San Diego, CA
Snorkelers found a rare deep-sea fish off La Jolla. It took ‘a community effort’ to haul it to shore to study.
Emily Miller and her friends had planned for a relaxing day of kayaking in La Jolla last weekend — a reunion of sorts for the former roommates.
But when they reached La Jolla Cove, the kayakers — most of whom are also marine researchers — found themselves with a bit of a “fish emergency” on their hands, Miller said.
Nearby snorkelers had found a roughly 12-foot dead oarfish, a rare species of deep-sea fish, lying in the seagrass at the cove. This discovery last Saturday was significant; fewer than two dozen oarfish have washed up in California since 1901, according to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
The oarfish, which can grow to be around 30 feet long, is often described as a sea serpent and has a reputation as a predictor of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis, though this myth was debunked years ago.
While the snorkelers examined the unique fish, Miller — a research associate at California Sea Grant and a former commercial fisheries observer — knew that such a rare species washing up in San Diego likely warranted closer scientific analysis. In a lab, scientists can analyze the fish’s gills and body composition to better understand its lifestyle as well as its relationship with the rest of the ocean.
“I jumped in the water and … pushed it up to the surface to get a better look,” she said.
With her friends supporting the fish, Miller threw herself over her kayak, half in the water, and began making some calls — including one to Ben Frable, the collection manager of fishes at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who helped her notify the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center and local lifeguards.
After determining that the fish could be removed from the marine protected area, it was decided that the kayakers would bring the fish back to shore with them — an effort more easily said than done.
“Our small group had the mission of getting this unwieldy animal to the kayak launch,” Miller said. They struggled to orient the fish onto the kayaks, not wanting to damage the specimen, still mostly intact.
They had all but resigned themselves to swimming back to shore with their heavy haul when two passing paddleboarders offered to help. Their board was an ideal flat surface for carrying the ribbon-like oarfish.
“It was a community effort to get a rare specimen to scientists — and taking all the steps to make sure all the appropriate authorities were contacted,” Miller said. “It was a beautiful example of teamwork.”
The adult male oarfish has spent the last week at the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center. On Friday, scientists conducted a necropsy to determine a cause of death.
It still wasn’t clear why the fish died. There was no evidence of trauma. But the researchers also took gill and genetic samples, along with muscle samples, which can show what kinds of isotopes are stored in the body.
“They’re not like an apex predator … like a tuna or a shark or a dolphin,” Frable explained. “But knowing where they are in this food web, especially here in California, can help us really fill out our understanding of how these kinds of things, like carbon and nitrogen, cycle in the open ocean off the coast.”
After the necropsy, Frable will preserve the fish at the Scripps Marine Vertebrate Collection, where there are six other oarfish, along with the body parts of a few others.
Oarfish live in the deep sea and can be found at depths of as great as 3,000 feet, though it’s more common for them to live around 600 feet below the surface.
It’s rare for them to wash up in California. But Southern California can be a “lucky spot” to see deep-sea fish in general, Frable said, given its proximity to many underwater canyons that make for deep-sea conditions much closer to the shore.
This fish didn’t appear to have been scavenged by other marine animals, such as sea lions or sharks, he points out — a finding that aligns with some other oarfish that have washed up. “It may just be that their skin’s a little too tough and not worth it, or maybe they just don’t taste good,” he speculates, though more research is needed on the subject.
“It’s one of these great examples of all these different things that we still don’t really know about these organisms,” Frable said. “And one of the reasons why, when we get to encounter them like this, there’s so much we can learn.”
Originally Published:
Robert Gage Carr
OBITUARY
Robert Carr was the youngest son of Milas Walter Carr and Grace Hamerly Carr. He lived his entire life in San Diego. He was beloved by many. A backyard memorial service will be held on Sep. 14, 2024. Contact his brother Michael for details ( mmcarr2@gmail.com )
The Olympics place the world’s top athletes on a global stage, but San Diego lifeguards have their own version — the Lifeguard Relay, which pits teams against one another in Herculean challenges for bragging rights.
The annual event, held Aug. 6 in Mission Beach, featured four lifeguard teams of 17 members each from different areas of San Diego: La Jolla; Mission Beach and Pacific Beach combined; Ocean Beach and Sunset Cliffs combined; and the boating safety unit and bay lifeguards combined.
At the end of the day, team La Jolla came out on top.
“We were thrilled to win that. It was a tough feat and tough competition,” lifeguard Sgt. Kelsie Gleason said. “The athleticism we have in La Jolla is top notch.”
The team participated in multiple events ranging from running to mock rescues using challenging equipment, said team captain and Windansea lifeguard Tommy Cavanaugh.
In the first leg, he said, one team member runs a half-mile on the beach (a quarter-mile to a cone and back) to launch the relay race.
“It’s one continuous race,” Cavanaugh said. “There is no stopping until it’s over.”
After the running comes the landline portion, “the most crucial part in terms of teamwork,” Cavanaugh said.
Once the opening runner tags the rest of the team, the 16 other members must engage in a mock rescue that includes using techniques that are considered outdated.
Lifeguards get a vessel called a “rescue can” — like a buoy — to the victim to hold onto, and the people on the beach pull the person to shore with a rope, Cavanaugh said.
In the relay exercise, teams had a swimmer pretend to be in distress while another went out with the rope. Team members on the beach let out the rope on pace with the speed of the rescue swimmer.
If the team lets out the rope too slowly, the swimmer is slowed; too fast and the rope goes ahead of the swimmer.
Also, coils of rope bundled on the beach have to be released at the right time.
“It’s this big orchestrated effort and difficult to do it correctly,” Cavanaugh said. “As soon as the swimmer [reaches] a flag, two landline pullers work together to pull the swimmer through the surf back to the beach. It can go catastrophically wrong or really well, depending on how everyone performs.”
Once everyone is on land, the next leg of the race begins.
For the rescue swim, a swimmer goes back out to the flag at sea and has to be rescued by another member of the team. The two then swim back to shore together.
Once they are both on land, they tag another pair who does the same thing.
“The rescuer is leading and the swimmer is holding the flag. They have to maintain contact with the rescue can,” Cavanaugh said. “If there is a good wave, they can try to catch the wave together.”
Then comes the longest leg of the relay — a 700-yard roundtrip swim.
“That is for the fastest swimmers,” Cavanaugh said. “They swim to the furthest flag. They have to be strategic and look at areas of lack of surf. They have to get to the flag. At that point, they can take any line back to shore. It shows who can read the water.”
The last leg of the race is the paddle swim rescue, in which a swimmer goes out to a flag and has to be rescued by a lifeguard on a paddleboard. Then the pair must paddle back to shore together.
“There was a wave that came to [the runner-up team] and then a wave to us, so for a split second, it looked like their wave was going to be better than ours. It made the race extremely dynamic,” Cavanaugh said. “I honestly thought we might not get a wave and they could take the lead. It was pandemonium for that moment; everyone was screaming. We managed to catch a wave and at that point it was clear we were going to win it.
“It’s so much more fun like that. You can’t put it into words.”
Winning the title “was the greatest feeling we have ever had in sports,” Cavanaugh said. “It was hands-down the greatest feeling ever. It was so competitive and the other teams were gunning just as hard as we were, which made it extra special.
“There were five lead changes throughout the race. The other teams had some of the best athletes that have ever worked. It made it super special to come out on top.”
It also was special because lifeguard Lt. Lonnie Stephens will be retiring in November, making this his last relay with team La Jolla.
“The team is very selfless and prides themselves in their roles as public servants,” Stephens said. “They are extremely supportive of each other and have amazing chemistry. Even on the roughest days they are smiling and always willing to give back to the community.”
“All four districts have amazing athletes,” he added. “And any of the districts were more than capable of winning the relay race.” ♦
Originally Published:
San Diego, CA
PREVIEW: Dozens more San Diego-area high schools playing flag football this fall; here’s who to watch
Girls flag football
First contest: Saturday
Section finals: Nov. 21-23 (Playoffs will be in four divisions, up from two)
Defending champions: Bonita Vista (Division 1), Classical Academy (Division 2)
Offensive Player of the Year: Laurel Gonzalez (Torrey Pines)
Defensive Player of the Year: Mahilya Wilson (Bonita Vista)
Top teams (in alphabetical order): Bonita Vista, Brawley, Calexico, Cathedral Catholic, Classical Academy, Grossmont, La Costa Canyon, Mater Dei Catholic, Mira Mesa, Olympian, Our Lady of Peace, Morse, San Dieguito Academy, Torrey Pines.
Overview: The CIF introduced flag football as a varsity sport last year and it was a rousing success. The quality of play was beyond expectations. Success breeds success, and the sport has grown from 46 teams to 72 with the North County and East County schools jumping in.
Changes: Games have been lengthened from 20-minute halves to 24-minute halves.
Gabe Stamat Poway is among the newcomers to girls flag football. (Gabe Stamat)
Notable
• San Ysidro hosts a showcase Saturday, beginning with Calexico vs. Grossmont (10 a.m.), Southwest-El Centro vs. Kearny (noon), Central Union vs. Mira Mesa (2 p.m.), Brawley vs. Bonita Vista (4 p.m.) and Imperial vs. San Ysidro (6 p.m.).
• Escondido hosts a tournament on Aug 24 featuring Mt. Carmel, Santana, Carlsbad, Steele Canyon, Sage Creek and Poway. The same day, Hoover will host a tournament featuring Madison, Scripps Ranch, Morse, Mater Dei Catholic, Brawley, Central Union, Holtville, San Diego High and Mission Bay.
• For the first time, the annual Honor Bowl will feature flag games. Grossmont will play host Cathedral Catholic at 5 p.m. on Sept. 6; the next day, Bonita Vista plays Classical Academy at 1 p.m. at Cathedral Catholic. The Honor Bowl also features three top-flight tackle football games.
• Classical Academy led the county in scoring last season, averaging 30 points a game behind freshman QB Ella Moore. The Caimans’ defense allowed an average of just 4.5 points a game.
• San Ysidro returns six all-league players, including WR-DB Kristine Fadriquela and DB-LB Mia Gonzalez.
• Grossmont returns nine of 14 starters, including QB Marissa Farace, who threw for 2,181 yards and 33 TDs; and DB Xairiah Gromus, who had 19 interceptions.
• Bonita Vista returns All-CIF player Jamiya Valenciano; Khamaya Rockett, who had 10 sacks last season; and Layla Schoen, who had 43 catches.
• California is one of just seven states that offers flag football. The others are Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Nevada, Alaska, New York, Arizona and Illinois.
• Flag football for men and women will be an Olympic sport at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
Players to watch
(in alphabetical order)
Nurah Arrellano, Our Lady of Peace
Azul Amador, Central Union (7 receiving TDs, 9 interceptions in 2023)
Jennifer Aguas, Escondido
Justine Batcheller, Classical Academy (All-CIF in ’23)
Ashley Beard, Grossmont (38 tackles in ’23)
Siena Botkin, Grossmont, (4 interceptions in ’23)
Iris Brogan, Mission Bay (All-CIF in ’23)
Alegra Camacho, Mission Bay
Jaylah Conner, Central Union (All-CIF in ’23)
Demi Cornejo, Brawley
Isabelle Cruz, San Ysidro
Paula Cruz, Calexico (1,641 passing yards in ’23)
Yareli Del Rio, San Ysidro
Elly DeGuzman, Classical Academy
Belinda Diaz, Morse
Nia Diaz, Escondido
Lauren Donovan, Classical Academy
Eliana Dorsett, Oceanside
Jaylene Duran, Castle Park
Catie Eberhard, Scripps Ranch
Kristine Fadriquela, San Ysidro (1,112 passing yards in ’23)
Rhiane Fadriquela, San Ysidro (1,000 receiving yards ’23)
Marissa Farace, Grossmont (2,181 yards and 33 TDs in ’23)
Myesha Frank, Hoover
Kaylah Franke, Otay Ranch
Jacqueline Gonzalez, San Ysidro
Mia Gonzalez, San Ysidro
Kaila Gonzalez, Classical Academy
Paola Gonzalez, San Ysidro
Olivia Grant, Hilltop
Xairah Gromus, Grossmont (19 interceptions in ’23)
Emma Gryn, Classical Academy
Naomi Gutierrez, Escondido
Frankie Haley, Mater Dei Catholic
Mary Haynes, Classical Academy
Rita Hazard, Oceanside
Dayanna Hernandez, Mira Mesa
Shairya Hollingsworth, Morse
Jae Jensen, Grossmont
Anna Jimenez, Mater Dei Catholic
Isabel Johnson, Classical Academy
Keilana Johnson, Morse
Kaitlyn Kaye, Oceanside
Paola Longoria, Vincent Memorial (All-CIF in ’23)
Mia Maldonado, San Ysidro
Jessica Manriquez, Vincent Memorial
Liz Martinez, Oceanside
Mia Martin, Otay Ranch
Sam Mather, Scripps Ranch
Leilani Mayne, Calexico
Nayelli McPherson, Oceanside
Kaitlyn Milano, Morse
Courtyln Mitchell, Mission Bay
Ella Moore, Classical Academy (All-CIF in ’23)
Bre Montano, Vincent Memorial (All-CIF, 3,973 yards passing, 54 TDs in ’23)
Ella Moore, Classical Academy (All-CIF in ’23)
Bridget Moreno, Classical Academy
Madelyn Morquecho, Central Union (1,582 yards passing, 24 TDs in ’23)
Hannah Narcy, Oceanside
Kaila-Mei Nelson, Morse
Cassandra Neva, Morse
Chloe Ng, Scripps Ranch (All-CIF in ’23)
Jiselle Nunez, Classical Academy (All-CIF in ’23)
Bryanna Ortiz, San Ysidro (447 rushing yards in ’23)
Lizbeth Ortiz, Calexico (All-CIF in ’23)
Evelyn Estrada Ramirez, San Ysidro
Mia Ramirez, Bonita Vista
Mary Reger, Mission Bay (All-CIF in ’23)
Lana Roche, Castle Park
Khamaya Rockett, Bonita Vista
Saraya Roope, Grossmont
Liliana Sanders, Mira Mesa
Natalie Savary, Scripps Ranch
Marena Schiess, Mater Dei Catholic
Layla Schoen, Bonita Vista
Alyzette Sierra, San Ysidro
Ari Simpson, Grossmont
Hailey Stepenosky, Scripps Ranch
Jenna Stroh, Classical Academy
Vyanna Ta, Mira Mesa (552 rushing yards in ’23)
Sinalei Talaitina, Cathedral Catholic
Gabby Thomas, Grossmont (523 yards of total offense in ’23)
Sydney Tobias, Our Lady of Peace
Azul Trujillo, Vincent Memorial
Jamiya Valenciano, Bonita Vista (All-CIF in ’23)
Atiana Velazquez, Scripps Ranch
Emma Valdivia, Our Lady of Peace
Tayana Venegas, Brawley (1,025 receiving yards, 9 interceptions in ’23)
Vania Victoria, Olympian
Abby White, Escondido
Nylah White, Mira Mesa
Jayden Wilson, Oceanside
Delylah Young, Brawley (956 yards of total offense in ’23)
JOHN MAFFEI
Originally Published:
Snorkelers found a rare deep-sea fish off La Jolla. It took ‘a community effort’ to haul it to shore to study.
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