September 27, 1984 - Sound vs. BaySepteMber 271 1984, .,
The Suffolk Times
Sound vs. Bay
By PAUL STOUTENBURGH
There was a time when I did a lot of
diving. Records of these dives can be
seen scribbled on the garage wall, tes-
tifying to blackfish, stripers, fluke and
even a conger eel, along with a wide
variety of gourmet delights. Because of
other involvements in the past few
years, the diving gear has gone largely
unused. This all changed just recently
when Roger, my son, a fully certified
and newly- equipped diver, urged me to
get back into diving. Fall and spring
are the best times to dive around here,
for it's then that the waters are clearest
and visibility becomes tolerable. Mid
summer, with its warmer weather,
tends to make the water murky.
My biggest problem in diving for fish
is that I get distracted far too easily by
the underwater world that surrounds
me. The bay is completely different
from the Sound. The bay, with its slip-
per shells, cabbage, eel grass and
codium (spaghetti grass), contrasts
with the Irish moss of the Sound, rocks
and the long swaying fronds of brown
kelp. In the bay, I seldom see large fish
near shore, whereby in the Sound the
striper and blackfish are the predomin-
ant ones seen.
Scallops, clams and whelks are com-
monly found in the bay, but seldom seen
in the Sound. Here we see surf clams,
but these only on the sandy bars off
shore. There are spots that the black
.mussel can be found in the Sound, but
you'll never find this delicacy in the
bay.
Years ago both the Sound and the bay
had their schools of porpoise, but for the
last 10 or 15 years I haven't seen them
in either the bay or Sound. A fish I have
seen in both bodies of water is the
bunker. You see large schools of the
Young ones. What a marvelous sight
these gleaming schools make when seen
from below. Swimming slowly along,
one occasionally becomes encircled by
their masses. Then for some reason
they'll "spook" and the mass of green
open- mouthed filter feeders instantly
turns and becomes a wall of silver. Who
tells them to turn, how they communi-
cate and how they keep from bumping
into each other all is a mystery. They
rival even the extravaganzas ofJacques
Cousteau we see on television.
Spent Most of the Day
Yesterday we spent a good part of the
morning and afternoon snorkeling and
diving in the Sound. Along under the
rocks, in their own special cavities,
lurked the eels which we have in both
the bay and the Sound. Their heads and
big eyes inquisitively looked out at the
face - masked monster staring in. Small
fish called bergalls worked over the
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rocks and among the seaweed for small
crustaceans as they hung seemingly
suspended until some instinct told them
to move in a flash for safety. Occasion-
ally a big white - lipped blackfish would
be seen in the misty waters only to dart
to safety as you approached. Once as I
hung on to a swaying mass of grass,
looking over this underwater world a
two -foot striped bass glided in for a mo-
ment to look me over. Then with a swish
of a tail it disappeared in the green
world that covered me.
There were masses of little polyps and
sea squirts with their many filamented
appendages capturing the nutrients
from the sea covering rocks at certain
levels. It seemed each had its place for
there were great bright patches of yel-
low sponges and grasses that seemed as
if someone had painted their territory.
Often when you looked up closely at the
swaying Irish moss, flashes of bluish
iridescence would catch the sun's light
and play tricks with your eyes.
In a sandy section I caught the eyes
of a skate protruding up from beneath
the newly- tossed sand it had thrown
over its body to conceal itself. I poked
it and it was off, gliding in the water,
trailing its long spiny tail. Further
along beside a huge rock a big sea robin,
resting on its leg -like feelers, blinked
its big eyes as I approached. Memories
flashed back to when we caught a
goodly number of these odd - looking cre-
atures and took it upon ourselves to
clean them and smoke them. They have
a firm meat and smoked well. But here
today there was only one, and so I
passed it by. Perhaps we'd meet at
another time.
Once when I came up along side a
huge grass- covered rock, I saw a spotted
sandpiper eking out its living by prob-
ing in amongst the debris. I tried to
swim closer and was able to get within
eight feet before it flew away. How won-
derful it was to be able to approach so
closely and not frighten the bird away
with man's usual upright figure.
Bay Fish Not As Large -
Although the bay does not have the
abundance of large fish, it does make a
good place for exploring. The bottom,
with its vast variety of shells, worm
holes and small fish make for a good
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Page 21
SHELLS OF SURF CLAM - -These large surf clams arePusually ash
sociated with the ocean beach yet some can be found on the sandy
bottoms of the Sound.
underwater adventure.
If you have the patience and know
the difference between the types of
holes, you can occasionally find clams.
It's odd, but the only clams I've been
able to find in our bays are the big --
and I really mean big -- chowder clams.
They are the granddaddy of all hard
clams and lie below the surface through
summer and winter, through hur-
ricanes and calm days, to create a shell
at least five inches across.
For some reason there are hardly any
small clams in the bay. Are there too
many prowling predators that find the
young easy prey? No one has satisfac-
torily answered that question for me.
I've seen the lurking eel in the bay
along with the big- headed toad or dog-
fish that's usually found nestled up to
a sunken log or inside an old can or
some other crevice. They are not a
pleasant fish to look at and I can only
think of some small meandering fish
swimming by being gulped in by this
big- mouthed monster.
Once in a while, particularly in the
fall, we'll see snappers, and of course
the beautiful schools of silversides or
spearing that cruise in tight packs
along our bay shores along with the
common killie that is everywhere. Lat-
ely in the bay I've seen tiny fish no more
than 1/4 inch long scurrying along the
bottom. I wonder what these will grow
up to be. It gives you another idea of
how rich our bays are as nursery areas
and how important it is that they re-
main productive.
Crabs in the Creeks
Occasionally you'll see a blue crab in
the bay, but mostly they spend their
time in our creeks. The spider crab, a
moss - covered, slow- moving crab, is
found both in our creeks and bays and
is really no problem as far as nipping.
The one that can really give you a nip
is the scrappy little sand crab. I re-
member as kids being nipped by this
fellow when we swam off the sand bar
down by East Creek.
They, like all crabs, shed their shells
to grow larger, but stop after they attain
a certain age. Then they shed no longer.
When this time comes, their old shell,
like all things underwater, soon ac-
quires the sea growth of barnacles, slip-
per shells or seaweed. This marine
growth creates a heavy burden and
spells disaster for the crab. His life soon
will come to an end. I've often seen these
oldtimers when diving in the fall in the
bay.
It's sad, but like all things in the nat-
ural world they have their day. It's part
of the great cycle and once we under-
stand this cycle, whether it's our own
life or the lives of the many things that
make up our natural world, it makes it
easier to understand what death is all
about.
Car Wash Oct. 6
GREENPORT - -The Greenport Music
Boosters are sponsoring a- car wash on
Saturday, Oct. 6, at the Polo Grounds
on Moores Lane. It will run from noon
to 4 p.m., and the charge will be $2.50
per car ($3.50 for larger vehicles). Rain
date is Sunday, Oct. 7, same time, same
place.
$1,100.00 Video Sweepstakes!
Enter at any of our 3 stores 0 Each store will have a drawing for
e LIFETIME MEMBERSHIPS
• YEARLY MEMBERSHIPS
• 15 FREE RENTALS
• MACHINE RENTAL WITH 4 MOVIE RENTALS
• 5 FREE SONY BLANK MOVIE TAPES
• "VIDEO GIRL" T- SHIRTS (No Cash Prizes)
NAME—
ADDRESS
PHONE _
• Southold Video
COLONIAL CORNERS
SOUTHOLD
765 -5265
• Jamesport Bike
& Video
MAIN ROAD, IAV %� 'ART
722 -4708
e Southside Video
COUNTY ROAD 39.
SOUTHAMPTON
287 -1456