What is a Underwater Naturalist? Neville Coleman

The Websters dictionary states that a Naturalist is a person who studies natural history!

An Underwater Naturalist is somebody who assumes the same principles as a terrestrial naturalist but does it underwater, in the aquatic environment. Although there are less numbers of animals and plants in the seas than have been recorded on land, by comparison, our understandings of these aquatic organisms is very limited.

Because we are normally land - orientated beings, the familiar everyday things around us are observed and recorded almost unconsciously. Land plants and animals are familiar and can be readily recognised.
Those that are not familiar we can make reference to in the multitude of natural history field guides available on almost every group of terrestrial organisms, and on the world wide web.

Life as we know it assumed from the sea, and the future of all the organisms on this planet are still dependent on the oceans of the world for that same life.
No matter what, we must find ways to limit our influence over the health of the oceans.
Discovering and recording what lives in the oceans is a good start.

Becoming an underwater naturalist and learning about some of the things that exist and by becoming an underwater photographer we can display the fantastic World of Water in all its beauty and diversity and share it with the others of our kind, perhaps even to the point of influencing a change in attitude for the better? 

The study of nature is far more than just the acquisition of knowledge. It is by far the single most important factor in determining the future of all life on our planet.
It is the process by which we can begin to understand the fundamental principles by which we as humans acquire a value on the world around us
 

 A mere 40 years ago, the preservation of dead specimens were necessary to enable marine life identifications to be established. At the time there were few books on marine life identification and visual images alone were not considered of use without a specimen. Most marine curators were very sceptical about the value of visual identification.
When I began my Australasian Marine Photographic Index, this is how fish were recognised. Preserved remnants of what used to be.

How could anybody be motivated to care about something so removed from life?  Marine Conservation needed something more appealing if it was going to appeal to human nature.


Underwater photography: the answer.

Unless we can understand that nature contains all the basic realities of life and that its observance and comprehension is actually an all  round insight into life itself, we shall continue on the road of delusion believing that we are the most important species on earth.

After all, a long time before we existed, the dinosaurs were the most dominant life forms.

In every way, studying nature is the most self- perpetuating, comprehensive study in the universe, because nature study contains elements of every subject in the book of learning we know as Life.
Every single component on the planet is connected; nothing is separate, because we are all parts of the whole. The more we observe and learn about nature the more we will see for ourselves how everything interacts as a gigantic system.  All life is inter-dependant.

 Marine science as a whole worked very hard to bring our knowledge up to date. However, there were no photographic reference books in colour, (only those with drawings), no training programs for volunteers and no Marine Life Identification Specialty Courses for scuba divers.
I realized that somebody would need to do the work to establish a system and bridge the gap between scientific specimens and living marine life.
Underwater photography and visual identification was the only answer.

Underwater Naturalist

An Underwater Naturalist is somebody who assumes the same principles as a terrestrial naturalist but does it underwater, in the aquatic environment. Although there are less numbers of animals and plants in the seas than have been recorded on land, by comparison, our understandings of these aquatic organisms is very limited.
Because we are normally land - orientated beings, the familiar everyday things around us are observed and recorded almost unconsciously. Land plants and animals are familiar and can be readily recognised. Those that are not familiar we can make reference to in the multitude of natural history field guides available on almost every group of terrestrial organisms, and on the world wide web.

With the sea it is different, the majority of organisms are unfamiliar to us. Their shapes, colours, patterns, behaviour and their environment are completely new to the majority of people.
Most humans have little, or no understanding at all as to the importance the oceans and their inhabitants have to the wellness of the planet.

Divers and indeed underwater naturalists/photographers are the only major group of people in the world today with the necessary abilities to study and record the world of water and share their knowledge with the world in general.
Hopefully, this will bring about a change in attitudes and determine a greater conservation effort towards our oceans.

How a diver can become an Underwater Naturalist

Of course one can become an underwater naturalist by self - education, but this can be a lengthy process.  In days gone by, this was the only method available and it took me many years of theory and practical Marine Biology studies before I accumulated enough knowledge and became proficient at what I believed was, my Reason for Being.
However, for the new diver, it takes a certain amount of training before they learn to exist comfortably as visitors in their new environment and begin to learn the many secrets hidden beneath the waves.

 With (67) Marine Life ID Guides completed and (8) Neville Coleman UNDERWATER NATURALIST Specialty Courses programmed and designed, the provision for the education of todays Underwater Naturalist is unrivalled and most divers have the opportunity to not only learn, but to share their learning experiences.
               (Photo: Jorina van der Westhuizen)

In an effort to share my knowledge and encourage a greater understanding towards the world of water and its creatures I pioneered a whole range of Underwater Wildlife ID Guide Books, Marine Life ID Field Guides and Marine Life ID Encyclopaedias based on the visual identification of various groups of marine life.

Neville Coleman  Underwater Naturalist Specialty Courses.

Writing, illustrating and designing 67 Marine Life Identification Guide Books took a great deal of time because each book was specifically written and designed as a textbook by which divers could be instructed and educated towards becoming Underwater Naturalists.

In conjunction with each major group of marine animals I also set up a series of Neville Coleman Underwater Naturalist Specialty Course Programs (which have all been posted on my website for many years) so that other Dive Instructors, and Underwater Educators have a basic Course program example to work with.

 In order to teach my self I worked out lots of easy ways by which living marine animals could be recognised using Marine Life ID short cuts. All this knowledge has been intergrated into my Marine Life ID Guide Books, so that once a scuba diver, underwater naturalist, or underwater photographer has attended the initial UNDERWATER NATURALIAST Marine Life ID Course, all the others educational courses will be much easier because they are all structured the same way. 

Learning is the Greatest Adventure

Ninety nine percent of what scuba divers see underwater are animals and plants. Strange bizarre beings that are in many ways so different to what we relate to on land.
For the novice diver the world of water presents a bewildering smorgasbord of visual entities all mixed up. Some organisms are stuck to the bottom and those that swim seem to be milling around in a mayhem of colours, shapes and patterns, swirling around, all going nowhere. Not so!

 Digital Photography has changed the Name of the Game.
 I pioneered the visual identification of the Marine Life of the Australian Continent (Australian Coastal Marine Expedition 1969 to 1973) with a camera that took only 12 images per roll of film, per dive.
Todays Digitals can produce over 200 images on a single dive.
(Photo: Jorina van der Westhuizen)

 At Camp Cove, Sydney Harbour, New South Wales in July 1969 testing out my new Rollei Marine twin lens 120 x 120 format underwater camera before setting out on the Australian Coastal Marine Expedition, 12 images....if the bulbs went off?
 

There is much more to diving than just the experience of being underwater.  Yes, there are those who take up scuba diving just for the new experience, those that take up scuba diving to go the deepest, those that take up scuba diving to see more than anybody else by swimming faster, and yes, drift dives can be most exhilarating, and wrecks are awesome time capsules to explore.
Scuba (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) Diving is an excellent measure of ones fitness, a great challenge to our terrestrial lifestyles and an awesome experience on its own, but it is only a beginning.

However, if you took up scuba diving to experience the Greatest Adventure Activity on the Planet?

Todays Underwater Naturalists and divers are the only ones in a position to take stock ( a Photographic Inventory) of the oceans creatures ( Marine Resources) and to record and monitor the details of species and their interactive behaviour at our major Dive Sites.
Divers are the only ones that have a chance at saving our seas, because we are the only ones in the water, and we are the only ones with the opportunity, motivation and the means to do it.
(Photo: Jorina van der Westhuizen)

If you took up scuba diving to introduce yourself to the most breathtaking scenery, with the most incredible colours and the most captivating creatures in the world?

If you took up scuba diving to explore, discover and learn about the fascinating world of water and its inhabitants, their recognition, life styles, bizarre habits, unbelievable masquerades, interesting sex lives, bewildering behaviour and to understand how underwater nature affects and decides our every day existence, then do yourself a favour.

Find yourself a good Underwater Naturalist Marine Life ID Specialty Course and book yourself in.

  Participants of the Project AWARE UNDERWATER NATURALIST Marine Life Identification Course held recently at the Byron Underwater Festival and shootout at Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia, produced some stunning images from the Julian Rocks dive site. Many species photographed were new records for the area. (Photo: Jorina van der Westhuizen)

Its not difficult to learn

One of the first requirements is to learn to separate and recognise the major groups ( Phyla) of marine life.
(eg.)  MARINE PLANTS: Alga and Sea grass. MARINE ANIMALS:  Sponges, Cnidarians, Marine Worms, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Bryozoans, Echinoderms, Ascidians, Marine Fish, Marine Reptiles and Marine Mammals.

 Just about everybody in the developed world has now heard of 'Nemo' the anemonefish. Clown anemonefish have been kept by aquarists, and studied by behavioural scientists because they are relatively easy to maintain.
As scuba divers we recognise the relationship between these remarkable little fish and their host sea anemones and because they are so common to the tropical waters of the Asia/Indo - Pacific, we observe them on a regular basis.

Yet few divers would recognise the individual species. These Eastern Clown Anemonefish Amphiprion percula are not that much more difficult to learn than 'Nemo'. Its just that 'Nemo' is more familiar. Once scuba divers realise that its the familiarity thats needed, learning scientific names becomes easy.

 Easily recognised to family level by its pronounced gill spine and general shape, learning the Conspicuous Angelfish's name, Pomacanthus conspicillus is a whole lot easier than getting a good image, as its overall black colour often gets lost in the darkness of its habitat.

Scientific names have deluded thousands of  intelligent divers into believing that the scientific names of marine creatures are too hard to learn because they are so unfamiliar, and difficult to pronounce? They convince themselves that these new learning experiences are too hard and shut down their minds to anything with a scientific name.
This is the same approach I took when I first aspired to become an Underwater Naturalist. I soon realized that unless I learnt the principles of scientific names I would never be able to differ between one creature and another, let alone understand their behaviour.
It may be a challenge to begin with, but it becomes a whole lot of fun, once you get to know and practice, the principles.

The Name Game

In order to be able to relate to anything, we need a name.  In the Animal and Plant Kingdoms it is very necessary to have a name so that one organism can be differentiated from another.
Although in all my publications I have given Common Names as well as known Scientific Names to each creature, some scientific taxonomists do not recognise Common Names. However, Common names help when there are still so many critters not officially described (all of which science refers to as 'Genus' sp.)

Common Names avoid confusion and each species can be referenced until a scientific name is published.

Coleman's Pygmy Sea Horse Hippocampus colemani  is just one example of what can be found even at well known dive sites that have been regularly dived for 30 years. Discovered in only 3 metres of water in a sea grass meadow, thousands of divers swam over its habitat and never saw it.
As this species was named after myself it has an easy Common Name and the species part of the scientific name ends in an i  (colemani) because I am a male person.

 
The father of modern taxonomic nomenclature, or naming, was a great scholar by the name of Linnaeus who in the eighteenth century devised a system by which all living creatures were given two  part names in the universal language of Latin.  Although the system of two  part names was published in 1758, it was not till 1901 that it became International Law.

In the two  part name system the first name is called the Genus and the second part of the name is referred to as the species.

For example: The Red Ear Shell is in the Genus Haliotis. Its species name is ruber which is Latin for Red.  Consequently, the Red Ear Shell is known as Haliotis ruber.

In this system it does not matter which language the description of an animal or plant is published in, the Latin name can be understood by all, regardless of how many Common Names it may have had in various countries.
If the taxonomist who describes a new species decides to name it after a male person (for example, Mr. Smith) the species name has an i at the end. ( eg.) smithi. If it is named after a female person (for example, Mrs. Smith) the species names has an ae at the end. (eg.) smithae.

Once a few principles and understandings about Scientific Names become clear, it is amazing just how easy and familiar they become.  Just like the 3 year olds and their learning the Scientific Names of Dinosaurs, all it takes is being interested enough!
For any diver interested to begin learning, I have written a special book called UNDERWATER NATURALIST  Sorting out the Stuff!  This book was written and designed especially for Neville Coleman UNDERWATER NATURALIST Marine Life Identification Specialty Courses. However, they can be used by anybody to teach the principles of UNDERWATER NATURALIST Marine Life ID Courses.

Once a scuba diver becomes familiar with the arrangement and idea of scientific names, they can then have a means of establishing a reference point for learning. Then its time to enhance their skills at recognising various habitats and micro habitats so that thay can find specific kinds of marine life.
This Sea Whip Spider Crab Xenocarcinus tuberculatus only lives on Black Coral Sea Whips below 20 metres. 

A Future for Underwater Naturalists

There is no ending to this principle of learning, scuba divers, snorkelers, reef walkers and beachcombers can all apply it to their various activities and become an Underwater Naturalist, or a Marine Naturalist. The opportunities for a lifetime of learning become more apparent on every dive. The world of water becomes the Biggest University on the Planet and we are all privileged to be part of it.

The excitement of discovering new records and new species, exploring new areas, of being able to recognise various species and observe and relate to their life styles and behaviour is very rewarding. The fun of finding, photographing and sharing your discoveries with others can go so far towards determining the future and wellbeing of our oceans.

One on - going project is for divers, photographers and Underwater Naturalists to keep records of their findings on their dives, like an extended log book, with information transferred to each image, or sketch, so that easy reference can be made. Then, each dive and each image becomes a record that can be referred to. Each dive site has hundreds and even thousands of creatures we know nothing about. Divers are the only ones who can accumulate this knowledge and each Underwater Naturalist can become an expert on the various forms of marine life at their dive site.

Over 40 years there are now at least 8000 or more species of marine life  (Redbar Basslet Pseudanthais rubrizonatus (male) that can be visually identified without having to kill one creature.
Conservation by Camera, has finally arrived!

Yes, it is a little more work than just having an image number and some vague idea of what it might be and an even more vague idea of where and when it was taken.
Every serious Underwater Naturalist has the opportunity to become an important part in the recording and conservation of the marine life at each dive site they visit.
When a species arrives, when it leaves, or just disappears? Is it a year round resident, or is it a visitor that only appears during winter, or summer?
There are a hundred questions just begging to be answered for every species.

However, like most things in life, nothing of importance is ever accomplished without enthusiasm.  I believe that we as divers have a greater role to play as guardians of our seas. With enough enthusiasm and more Underwater Naturalists, anything is possible! 

As a group, we as divers have the potential to set an example and provide a platform by which our environmental commitments could influence the world.