• Day 099: Sunday April 8th



18:20 Week 15 now and what do I see, the injured Coati out and about again and the remains of dead fish on my "daily red tide beach walk" - Very strange, sad, and odd times!  During the beach walk I didn't see much until I got to the 'Shell Beach' we use for the 'Shell-o-rama' practical at which point I counted 32 Black Vultures, some of which were pecking at the remains of another possible red tide victim but of course it was very difficult to identify.  I was told fish rarely just wash ashore so the chance it was a red tide victim was probably quite high.  Upon walking back I noted that the water around the lagoon and elsewhere appeared deceivingly blue and lovely… but I did not trust it at all.

Resting Wings Following Fishy Feast (D.Philpot)

Buzzie, Flaps, Ziggy & Dizzy Chilling Out (D.Philpot)
Black Vultures Sunbathing (D.Philpot)

While speaking to DL the cooks showed up, one of them didn't like the dead fish smell but nothing much I could do - she was rather unsettled until I got off the phone and explained the story of why I had fish remains and why some areas stank of fish.  I reburied the large Porcupinefish after the dastardly Black Vultures had dug up one of the Puffer Fish I also buried destroying the teeth I wanted to find of this interesting fish.  I then had to wait for the park guard on his quad bike for about 2 hours guarding the food delivery up in the 'car park.'

In the afternoon I found a cool crab carapace shell (the top-half remains of a crabs body) which looked very unusual with great big spikes coming off from every angle - which I was later in the year told is a deepwater crab that is delicious to eat.  Sadly, I also came across the carapace of a turtle which I took to the lab to clean and maintain it in a good condition so it survived to show the scientist ML upon his return.  
Possible Red Tide Victim :-( (D.Philpot)
Deepwater Crab Red Tide Victim? (D.Philpot)

My Red Tide Victim Location Map (D.Philpot)
22:00 I reckon these creatures also fell victim to the red tide.  This evening there was a tonne of Harlequin Crabs about, an almost inconceivable amount! Though I've been told there can be A LOT more... what do you think?
Crabs, Crabs, And More Crabs (D.Philpot)