How do you live life in a place you've only known without a car, for so many years, after finally gaining the freedom to drive one.
Its not like it was this revolutionary liberation. The rich weren't getting their heads stuck in the guillotine like I wanted. However, there is still this sense of freedom. It feels like the first time shooting a truly high caliber gun in a place where you're not suppose to. Not some 22. peashooter in some pisshand's back yard, but a 30 aut 6 claiming an 8 point buck. It wasn't pissing in the wind, but a feeling like you've made this second, or third, or fourth step into the never-ending adulthood that is the rest of our life till we die.
So, I take this freedom I've been given and appreciate it. Yet how can I deny the enjoyment I get from it. I've been given the privilege to live without it for so many years and it had absolutely radicalized me to a point... I feel most of us don't need it. Why do any of us need it? Because we don't want to make the trip to the supermarket on a Saturday night for some shitty frozen food and a case of beer for the weekend? What stops you from doing that on a bike? Oh, the nearest supermarket is 4km away. Well, that makes sense.
I'm so lucky to live within walking distance of my means, and its not even hard. I mean, rural Japan was able to do it. Why can't we (California)? Growing up, the closest "grocery store" was "Grocery Outlet Bargain Market" (GOBM.... let the joke make itself) that sold cheap crap that the other, reputable places put on discount. The next place to get anything edible was Vons and that was an hour bike ride both ways. What kind of life is that to live? only the well off or those living within proximity can get healthy food?
Its not to say there isn't a way to live remotely and have access to basic necessities... but if rural places in other countries are providing better/accessible places to buy food than us (Californians)... what does that say about us?....
So now, I feel like I got the power of a AR15 when all I'm hunting its squirrels. A 22. can easily do the job... while an AR is gonna obliterate it... but the latter is so damn fun to shoot.
ミジンベニハゼ (Mijinbenihaze) Lubricogobius exiguus couple found in Otomi over the past couple months.They are also known in English as the Yellow Pygmy Goby or Yellow Bellied Goby (english common names are all over the place).
These little guys are so rare and have such little mobility that they can change sexes in either direction (i.e. hermaphroditic). So any pair can change () to be sexually reproductive (Oyama 2023). They also seem to spawn multiple times in one breeding season, so this is why I kept seeing them in the same location over a few months (Dotsu & Fujita 1963). What I thought was interesting was the fact that during one of the observations, the two individuals occupied different bottles in the area. Could they have had 2 different egg clutches at the same time? I'm curious to know. These guys are rare to see this far north in Japan however. The water has consistently been in the upper 20s to low 30s so its been really warm. Could be a sign of warming oceans.
Oyama, T., Sonoyama, T., Kasai, M., Sakai, Y., & Sunobe, T. (2023). Bidirectional sex change and plasticity of gonadal phases in the goby Lubricogobius exiguus. Journal of Fish Biology, 102(5), 1079-1087.
Dotsu, Y., and Fujita, S. (1963). The nesting behavior, egg development and larva of the gobiid fish, Lubricogobius exiguus Tanaka. Bulletin of Japanese Society of Scientific Fisheries 29, 969-975. (In Japanese with English abstract.)
Taken around February 2024 in Nagahama Maizuru, Kyoto Japan. Underneath an oyster shell cluster in approximately 4 meters of water. It is likely Microprosthema sp. but the only ones recorded in Japan are found far more south in Okinawa and the Ryukyu's.
I hope to find some info on this species. Right now we are unsure exactly what it could be. I have been searching for it for months now to no success. I'll have to search under rocks and oyster shell clusters same way I initially found it.
Its always fun finding new guys like this. If anyone might have an idea please let me know.
The sea is calm today. Small K-trucks whip by along the coastal highway on this clear day, just approaching noon. We park along this remote stretch of road and prepare our gear. I strap my BCD to the cylinder, fasten the regulator to the SCUBA tank valve and turn on my air. Full tank. I strap in my cameras, writing slates, and other data collection gear. Good to go. We walk down to the cliffs where there are a set of crumbling stairs leading down to the cove. It looks steep and dangerous, but my professor assures me it is safe. The surf is decent, but nothing compared to stormy winter days in California. The water is a deep blue, almost transparent near the shore. I can already see small schools of black and white fish near the cliffside. “Daijobudesuka?” he asks. “Hai, ikimasho”. This part of Japan has few divers willing to brave the crystal blue. Even fewer of these divers are scientists studying the local flora and fauna under the surface. I arrived in Japan two years ago, just as the country opened up after the rona. My professor needed another diver and master’s student in his lab. I had never lived in another country before, much less speak Japanese. He assured me it would be fine, and that my diving and English will be an asset to him and his colleagues. I didn’t put much thought into it other than how insane it was. Imagine the stories I would have by traveling to the other side of the pacific for my degree, studying the marine environment while diving on a weekly basis. It was crazy hypothetical at first, but this kook is stubborn. As I roll into the water and start to breathe through my mouthpiece, the colors explode around me. The surge keeps me tumbling around as we make our way offshore into deeper, calmer waters. I see schools of damsel fish, groups of squid near the surface, clumps of algae growing in the sunny spots, and the occasional new species I had yet not seen. Snapping pictures and recording video, I log away these new species for later edification. Soon, a large stingray, almost meter long wingspan, passes us by, checking us out while we survey along our course. We eventually come to the edge of the reef, where the bottom flattens out and the current picks up. It becomes difficult to swim against the current, but my father’s old rubber fins hadn’t failed me yet. We fight this current and collect our samples before making the return swim back. Unfortunately, we got lost along the return, popping up in the wrong inlet. “I’m pretty sure it’s the next cove over” I yell out. “Yes, I think that’s correct.” With our tanks running low, we swim along the surface round the jagged rockface. White caps splash into my face, and we slowly drag our gear along. Finally, we see the stairs in the distance and duck down for a last little bit of time underwater. While this is essentially my professor’s job, he always likes to run each tank dry. It is here I get surrounded by the black and white fish from earlier. I recall the Japanese name: Ishidai. Always a curious fish that doesn’t shy away from divers. They make a couple passes by the two of us and continue on their path back out to sea. By now our tanks are just about empty so we surface and scale the gnarly stairs back to the car. After a quick nap in the back seat, we are nearing the port town where our laboratory is located. Back at the lab we unload and wash our gear, upload our pictures and videos, and digitize our written notes. It was a good day, but I’m famished. As I rode my bike back home, I noticed the bright red paper lantern of my favorite izakaya lit up. Smelling the grilled chicken skewers from outside, I decided to poke my head in. Greeted by the familiar “Irasshaimase… Oh, Hunter-san! Welcome. How was diving today?” I sit down at the bar and order my typical gin and tonic with my skewers of chicken hearts and gizzards. I eat casually as I converse with the chef, staff, and even locals sitting next to me. It is always interesting to explain my purpose to locals here. Aside from military and English teachers, few foreigners live in this small rural town. Satisfied both in my stomach and in my heart, I can only think about how living in Japan was such a daunting idea. However, just like the cliffs, once I scaled down, I got to experience beauty few others might see. How lucky am I?
Songs: Absolutely by TMCT Proud of you (feat. Alicks) by A L E X
After so long, here it is. Sujihaze fighting behavior. First record in the world and in scientific literature.
Thank you to everyone who helped and encouraged me to upload.
I hope to upload more videos soon. The backlog of interesting stuff is immense, so I really don't have an excuse except grad school.
Hope you enjoy this one. If you want to read the paper, the doi is linked below.
Abstract of paper:
Acentrogobius virgatulus (Jordan & Snyder, 1901) is a small coastal species of goby found along the Western Pacific. It is commonly found in Maizuru bay along the muddy sediment between the intertidal zone and depths of 10 m. In June and July of 2022, two independent agonistic interactions between male A. virgatulus were observed and recorded during its spawning season. One interaction, lasting over 4 minutes, included certain aggressive behaviors such as jaw locking, mouth gaping, fin extensions, rapid color changes, and fast strikes to the head and body. Another interaction exhibited similar mouth gaping, fin extension, and rapid color changes but did not lead to further escalation. These behaviors coincide with those found in similar species and provides in situ evidence of these uncommon interactions. This is the first record of agonistic behavior by an Acentrogobius species. Accumulating findings such as these can contextualize intraspecific interactions, reveal differences across multiple species, and guide future experiments.
Songs: fujitsu: motions, hills and horizons, and coconut tree
Hunter Harter Godfrey, Yumi Henmi. (2023) "Observations of Agonistic Behavior between Two Male Gobies Acentrogobius virgatulus (Jordan & Snyder, 1901), in Maizuru Bay, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan", Journal of Applied Ichthyology, vol. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/8868453
Well it's finally happened! I recently turned in my project, submitted my manuscript, given my final presentation, and completed my requirements for my Masters degree. It hasn't been easy, but Ive been lucky to have such a solid support network here. From the support of my friends in the lab, the support of my professors, the support of my foreign friends in Kyoto, and the support from my family back home, it feels like I owe everyone a big thank you. My friends that helped me when I finally caught a bad COVID case, I am forever grateful. I think one thing I can take away from this experience is that I always had that support if I turned to it. Being in another country has changed my attitude about asking for help. In a lot of cases, I had no other choice but to ask for help. Its hard to put into words, so I'll leave it at that
I hope to start posting all my new findings soon. I am still learning what kind of data I need to protect and which I can share. The Sujihaze video paper has been published and now that I have some time to edit, a new commentary video should be out soon. Promise. Then hopefully some more ID music videos since I'm sitting on hours of it. Guess I lost track of time a bit. But the wait paid off and I'm really excited to start sharing some of what I found.
Well I took my sweet time to pass along an update.
Recently I was able to publish my second paper detailing the agonistic behavior of Acentrogobius virgatulus (Jordan & Snyder, 1901), also locally called Sujihaze スジハゼ, which I recorded almost a year ago while diving in Maizuru. These are a small little sand dwelling goby that live in the shallow mudflats near the research station. We see scores of them along the coastline here but fewer and fewer in recent years. Since not much is known about this species I decided to do a review of the species behavior and that of many other species of goby.
It was a much different experience than the time before, as this time I took the lead on correspondence with the publisher and journal. Additionally, many of the literature on this species was in Japanese so I had to rely on my coauthor for help. Many thanks to Yumi Henmi for her help getting this published. You can check out her works here: https://henmiyumi.jimdofree.com/publications/
And just like last time, the experience was one of the most fulfilling I have ever had in a long time. Its one thing for a teacher to say nice job on a paper you wrote for a class but to have essays tided to your name in perpetuity really instills that sense of pride.
I'll make an edited video of this sometime in the future. It will have some commentary and other pretty videos of the area. For right now, my Masters program is starting to wrap up and I am preparing my final thesis for my masters. So I'm way too busy to edit much these days.
Whelp. Its almost official. I have been in Japan just about a year now. Its crazy to think its only been a year, due to the insane amount of crazy adventures I have had here so far. Luckily I wasn't too distracted by all the fun, I was still able to get my studies done and I am gearing up to finish my Masters this summer. With any luck, I'll be able to submit a couple papers to journals and get a few more publications under my belt. Hope y'all are doing well out there.
Itohikihaze イトヒキハゼ is a common species of goby found near the lab but is
extremely skittish. They often dart back into their burrows when
approached. These burrows are dug by the blind pistol shrimp that they
protect forming a symbiotic relationship (Karplus&Thompson 2011). I
really had to approach them slowly in order to get my camera close
enough (which isn't always easy underwater). Then of course remain still
so the shrimp also relaxed enough to come out and continue its burrow
maintenance.
This species did a couple interesting behaviors of interspecific
communication. First, the tail flicking of the gobies is understood to
be a warning signal to the shrimp as there is potential danger in the
area and sometimes indicate necessary retreat back into the burrow. The
shrimp noticed this because it uses its antennae to always keep a
tactile connection to the goby while outside of the burrow. However, a
clear signal for retreat is when the gobv dives back into the burrow
head-first (Karplus&Tuvia1979).
What was interesting was that the goby did show some rapid color changes
while outside the nest. Since the shrimp are blind, I wonder the
purpose of this. You can see it happen at 2:04. There's a lot of
theories about the meaning of color changes but it is still largely a
mystery.
Anyways, I hope y'all enjoy this one.
Song: Low Tide by Chromonicci
Works cited:
Karplus, I., & Thompson, A. R. (2011). The partnership between
gobiid fishes and burrowing alpheid shrimps. The biology of gobies, 722,
559-608.
Karplus, I. and Tuvia, S.B. (1979), Warning Signals of Cryptocentrus
steinitzi (Pisces, Gobiidae) and Predator Models. Zeitschrift für
Tierpsychologie, 51: 225-232.
I want to take a quick minute (or minute 40) to thank all those who have
joined me on my adventures over the years. I have been diving for 8
years now and it hasn't even felt close to that. I've gotten the
pleasure of diving with so many amazing people over the years and have
made lifelong friends doing what I love. Nothing really compares to it.
So, thanks to all of you who have followed me into the abyss, crazy
cliffs, camping in remote areas, and indulging my adrenaline addiction.
Sometimes it was for fun, others were for projects, but all were
memorable. I've recently logged my 300th dive and I have journal entries
describing each one and who I've dove with. Can honestly say its over
100 people, so there are many left out of this little edit. This is just
some B-roll footage of all these crazy adventures over the years.
I also wanted to use a song I have been listening to on repeat.
Listening to John Frusciante is like listening to a phoenix. Someone who
was great before the fall but needed to crash and burn hard before he
really rose up to become amazing. This song was from his darkest time in
the mid 90s and features his late friend River Phoenix. A beautiful
song that helped me through a dark time a while ago. I only wish we
could have heard more.
Song: Height Down feat. River Phoenix by John Frusciante
If you want to be removed from this video just send me an email and I'll
change it for you.
Sometimes there are unusual behaviors that you don't notice until you read about them. My friend Shoju Shi introduced a paper about this little shrimp, Pederson's Shrimp (Ancylomenes pedersoni) and the dances they do to indicate to reef fish that they are willing to clean. This then pairs with the reef fish color changing to a darker tone to indicate to the shrimp it is ready to be cleaned.
Back in 2017 when I took a trip to Belize, I had recorded this little fella while on a dive around the Blue Hole, specifically near a reef called The Aquarium Wall. It was insanely clear but I had unfortunately broke my deep water filters. This was the last dive of the day but the water was warm and there was still so much to see. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice this small shrimp near an anemone swaying back and forth. The current didn't seem to be that strong so I took a quick recording and moved along.
Knowing what I know now, this was actually a pretty cool behavior. The shrimp typically does the tail wagging and antennae whipping as its signal to fish it wishes to clean. I had gotten up close to this little bugger so he probably was offering a clean. I should have taken out my reg and opened my mouth for a little tonsil cleaning.
Read more here: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2018.0800
Just a quick edit but I loved this one. Rough surf to get pass and a
swell that was surging even at 20 meters. Still though, different than
anywhere else I've been diving in Japan.
There was a tropical species that made its way this far north to Japan
that was interesting to see. Sorasuzumedai ソラスズメダイ is a vibrant
blue/yellow species that drifts up from the tropics and settles while
the water is warm here. In winter however, the fish disappear until the
next late summer when newly drifted ones settle and start to grow.
In a rapidly warming ocean, many of these tropical species are being
seen more frequent in these temperate waters. Full effects are unknown
but it is undeniable there is a shift in the ecosystems because of this.
Just some pretty shots from my dives off of Nagahama in Maizuru. This is
the area located right off of the lab so there are many experiments in
the water. It can be murky at times but I think it just promotes a
unique habitat not normally seen by vacation divers.
Man do I have an insane amount of footage now. Still running into the
perfection roadblock of not wanting to use stuff out of focus or shaky
so here's another video that came in a burst of inspiration. Kinda wish I
could get back to those carefree roots. I remember shooting and editing
a diving video within a day and it was the most fun thing ever. Maybe I
can tap into that sometime. In any-case here ya go. Hope ya enjoy it.
Recently I was asked to help out with some survey dives for a prominent company - Ocean Trading Co. We did many dives over two days (9 total dives) and I finally got to see some species that I have been searching for. Probably the most exciting was the Abalone (Awabi) and getting to dive on fabricated Abalone Artificial reefs.
It really was a real treat and I hope to work with this company on more projects in the future.
They want to pursue new ideas and fishing practices that benefit the environment the same way it benefits the market. This project aims to take urchins from densely populated barrens and culture them to market value and sell commercially. It is known urchin removal is the key to restoring diverse algal habitats so this project would not only benefit the urchin sellers but the underwater environment as well.
Extra image of some Mackerel (Aji) egg tows in Maizuru Bay
I recently had an amazing opportunity to dive with my professor for some urchin surveys we were contracted to perform along the Wakasa bay coast. One of these sites happen to be an old abalone recruitment artificial reef. I had noticed some live abalone on some natural reefs nearby so there was likely some spillover effect. The actual ARs here were perfect squares about 2 meters across with about a half a meter height and a half a meter square taken out of the middle. There were plenty of fish along this reef, namely rockfish and wrasses, but I only found evidence of one abalone shell while diving here. This puzzled me until I asked the fishermen and my professor and they said in these summer months the abalone hide deeper below the reef and come out to feed more often in other months of the year. I really hope to return to this site when the abalone are more out in the open. I am also searching for any fisheries data that had been kept regarding this reef to see how well it has performed over the years. Its assume the grooves in each reef are cut to allow abalone recruits and juveniles a safe space to grow and then venture deeper into the reef.
All in all I was extremely happy to have been able to make my first dive on a Japanese artificial reef. One designed specifically for abalone nonetheless. I also included an extra image of some mackerel egg tows done a couple weeks ago that I helped with by pulling the net up. Its really great to be helping out with so many projects.
Last week I gave a talk to a local naturalist group about the Kelp Forest. The Wakasa Bay Naturalist Club, invited myself as well as Chika and Reiji to give an educational talk about marine ecosystems. Since I had a lot of experience (as well as 100s of photos) with the kelp forest, they asked me to speak to its ecology and the growing Urchin Barren problem. This talk was live translated by my labmate Shoju.
It was truly an honor to speak. I particularly enjoyed putting the presentation together and answering some poignant questions. It felt good to engage the local community. It felt reminiscent of the science pubs I went to in Santa Barbara. Of course there was a much more focused crowd that all had a keen interest in the subject. I really felt like I was sharing a unique, new experience with this community. This is probably one of my favorite aspects of my fledgling career.
I use to dread the presentation aspect, but I have since learned it was due to piss poor preparation. Obviously I was nervous when I wasn't prepared and wasn't confident in my delivery. Now its about having the discipline to practice and to remain calm while presenting on such topics. The lab itself has helped me with this, as they have us do various presentations throughout the semester. A life skill I am thankful to have, but yet to full master.
I caught this interaction while on a routine dive survey off the lab in
Maizuru. These worms are pretty ubiquitous and I normally see them
roaming around the bottom. Today we had a shoal of anchovies come through
and I noticed a few while on the dive. This one was probably injured
from an encounter with another large animal and was stuck in the algae
dying. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a fireworm quickly coming
its direction so I started to record.
Heres an exert from what is known about the species and its feeding
behavior.
"Glasby & Bailey-Brock (2001) caught reef amphinomids by hook and
line on carrion. Pardo & Amaral (2006) observed rapid chemotaxis of
Eurythoe complanata to pieces of fish offered in aquaria. Detection of
prey solutes elicited raising of the anterior 1/3 of the body, opening
of the mouth and pharyngeal eversion. In the field, this posture would
allow longer-range detection and easier determination of current
direction in a bottom boundary layer. When worms reached the fish, the
lower lip was sealed around it, and the muscular pharynx was used as a
pump to draw the whole fish fragment in. Glasby & Bailey-Brock
(2001) compiled evidence of carrion feeding in the form of capture on
fishhooks and hand feeding in aquaria for Chloeia flava, Eurythoe
complanata, Hermodice carunculata and Pherecardia striata."
Jumars, P.A., Dorgan, K.M. and Lindsay, S.M., 2015. Diet of worms
emended: an update of polychaete feeding guilds. Annual review of marine
science, 7(1), pp.497-520.
