5 Life Forms from Below Above and Around Water
- agill110
- Apr 11, 2022
- 4 min read
This week out class turned towards the water, visiting San Pedro and fostering a curiosity for those life forms that are both so like us and so unimaginably different. I like to think of this week as out life below water week, falling in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number 14. Goal 14: Life Below Water calls for conservation and sustainable usage of marine resources, but I think it can be taken a step further to apply an additional reverence and empathy for the creatures that call water home. From mollusks to pinnipeds, there is much we can learn from looking
to the sea.
1— Pinnipeds and Buckets at the Marine Mammal Care Center
Our first stop was to the Marine Mammal Care Center which houses a variety of seal and sea lion pups. Most of them come in because of malnourishment, a problem that has been exacerbated by changing ocean temperatures and overfishing.both of which force mothers to hunt farther afield from their pups. This was my first time seeing all but sea lions, and it was easy to see how working with these animals would be rewarding. Our group found it difficult to see them as anything other than adorable, more difficult still was refraining from assigning them human traits. Whether it was their huge eyes, propensity for napping, or playful nature, these recovering pups were instantly endearing.
Our guide explained that the playing of the more mature pups was preparing them for the wild as they learned to maneuver quickly and gain momentum to jump through the air. This talk of learning through play reminded me of a section in Alexis Pauline Gumbs's "Undrowned" where she said, "I do not commit to playing a role in a structure designed for our infinite lack. But I do commit to playing with you." She commits to playing a role in the collective, in learning, shifting and adapting together following the example of undersea creatures.
Even within the center, though, the pups may have to fight a bit for their food. We watched a heron pluck a fish directly out of the Guadalupe Fur Seal's mouth, prompting the seal to growl and make a sound resembling a bark. One of the volunteers told us that herons are a recurring nuisance at the center with one eventually earning the name buckets due to their penchant for stealing fish out of buckets.
2 — California Two-spot Octopus
The octopus is at once an object of great wonder to some and horror for others. In the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium as in "Octopus Teacher" and Athena Montgomery's "Soul of an Octopus" this small Octopus seemed to be the source of great curiosity for visitors. From both of these pieces of media we know that octopuses are incredibly intelligent mollusks in a way that is borderline incomprehensible to humans. Both also show that with humans they find to be trustworthy, octopuses may be willing to come to an understanding with us. In "Octopus Teacher," we see that it took Craig Foster visiting every day for an extended period and having to resort to tracking in order to build a bond with the octopus he had found. His takeaway from all the days spent searching for and watching his friend echoes a sentiment we have discussed many times this semester. Foster emphasizes that we need to feel as though we are a part of nature not just visitors and that all of our lives are equally important and incredibly vulnerable. Maybe we are not an octopus covering ourselves in rocks to avoid a shark bite, but if there is a breakdown in the kelp forest system where that is taking place it will be felt not only by the forest's inhabitants but also by humans who depend on its ecosystem services.
3 — Schooling Salemas
Gumbs focuses a great deal on the concept of schooling as a unit of care and as a system for which we should strive. She speaks mostly of the way striped dolphins school in numbers of 25 to 75 individuals all together cycling through the roles needed to support their entire pod. She proposes we as humans behave in the manner of schools rather than the small family units we have been told are ideal.
So, yes. I can commit to open arms, vulnerable face, to staying in the circle with you, patient in the practice. And what had been my sharp becomes my specificity, and what had been my barbs become my wings. – Alexis Pauline Gumbs
4 — Jellies
Moon Jellies do not necessarily have the profound implications that the rest of the marine life mentioned might. They are beautiful and otherworldly like the octopus, but simpler. I may wonder about the experiences of a jellyfish, but I do not think that they wonder about me watching them in the way an octopus might. A volunteer near this tank told us that moon jellies actually cannot sting you as long as you have skin. An odd thing to say without context, but she continued on to explain that a scientist who worked with them once touched a jelly to his tongue to test whether a lack of skin would allow for a sting. Apparently it did, but she recommended we refrain from replicating the experience.
5 — Bugs Along The Way
At the Marine Mammal Care Center and on our walk over to the Korean Friendship Bell for lunch I was able to spot and photograph several insects fairly close up. My favorite of the group was the West Coast Lady I saw along the roadside mostly because I often struggle to get close enough to properly take pictures of butterflies. Just as exciting though was the caterpillar my classmate Olivia found in the grass while we ate our lunch. Watching it reach around and eventually return to the leaves it had been eating previously was another moment in curiosity about how that life might be experienced.
Bonus Video
To wrap things up is a quick video I made just for my own enjoyment out of clips from the day set to Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes. Bear in mind I am not a film major and meant this only to be a bit of fun using a song I couldn't get out of my head.
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