During the hydrophone maintenance dive in July, we installed an underwater camera in front of the lighthouse in hopes of catching a glimpse of the whales. So far, the murkiness of the water has prevented us from seeing any orcas, but we have had nice views of rock fish, moon jellies, and, for a split second, a harbor seal! Jason recently cleaned off the lens in an effort to improve our visibility, but it seems we might have an underwater ally who is happily doing that job already. In the first part of the video below, what we believe to be some kind of chiton inches along the camera lens, consuming the grime that has built up on the surface. In the second part of the video, Jason does the same job with a quick swish of a towel -- whose cleaning job is better? You can tell how limited the visibility is based on how little time it takes for Jason to disappear once he starts swimming away. We are hoping that if we make recordings during the spring (before algae blooms begin), we'll have better luck filming the whales. More acoustics updates coming soon!
NOTE: Sorry about the yellow hue in this video; it has since gone away...
Since I think Chitons are too cute I am cheering on the little fellow.
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