fiber ringflash, Canon S95, Fix UWL-04 wide angle wet lens

Underwater photographers are creatures of habit, when we go to our local divesites we usually do the same routes, take the same kind of pictures of the same subjects and even use the same lenses, missing some areas full of wonders to observe and photograph. I realized all that when Enrique Souto, an UWP friend of mine, started to explore an otherwise ignored seagrass field area at El Cabrón, one of the most dived local sites in Gran Canaria. With shoals of fish, gorgonians and many caves and arcs we never found the time to go and spend a whole dive at the seagrass fields until Enrique talked me about it and Luisa and I started to go and look for the green prairie inhabitants... Seagrass fields are formed by two main species: Cymodocea Nodosa (which in fact is a plant) and Caulerpa Prolifera (a green algae). Some areas show only one of them and other areas are a mix of both. Ecologically …