Snorkeling and Diving a Deep Spring to See a Rare Crayfish.

Welcome back to another snorkeling adventure. Once again we are faced with the question to what length would you go to see a cool crayfish. Earlier this morning I rented some scuba gear pretty much just so that I can look at a crayfish. So if you remember from a few episodes back my friend Bill and I were with no small effort exploring some pretty remote sinkholes looking for cave crayfish. We did eventually find them thanks to a friend that knew a specific spot but as it turns out there's a spring that I've actually been to quite a few times on the channel that has them. Crayfish have been here the entire time I just haven't known it because I haven't actually gone down to the bottom of the spring because it's pretty deep. It's about 70 feet deep. I'm back at that spring today with my brother-in-law Ben. We're gonna snorkel and free dive to start and then we're gonna throw on some scuba diving gear and get down there and see if we can't find these cave crayfish. It's time to suit up. Big drop off right there. There's a big spring bed. The very bottom is where the crayfish are gonna be but first we're gonna explore around the spring and see what other wildlife are hanging out before we throw the scuba diving gear because as you know you can't free dive after scuba. So without further ado let's get snorkeling. Straight away I found myself dead center over the head spring looking down into the blue green abyss. Somewhere down there is possibly a rare crayfish but despite having been here before and the crustacean themed goal of this snorkeling adventure as you'll soon see this place is worthy of a thorough exploration in both the shallows and the depths. The edge of the spring was covered with these dark algae towers that looked like they came straight from the land of Mordor. Unfortunately many of the springs in this area suffer from groundwater contamination due to nitrogen pollution from agricultural runoff. A fully healthy spring should have lots of aquatic plant life but unfortunately the only somewhat green thing in this spring is algae which thrives in these unnatural water quality conditions. Even though the spring itself is protected the way the land surrounding the spring is used still has an aquatic impact. As all the water is collected in the aquifer below or underground reservoir and flows out through the spring vent. There's still life and beauty to be found here for sure but it's important to remember that this place is not all that it can be. But it wasn't long before I began to see the animals who make their home in this crystal clear underwater neighborhood. First off we have the river cooters. As Ben and I drifted down the run these big turtles could be found pretty much all over just grazing on algae and paddling about. I noticed a large cloud forming in one area of the spring and a group of spotted suckers disappeared into it. Clearly they had been going to town rooting about in the substrate of the spring. As we came to the end of the spring run a mysterious wall of black water came into view. This is the confluence where the clear blue water of the spring mixes with the dark amber waters of a large adjacent river. Within the confluence a school of mullet were darting back and forth between the two bodies of water. The mullet were busy feeding. They would swim along both the bottom and the surface to gulp down mouthfuls of floating debris and sometimes just straight up sand. They would then filter out any invertebrates or bits of edible vegetation and spit out the rest. For some reason they were very keen on operating only within the confluence itself. Perhaps it was the cover and protection of the turbid river or the variety of nutrients provided by the mixing waters. But either way when the sun hit the water just right it made for some unreal freshwater magic. I pushed out a little ways into the river and it was almost blood red in the sunlight. The visibility dropped off really quickly however but I could still see the vague shapes of mullet circling in the distance. But then despite the dazzling aquatic scenery a small shape on the sandy bottom caught my eye. It might not look like much but this is a fish. The hog choker. Hog chokers are a type of flatfish or sole. Basically like a very small freshwater flounder. If you've seen any of my other videos you know I come across these fellows a lot as they are quite common in Florida Springs. However these alien little guys are very well camouflaged and if they aren't moving they're really easily overlooked. This individual was relatively booking it. You might think they're only built for moving short distances but this fellow actually traveled hundreds of miles to get here and one day it'll do it again to go back to its saltwater spawning grounds. So yeah this hog choker may be flat but it's actually a well-rounded and traveled individual. I've said it before how much I love a confluence. Despite the still pressing task of finding a rare crayfish I couldn't help but soak in this underwater kaleidoscope one more time. Holy cow that confluence is so beautiful and it changes every time just with the water level. There's a special little tiny intersection of aquatic ecosystems. The spring's getting kind of busy. It is a Saturday after all. I'm going to go throw on my scuba gear and then start heading down in the main head spring and we'll see if we can't find anything to escape quickly. Here we go. I figured before I throw on the scuba gear I may as well give it a shot free diving so I grabbed a breath and headed down. I was feeling pretty good on the dive honestly but once I got halfway down to the bottom I realized this was just not going to be the optimal crayfish searching strategy. At 70 feet that's a little bit past my personal best free diving depth without lugging a big camera around mind you. So even if I got down there I wouldn't have much oxygen left to look around. So I flattened out at about 35 feet and investigated the walls of the spring but unsurprisingly I saw no crayfish and then headed back up to the surface for the scuba gear. When we got here the parking lot was pretty much empty but it is so packed right now. Hopefully we're not lacking in the rare ghostly looking crayfish department today but I got a good feeling. I'm gonna throw this clanky thing on and get down there. Check it out. It's crayfish town. With bin washing overhead I began my descent to the bottom of the spring. I don't usually like to do any serious diving or scuba diving solo and definitely don't recommend it but this is a pretty confined area and there are quite a few other divers going back and forth so I didn't really feel alone on this one. Eventually I reached the bottom of the spring. It was surprisingly dark and everything was an eerie shade of emerald green. I immediately went into freshwater crustacean search mode and began scouring the spring. I had no idea how difficult this task was going to prove to be. At 70 feet deep my tank of air wouldn't last much longer than 30 minutes so I was on a timer. Although at first glance this place appears to be just a giant underwater pit, along the base of the wall I found the actual vent of the spring itself where water was rushing up from underground. The force of the current was intense and pushed me backwards. Despite looking like promising habitat I'm not a cave diver and maybe a crayfish might have a hard time holding on in there too so I continued my search elsewhere. The bottom of the spring was covered in a layer of fine white sand with ribbons of rock etched in haphazard lines across it. Some of the sand piles looked like snow capped mountains, a miniature ridgeline jutting out from below the looming limestone formations overhead. There was a small archway off to the side that looked promising and I carefully made my way beneath it. This looked like the perfect spot for an aquatic subterranean crayfish but I saw nothing. At this point I was starting to get worried. I was going through air quickly and no ifs and or buts I had to save enough for a solid safety stop for my ascent. I was discouraged but I didn't give up and headed back into the small archway to check for crayfish one final time and then my dive lights illuminated a two inch translucent creature clinging to the wall. Behold the pallid cave crayfish. I don't know if we as a society often refer to crayfish as beautiful but we certainly should start doing that. I mean just look at that thing what a little stunner. Pallid cave crayfish is an imperiled species of crayfish that is only found in subterranean aquatic environments in a small part of Florida and Georgia. If you remember this is actually a totally different species than the cave crayfish that Bill and I previously saw while searching sinkholes. Cave crayfish are often separated by hundreds and hundreds of miles of underground aquatic passageways and as a result they've evolved into quite a few distinct species. They may look similar but they're different. Because these ghostly crustaceans live in underwater caves not a lot is known about their behavior or biology. However similar to other crayfish it's assumed they too feed on tiny invertebrates bits of vegetation and dead things. I guess just the cave dive version. I only saw the one single cave crayfish. It was still totally worth a full scuba rental to even get a glimpse of this underworld specter. The little crayfish continued its path along the wall of the spring until it disappeared into a dark corner and by now it was time for me to head back up to the surface. As I drifted upwards I thought about how far apart the world above and the world below often are. There's something poetic about this pale creature contentedly wandering about in the dark below while we go about our lives on the surface. Imagine for the most part we're blissfully unaware of each other's existence including myself before today. And yet the actions of one of us still determines the other's fate. Restoration and degradation of this aquatic habitat may be visible near the surface but you know what about the places and creatures that the light never touches? I hope that deep down in the dark world beneath my feet these miniature ghosts will continue to haunt the drowned hallways of the aquifer long after I'm dead and gone. Oh bonus loggerhead musk turtle on the way out so heck yeah. Not gonna lie for a minute there I was not sure if we were going to see dead crayfish but finally found them. All in all great snorkel great dive. Well despite being totally devoid of vegetation still a cool spring and still habitat for some pretty cool critters. So anyways thank you guys for coming on this snorkeling scuba adventure and I'll see ya. See you next time.