We have probably all seen the variety of colours and the impressive amount of fish, shrimps and other critters that inhabits a tropical coral reef. Some of us have experienced it in real life snorkeling or diving – and some of us have only seen it on a TV-screen.
When we stand at the bank of our home waters, things aren’t that bright and shiny. Sometimes you wonder if there is any life what so ever down there. But in most cases – we would be positively surprised, if we went down there to have a look.
For those of us, that live in a temperate climate zone – with lots of different weather during the four seasons – that can be a cold experience. Right now autumn is here on the Northern Hemisphere – and water temperatures are dropping.
That doesn’t mean that the coastal waters around here are cold and lifeless. Cold maybe… but full of life.
Sculpins by the thousands
To prove that point, I am in the process of making under water films in a variety of fresh and saltwater environments for my own YouTube channel. This week I have worked in one of our local fjords, filming under-waterscapes, baitfish, shrimps, ragworms as well as artificial flies. And it never ceases to amaze me, just how productive and rich the littoral zone of these cold Nordic waters is.
Take a short (20 seconds) sneak peek under the surface – and see for yourself. This is one of my home waters, and the fish are gobies or sculpins – trout food by the thousands. No shortage of life here.
Shrimps up close and very personal
Being fly tiers, a lot of us has a special love for matching the hatch. Most dry flies and nymphs are tied with that goal in mind, and a lot of streamers and saltwater flies mimic popular preys as well.
So here is an equally short clip of shrimps, up close and personal. These shrimps are from the same environment as the gobies. There are two species in the clip: Palaemon adspersus (roskildereje, Baltic prawn) which is an elegant swimming shrimp – and Crangon crangon (hestereje, common shrimp, brown shrimp) which is a more robust build shrimp that crawl more than swim and often bury themselves in the sand or gravel. It is a predator as well, and will attack and eat sculpins and smaller shrimps.
See them both here:
Check out your own home waters
I am confident that your home waters – fresh- or salt – have an equally interesting under water life. Use an underwater camera or just a small daphnia net or a real shrimp net – to check it out. I think you will be surprised.
Check out our YouTube channel and Instagram feed if you need inspiration for shrimp, sculpins and just about any other food item. There are tons of pictures and videos of anything from glass shrimps to Squirrel Sculpins.
Have a nice weekend :0)
Michael