Photo Adventures with Curiosity and Learning


Photos from a visit to Grandmother, 2004 with 3 side trips to Silver Glen Springs

So where is Silver Glen Springs? Who ever heard of Silver Glen Springs? When we drive from Charleston to Ellen's mom's place in Plant City we have two options to risk life and limb on I-95 and I-4 or to escape and take a back road. When I win, we leave I-95 in Jacksonville and drive southwest to Palatka, pick up 19 and head through the Ocala National Forest. It is quiet, there is little traffic and there are a number of high volume springs with crystal clear water. So an ideal place to work on underwater photo skills.

How we drove home

So to see our path, here are the GPS tracks to Silver Glen Springs.

This is Silver Glen Springs - and the day is Dec 26, 2004 - outside temp was about 5 C, water temp was 22 C - wonderful. You can see the steam hovering over the spring surface.

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This was 2 days later (Dec 28).

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The fish here are very interesting, because most are salt water fish that swim upstream from the atlantic ocean into this spring. I guess they adapt to the lack of salt while migrating upstream - anyway - it makes a nice place to view interesting fish with good visability.

Joseph Wolfersberger provided a great explanation for why things are the way they are at Silver Glen Springs:

My undergrad degree is in Biology and I took classes in Oceanography and 
Limnology at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.  The water in 
the St Johns is brackish as far upstream as Palatka. The St Johns is a really 
interesting river it only drops in elevation less than 10 meters from its 
source to the ocean and that is over a 300 mile course.You are familiar 
with Salt Springs I am sure. The mineral content is rather high in Silver Glen 
as well. My professor at the time said that since the calcium carbonate 
level is so high the salt water fish can still osmoregulate.  

Here are some sucker fish - the kind you see in your aquarium, cleaning the sides. Only these are about 0.5 m long.

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Here are some interesting photos of turtles.

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face to face

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and sting rays, with a little yellow fish playing with it

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Click for a video (10 Mb quicktime) of the fish playing with the ray

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This is some kind of blue fish - needs identifying. John Frascello from Jacksonville tells me this is a Nile Perch or Talapia,

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A flounder blending in with the color of the sand

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Gar Fish - with wonderful long snouts

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School of mullets

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A school of mullets just under the surface of the water

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A school of mullets

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Mullets

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

C. Frank Starmer

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