Curious stuff on octopuses

Curious octopus...

- Even a 22 Kg octopus can squeeze through a 5 cm hole.

-Females can wait for months before fertilizing sperm.

-Octopuses'body is 90% muscles.

-North Pacific Giant Octopus can lay 90000 eggs and it's cannibal.

-They easily lose one arm, but it will grow back.

-All species are venomous, most of these don't hurt humans.

-They have 3 hearts, 9 brains and... blue blood!

Octopus

The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc with no internal skeleton and just one beak at the centre of the 4 pairs of arms. They defend themselves using camouflage and sprouting ink that can be more or less venomous. Octopuses are very intelligent, proved by many mazes and problems sorted out by them in experiments. Their memory can store both short and long term items. Having a complex neurological system whose neurons extend even in their arms, some octopuses can mimic other species behaviours. Their eyes along with their sense of touch are excellent and their movements are either crawling or swimming by jet propulsion. In UK, octopus is considered an honorable vertebrate and in some countries you cannot operate surgery on it wihout anaesthetic.

                                         

Jellyfish and Arnolds in Cala Estancia

Day out in Cala Estancia

Medusa's head from the deepest sea...

Cuttlefish!

Cuttlefish are molluscs with an internal shell - cuttlebone, eight arms and two tentacles furnished with denticulated suckers with which they capture their prey. 

They are among the most intelligent invertebrates with a very big brain-to-body size ratio.

They eat small fishes, molluscs, octopuses and other cuttlefishes as well.

Their skin made them gain the name 'chameleon of the sea' to camouflage and their eyes have no blind spot as the optical nerve is just behind the retina. 

Curious thing to know is that they have three hearts.

In order to defend themselves, they spit ink, which may be of no harms to very deadly and lethal.

Spearfishing and Ike Jime

... is an ancient method of fishing with sharpened sticks used for millennia in the whole world.

Nowadays spearfishing uses elastic powered spearguns and slings or compressed air pneumatic guns.

It is good to know that in certain countries it is illegal to spearfish using scuba equipment.

In 2007, the Australian Bluewater freediving Classic was the first spearfishing tournament to be accredited as a sport and was awarded 4 out of 5 stars based on environmental, social, safety and economic factors.

Spearfishing is blamed for helping to put in the brink of extinction some species such as atlantic goliath grouper, giant sea bass and others, though.

Expert fishermen bring a knife to practice the Japanes Ike Jime. Ike Jime is made inserting a spike into the hind brain of the fish. This causes  immediate death - less pain, bleeding. The blood in the fish body retracts immediately in the guts leaving the fish more tasty and flavoured. 

How to hold your breath longer: how to improve it!

Quit smoking!


Your lungs will realease CO2 easily and take more O2.

Lose weight and be on a healthy diet!

Otherwise that weight will take the oxygen you breath for nothing. Don't eat many fries and jellies, too many fats and sugars.


Splash cold water on your face!

It's been observed this triggers bradycardia or the slowing of heart rate.

Do exercises to increase your lung capacity!

Although you can't increase the size of your lungs, you can improve the amount of air taken in.
Always exhale all your old air out before breathing again.

Before holding your breath, inhale and exhale slowly from deep within your diaphragm! 

You need to get rid of low quality air. Inhale during 5 seconds and exhale for another 5 seconds, repeat this for 2 minutes. You need to exhale every last drop of air.

Take a massive gulp of air as long as possible! 

Fill about 85% of your lung capacity, you need some room in your lungs to chill out.
Be sure you have someone nearby in case you faint...

Relax every muscle in your body!

And try to slow your heart rate by meditating... do this as long as possible.

Exhale slowly!

Don't exhale all at once, exhale initially just a 20%, then inhale again so O2 gets to your critical areas faster, and then exhale completely and inhale again.

Repeat all this 3/4 times per session and don't do more than 2 sessions per day!

Your body, mind and lungs may be affected otherwise.

AND GOOD DIVING!

Estellencs

At the heart of Tramuntana mountain range lies the village of Estellencs. A rugged and rough path from the town leads you to the crystal clear water and rocky shores of this pristine area.

After one hour trip we - Pablo, Alberto and I - finally reached Estellencs to do some spearfishing... no many fishes though, just a starfish, gilt-head sea breams, some tiny groupers. The underwater view was amazing and we had some time to practise free-diving over 10 metres depth. Although the day was not magnificent (very cloudy), the sea was calm and many flocks of small fishes were dwelling in the shallow waters.

As the sea is quite warm in summer and beginning of autumn, fishes prefer colder hence deeper water. Best period to do some free-diving and spearfishing is winter and spring.

Snorkel and underwater in Cala Blava at Majorica

Snorkelling

The simplest way to enjoy underwater views is snorkelling with mask and snorkel or just a mask. To do so in a safe way is advised not to dive more than 10 [m] if the next day you will have to take a flight as there's the risk of decompression sickness (DCS). Just spit in your mask on both sides to avoid formation of fog and your mask will be clean longer. 

Pressure to equalize!

Every meter you go deeper be aware you will need to equalize your internal pressure with the external pressure. Closing your nose with one hand and blowing and swallowing is one method to equalize. If you fail to do so, pain in your ears may occur and at depths of 10 [m] and more there is the risk for your eardrum to rupture. It is very important you equalize properly the external pressure with the pressure inside your ears, sinuses and nose. 

Worth knowing that the first 10 [m] are the worst part to equalize as there is a change and raising of pressure of 100% at 10 [m] depth, therefore at that depth you find 2 [atm], the double you normally find at sea level, just 1 [atm]. Going from 30 to 40 [m] there is a change of pressure of just 25% for instance. 

Decompression sickness!

DCS describes a condition arising from dissolved gas coming out of solution into bubbles inside the body on depressurization; it means you may find DCS only if you are going from a high pressure area to a lower pressure zone, example: from down the depths in the sea to sea level in a very short time or from sea level to 10000 [m] in a depressurized plane in a short lapse of time. 

This is because of the nitrogen gas dissolved in our blood... well, it is dissolved at a certain pressure, the higher the pressure the better it is dissolved; but if you lose this external pressure too fast, you don't allow this gas the time necessary to remain gas and it becomes bubbles that may hinder the blood to reach vital areas like your brain. 

Most of the time DCS affects shoulders with joint pain known as ''the bends''. When it affects the neurological system the most common symptom is headache and visual abnormalities.

 Marco free-diving with great swim-suit... cosa c'e' scritto sopra?

Today I managed to dive at about 10 [m] and no issues equalizing!!!

Costa Brava

Platja d'Aro

Although famous for its rock named after a fisherman 'Cavall Bernat' and beyond being a very turistic place because of the many shops, Platja d'Aro has a beautiful underwater view and we could see: sea urchins, serranos, flocks of gilt-head sea breams - Sparus aurata.

Sparus aurata is widely used for cooking in Mediterranean cooking for its flavour

                                         

This fish was struggling to get rid of the hook it swallowed, lucky it managed to get rid of it after I pulled the line... it looks tasty, ain't? With some tomatoes and potatoes in the oven and some garlic and spices... yuummmm

Meantime I even tried to drown my beatiful fidanzata... or she was just rescuing me from drowning... either...