Biologist, diver, inventor profile of Pyle Stops or... database manager

X-RAY MAG catches up with the ever-inventive and contemplative pioneer, Richard Pyle, to find out what makes him tick, insights into his theories, and the stories behind his accomplishments.

Who is Richard Pyle really? A biol- all about it on my website—and hats. I have my fish hat and my ogist or a rebreather diver? then decided not to give up on rebreather hat. They are two very but to learn to do it different things to think about, Excellent question, many peo- properly. That led me to Bill Stone. as the topics are very different. I ple have asked me that. I am I read his article about div- enjoy being able to think about definitely a biologist. My whole ing—this was before technical div- them both. life I have been interested in ing became a common term—in fishes, and I don’t know why but 1987. (See Interview with Bill Stone The reason I ask is that you seem it always has been that way. I’ve in X-RAY MAG #15). So, I wrote to have not just one, but two had an aquarium since I was a him a little letter and I asked,“How claims to fame. little kid, so fishes have always do you do this?” And he then come first. was wrote me back and told me, “We It is actually more, as I have four a tool to get access to fishes. do it this way…” So, I learned how worlds that I move in—and my The most exciting part for me is to do trimix diving from Bill Stone, family is my fifth world. The four finding new things that nobody and through him, I also learned worlds that I travel in are: The ever found before, and I quickly about , as he was saltwater aquarium world—I am learned that the only way I already building rebreathers at actually more known to people could go where my Ph.D advisor that time. So, I got into rebreath- in the saltwater aquarium world P.H.Randall hadn’t already found ers through fishes, and if I had to than any of the other worlds— a fish was—and he has been all give one of them up, I would give and I always get invited to give over the world other than down— up rebreathers before fishes. keynote presentations at aquar- so I got into deep diving to try to ium meetings, but generally, I get into a new place and find I am definitely a biologist first have been too busy to do that. new kinds of new fishes nobody and a rebreather diver second. The second world is the fish world found before. There is a lot of his- But I will say that I get almost as where I know a lot of people and tory there, but I started off with much enjoyment out of thinking then, of course, the rebreather regular scuba, going deeper about the technical aspects of and tech world. But there is a and deeper and deeper. And the diving. I enjoy thinking about completely different world from I found out the hard way what rebreathers and which I get my pay check, and the problems were. I got a bad almost as much as thinking about that is for programming databas- case of the bends—you can read fishes, so every day I change es. Most of my travelling goes to RichardA talk with Pyle 62 X-RAY MAG : 21 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED profile Richard Pyle meetings to discuss standards for But you are the one that is widely What is the computer databases, so we can credited with coining the term—or “Twilight Zone”? exchange data about biological in some way being synonymous diversity from different computers with—“The Twilight Zone” around the world. I am chang- In this context, the ing between all these hats all It actually started out with Walter coral- Twilight Zone the time and between all these Starck who I think got credit for is roughly defined as cor- Divers on scuba different groups of people. A lot recognising that this depth zone, al-reef habitat at depths have mostly of times, I joke about…you know however we want to define it, say between about 200 feet explored reefs what a nerd or geek is, someone from 50 to 150 meters, is await- (60 meters) and 500 feet down to 60m who is too much into something ing to be explored. (Scubadivers (150 meters). … I have found that in those can rarely go beyond 40m and Dr. Walter Starck is one of the worlds there are geeks in every submersibles rarely operate shal- pioneers in the scientific investi- The upper limit repre- one of them. Some are science lower than 150m – ed.). Walter gation of coral reefs. He grew up sents the approximate nerds about the fish, and some Starck, aside from his fame as a in the Florida Keys and received maximum depth to are dive nerds. photographer, his most signifi- a PhD in marine science from which stony corals tend cant contribution was to build the the University of Miami in 1964. to dominate the reef There are different sorts of gen- very first electronically controlled He has over 40 years worldwide structure, and the lower iuses? rebreather, the Electrolung. He experience in reef studies, and limit represents the maxi- invented this rebreather to do his work has encompassed the mum depth at which The funny thing is that across what I do, to find new fishes on discovery of much of the basic significant photosynthe- the topics, they all have the the deeper coral reefs but this nature of reef biology. In this sis occurs (the maximum The “Twilight Zone” same characteristics, and I am was back in the 1960’s. Of all the process, over 100 species of fish- depth to which the living one of the nerds. In fact, I am a known technical divers, es, which were new to science, extends). We may know more about nerd in all four categories. I am the least pioneer were found as well as numerous, the ocean floor than we I can have the same sort because rebreather corals, shells, crustaceans and The reason the coral- know about the coral-reef of excited conversations diving. in the other new discoveries. reef Twilight Zone is Twilight Zone over dinners regardless sense of what shallower than the of whether it is about I use it for, was In the early 1960s, he began the open-ocean Twilight databases, fishes or already invent- first extensive exploration of coral Zone stems mostly from rebreathers. I am sur- ed by Walter reefs at night. the difference in water prised how similar it is. Starck when I clarity between the two came along. In In conjunction with this work, he habitats. In fact, I am a that was among the first to adapt nerd in all four and use SLR cameras and elec- In the open ocean, tronic flash underwater. This, in the crystal-clear water categories turn, enabled the first underwa- allows sunlight to pen- ter macro photography. In 1964, etrate considerably he developed the optical dome deeper than around Submersibles port now used universally for coral reefs, where the have mostly wide-angle underwater photog- water is often teeming explorerd raphy. with plankton. depths below 150m In 1968, he developed the Therefore, the biologi- Electrolung—the first electroni- cally important transition cally regulated, closed circuit, zone between light and mixed gas scuba. With the dark exists at somewhat Electrolung, Dr Starck began shallower depths around exploring the deep reefs beyond coral reefs. ■ the frontiers of compressed air diving, and many exciting new discoveries resulted. ■ Source: www.goldendolphin.com

63 X-RAY MAG : 21 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED respect, I am just a late he used the phrase about all it. One, is that we know so Bio comer. There was also anoth- the discoveries awaiting to little about it, about the spe- Deep Stops = Pyle Stops Dr. Richard Pyle was born and raised er guy, Pat Colin, who was a be done in the twilight zone. cies and about the interac- in Hawaii, where he caught an inter- bit later than Walter Starck He was probably the first, tions that go on there. The est for fish from a very early age. He and was also inspired by him. and then I started applying other thing is that it is a transi- set up his first aquarium when he was He also built his own rebreath- that term, and then I started tion zone. One environment Deep stops seems to This is an excerpt from an arti- five years old, and started scuba div- er to go down to the deep talking about it. But then where the coral reef meets cle Richard Pyle wrote 10 years ing when he was 13. By the age of 19, be the latest buzz-word reef zones, so I am not the biologists got angry with me, another environment, the ago: he lived in Palau where his passion for when it comes to promot- discovering new fishes lured him into first, by a long shot. because that term already open ocean, deep water, resulting in a crippling applies to something in the and this zone While you may ing the latest models of Back before the concept of case of sickness while But I seem to be the lucky middle of the ocean, about is the bridge think that it dive computers. Deep “technical diving” existed, I diving with world-renown ichthyolo- one who was around when a 1000 meters deep, and between stops allow you to com- used to do more dives to depths gist John “Jack” Randall. Jack then technology was finally ready in the cave world, it means the two, and is a mix of of 180-220 feet than I care to plete your safety stops offered him a job in the fish collection to do this. Walter invented something else. So, it is a little very interest- species from remember. Because of the tre- of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in his own technology, but at overused. I then started call- ing things at depth. The amount of mendous sample size of dives, Honolulu, where Richard continues to that time, they even had to ing it deep coral reefs, but happen. above and I eventually began to notice a work. stops needed, as well as make their own sen- then they discovered these The coral from below, it the depth at which they few patterns. Quite frequently sors. They built them them- coral reefs a 1000m deep. reef is clear, after these dives, I would feel Determined to continue exploring the selves from scratch, whereas, So, now I don’t know what to obviously is actually a are required, depends some level of fatigue or malaise. coral reef “Twilight Zone” in a safe I can just go order them from call that zone that I am work- a sunlight completely new on the maximum depth It was clear that these post- and responsible way, Pyle was among Teledyne or whoever. I was ing in. It is the “coral twilight driven eco- reached during the dive. dive symptoms had more to the pioneers of modern Technical lucky in being 20 or 30 years zone” or what? I don’t know, system where set of species. do with inert-gas loading than Diving in the late 1980s. In 1994, he later, because now I have but that is the area that I am the energy with physical exertion or thermal was a test-diver for the prototype Cis- access to technology that interested in. comes from the sun and is But Deep Stops are not all that exposure, because the symp- Lunar MK-4 closed-circuit rebreather, and travelled the Pacific in search of they didn’t. I don’t think that I passed on through the algae, new and were in fact discov- toms would generally be much new species of fishes on deep coral was the first person to use the But what is so special about into herbivores, etc. But once ered by Richard Pyle by coin- more severe after spending less reefs—which he and his colleagues term “Twilight Zone” either. this zone in a biological you get below the light zone, cidence—hence the alias Pyle than an hour in the water for a are discovering at a rate of 11 new Walter Starck wrote an arti- sense? you only find scavengers and Stops—as he started noticing 200-foot dive than they would species per hour of bottom time. cle, I think it was in 1972, in carnivores that rely on ener- that he was much less fatigued after spending four to six hours Recently, he has acted as consultant National Geographic where Two things are special about gy from elsewhere. after deep dives if he had taken at much shallower depths. for Poseidon in developing the new some breaks in the decent. Cis-Lunar Mk VI, which will be mar- But my zone represents that The interesting thing was that keted in 2008. I was lucky in being 20 area where one system trans- A “Pyle stop” is an additional these symptoms were not terri- or 30 years later because forms into the other. And one short deep-water stop, which is bly consistent. Sometimes I hard- Richard has authored over a hundred now I have access to tech- of the things that is most sur- increasingly used in deep div- ly felt any symptoms at all. scientific, technical and popular arti- prising that we have found ing. Typically, a Pyle stop is two cles and has been featured in dozens nology that they is that while you may think minutes long, and at the depth At other times, I would be so of documentary films (including the didn’t. that it is a mix of species from where the change sleepy after a dive that I would IMAX film, Coral-Reef Adventure). above and from below, it is halves on an ascent from the find it difficult to stay awake on He was a founding member of the actually a completely new bottom to a shallow the drive home. I Board of Directors for the Association for Marine Exploration—a non-profit set of species. This zone is water decompres- tried to correlate organization dedicated to conduct- unique at the species level, sion stop. For exam- the severity of the ing innovative scientific exploration and there are lots of new ple, on an ascent symptoms with a using advanced species there. But every spe- from a maximum wide variety of and techniques. In 2004, he was cies we find is somehow depth of 60 metres factors, such ► selected by Esquire magazine for the related to the shallow reefs 7 bar to a decom- “Best and Brightest” issue, and was rather than the deep ocean. pression stop at 20 Modern dive com- also recipient of the “Genius Award” The big question we had in metres 3 bar, the puters now incorpo- from General Electric which helped the beginning is whether the Pyle stop would rate Deep Stops in support his research. In 2005, he was zone was mostly like the shal- take place at the their decompression awarded the NOGI award—coinci- low ecosystems or the deep- halfway pressure, models. (D6 dentally, simultaneously with another is shown) is one of er ones, and it is definitely which is 5 bar at 40 X-RAY MAG interviewee, Bob Evans. the most prominent ■ Sources: Bishop Museum mostly like the shallower sys- metres. proponents tems, except that we almost

64 X-RAY MAG : 21 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED only found new species. The interesting Not all was new, but many. Richard Pyle What is interesting from thing was that an ecological perspective these symptoms is the transition from one as the magnitude of the exposure, the amount of extra time I spent on the ten-foot decom- were not ter- habitat to another and, from a species viewpoint, pression stop, the strength of the , the ribly consist- the fact that everything clarity of the water, the water , within the zone is unique. how much sleep I had the night before, the ent. Sometimes level of dehydration...you name it...but none I hardly felt any Is it just the species’ com- of these obvious factors seemed to have any- position? thing to do with it. Finally, I figured out what symptoms at all. it was—fish! Yup, that’s right... On dives when It is a bit of both. In fact, I collected fish, I had hardly any post-dive you find hardly any herbivores down there, fatigue. On dives when I did not catch any- which makes sense as there are not many thing, the symptoms would algae down there. You find a lot of omni- tend to be quite strong. I was vores, wrasses for example, fishes that will Finally I fig- actually quite amazed by how eat almost everything, and there are a lot consistent this correlation was. of those. You’ll find planktivores, fish that eat ured out what The problem, though, was that plankton, like damselfishes and anthias, for it was—fish! it didn’t make any sense. Why example. The fishes you find there are the would these symptoms have ones most adapted to just surviving. So, it is a Yup, that’s anything to do with catching little of both. fish? In fact, I would expect right... On more severe symptoms after Do you have any pet theories? dives when I fish-collecting dives because collected fish, my level of exertion while on I have one that we stumbled upon. It is pos- the bottom during those dives sibly a little complicated to communicate, I had hardly tended to be greater (chasing but I give it a try. I don’t know if you know any post-dive fish isn’t always easy). that in the tropical Pacific, the most diver- sity you’ll find is in the western parts, around fatigue. There was one other dif- Indonesia. And as you move away from ference, though. You see, there, there are less and less species. And most fishes have a gas-filled this holds true for fishes, crabs and corals internal organ called a and what not. Whatever you look at, the “swimbladder”—basically a fish pattern is the same. So, for example, in the compensator. If a fish is brought straight to the Indonesia-Philippines region, you have about surface from 200 feet, its swimbladder would 2500 species of coral reef fishes. In Palau, you expand to about seven times its original size have about 1500. In Fiji, you have around and crush the other organs. Because I gener- 1000, and Hawaii about 500. In Easter Island, ally wanted to keep the fishes I collected alive, they have about 100... so, fewer and species I would need to stop at some point during the as you go. And this pattern is so consistent ascent and temporarily insert a hypodermic among all these organisms. There is a lot of needle into their swimbladders, venting off the scientific discussion going on about what excess gas. causes that pattern, and there are two main ideas. One, is that species evolved along the Typically, the depth at which I needed to do periphery of the Pacific and accumulated this was much deeper than my first required in this area as they, over time, migrated and decompression stop. For example, on an aver- that is why you, in this area, have this mixing age 200-foot dive, my first decompression stop of species from all over the place. That is why would usually be somewhere in the neighbor- there are so many here. hood of 50 feet, but the depth I needed to stop for the fish would be around 125 feet.►

65 X-RAY MAG : 21 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Not being a person who dive in 15m and then looked at because it is more diverse.” But So, whenever I collected As the years passed, I became Here is my method for incorpo- enjoyed confrontation, I kept Cook island also at 15m, the dif- once we got there, we did find fish, my ascent profile would more and more convinced of rating deep safety stops: ference is huge. Fiji has thousands new species but in no greater include an extra 2-3 minute the value of these deep stops quiet about my practice of of species, Cook island a few numbers than we found on Cook. stop much deeper than my for reducing the probability of 1) Calculate a decompression including these “deep decom- hundred. It is a completely differ- We thought that this was strange, first “required” decompression (DCS). In profile for the dive you wish ent diversity. But if you go down and it was perhaps because we stop. Unfortunately, this didn’t all cases where I had some sort of to do, using whatever soft- pression stops”. to 100m instead, then the islands were just not in the right place. make any sense either. ware you normally use. look comparable. There is no But as we went on to visit more When you think only in terms The other theory is that species more diversity in one place than and more locations, we found of dissolved gas tensions in 2) Take the distance evolve in a hotspot—in the mid- in the other. So, this pattern of that the emerging pattern was blood and tissues (as virtually between the bottom dle and radiate outward. And the high diversity versus low diversity the same—new species, but not all decompression algorithms portion of the dive (at farther you get from that hotspot, seems to only apply in the shallow a greater number of new species in use today do), you would the time you begin your the fewer species you find areas. over there than here. expect more decompression ascent) and the first because of the distance. Both problems with the included “required” decompres- of these mechanisms, which So, here is my pet theory deep stops because more sion stop, and find the the scientific community are about this: It occurred time is spent at a greater midpoint. You can use the arguing about all the time, to me that the sea level depth. midpoint are operating at evolutionary goes up and down if you want, but for most timescales—in other words, at every hundred thousand As someone who tends to dives in the “technical” least hundreds of thousands years with the cycles of have more faith in what diving range, the linear or millions of years. So, they ice ages and glaciation. actually happens in the distance midpoint will be are thinking of it in terms of How much does it go real world than what should close enough and is easier biology. up and down? About a happen according to the to calculate. This depth will hundred meters. Where theoretical world, I decided be your first deep safety But we found cue patterns is the break between to start including the deep stop, and the stop should that we didn’t expect on shallow and deep reef stops on all of my decom- be about 2-3 minutes in deep coral reefs as com- fishes? About a hundred pression dives, whether or duration. pared to shallow reefs. The meters. not I collected fish. Guess first pattern we found is that what? My symptoms of 3) Re-calculate the there is a higher rate of ende- What I think happens fatigue virtually disappeared decompression profile by mism here. So, if you go to a is that every hundred altogether! It was nothing including the deep safety particular island and go down thousand years, the sea short of amazing! I mean stop in the profile (most deep, you’ll find that 70 per- NASA Astronaut image of Astove Island (Aldabra level drops, and the spe- I actually started getting software will allow for cent of the species are only Group, Seychelles) in the Indian Ocean cies of the shallow reefs some work done during the multi-level profile calcula- found at that island. On the die out because all the afternoons and evenings of tions).

other hand, if you go shallow, shallow habitats, the days when I did a morning via F lickr perhaps only ten percent of the So, it is almost like the ocean is lagoons, the fringing reefs, all of deep dive. 4) If the distance species are endemic. The deeper layered? that disappears. Because when between your first deep you go, the more unique the spe- you look at an atoll, they come I started telling people about safety stop and your first by A aron P - cies are to that one island, which Yes, so it appears. And that up straight to the surface and my amazing discovery, but “required” stop is greater

is strange, and we did not know makes you think, what is it about are flat on the top. And if you was invariably met with photo than 30 feet, then add a why this would be. The second the deep reef fishes that 1) makes dropped the sea level a hundred skepticism, and sometimes on second deep safety stop pattern is, if you go to say Fiji and them unique to each island and meters the island just sticks out stern lectures from “experts” at the midpoint between 2) makes them no more diverse of the water it just doesn’t erode about how this must be based the first deep safety stop in the Western Pacific than in away. So, when the sea level is wrong. “Obviously,” they and the first required stop. Endemism is the ecological the Eastern Pacific? We started high like it is now, you have a would tell me, “you should G raphic state of being unique to a the deep reef stuff in the Cook lagoon and all of these habitats get out of deep water as Technical Diver doing a deep 5) Repeat as necessary place. Endemic species are islands—which is low diversity— up shallow. When the sea level quickly as possible to mini- decompression stop until there are less than not naturally found elsewhere. and we found all these new spe- then drops again, these habitats mize additional gas load- 30 feet between your last The place must be a discrete cies and thought, “Wow! If we dry out, and all the species on ing.” Not being a person who post-dive symptoms, ranging from deep safety stop and the geographical unit, such as an go over to the Western Pacific the oceanic island’s shallow reefs enjoyed confrontation, I kept fatigue to shoulder pain to quad- first required safety stop. island, habitat type, or other where the diversity is higher, we may die out. But if you go to the quiet about my practice of riplegia in one case, it was on a defined area or zone. are going to find five times as Western Pacific, which lies on including these “deep decom- dive where I omitted the deep — Richard Pyle ■ many new species down deep the continental shelf, a shallow pression stops”. decompression stops.

66 X-RAY MAG : 21 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED profile Richard Pyle Richard Pyle was instru- mental in developing the original Cis-Lunar CCR rebreathers into an useful tool for researchers in the 1980s. Two decades later, his experienc- es were put to use by Poseidon, who had acquired the Cis-Lunar brand, in developing the new CCR for sports-divers that is being launched on the worldwide mar- Depth profiles (left) over the Pacific show ket in 2008 that the archipelogoes of Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines sit on the shal- lower continental shelf. If compared to a chart of biodiversity (above) the high I explain this to the biodiversity on the shallow reefs corre- dive nerds, and they lates with these areas just go,“Uh...Okay–if you say so.” plateau, you don’t have all these The species in the shallows, on which was full of these people tion. and I expect that there will islands just sticking up from the the other hand, are never there arguing about the two theories, be no problems, as the question We are also interested in seeing deep bottom. When the sea level long enough to become new and amidst all their bickering, is both exciting, interesting and if this holds true for other kinds of drops here, all what happens is species. Instead, what happens they all became quiet. important. organisms, not just fishes, but also that you move the habitats down when the water comes back, the corals and other stuff. If the pat- a slope, so you don’t destroy shallow reefs are repopulated Can’t this be settled somehow? Well, I get excited and interested tern is different, then something them. Whereas, in the Eastern from the Western Pacific. So, the and ask myself, what I am doing else may be going Pacific, they die. However, if you idea is, that it is not evolutionary Yes, and it is going to be. The only on a dive magazine? on. go down deep, the fishes are time scales that creates this pat- way you settle it is to contrast the already living along a vertical tern, but ecological. You wipe it shallow reef fishes to the deep It all comes back to the nerd But we’ll see. ■ habitat, the wall, so if the sea out, you fill it out, you re-populate fishes. If there were no deep reef thing. You are also a biologist and level changes the fishes just move it—over and over again. Down fishes, you couldn’t settle it understand. But usually, when I up and down with it, nothing deep, it just goes up and down, —even with DNA techniques. But explain this to the dive nerds, they really changes. That means that up and down. since the deep fishes are higher just go, “Uh... Okay—if you say the deep fishes don’t get wiped endemics, and the shallower spe- so.” out every hundred thousand years This hypothesis would be predict cies are more connected to the or so. If this model is true, the shal- two things: One, that there are Western Pacific, that means that low reefs gets wiped clean every more endemic species on these they came from there—while the time the sea level goes through islands because they would have deeper ones have been there all a cycle, except in the Western more time to become endemic; the time. The shallow ones have Pacific—where the deep fishes and two, you wouldn’t expect been recolonising, whereas the don’t get wiped out. They sur- the same pattern in the east deep ones were unique there. vive for many hundreds of thou- and the west. And what do we That is what we have a grant pro- sands of years or millions of years, find? Exactly that pattern. So, it is posal submitted to do—to inves- and therefore, have the time to a very complicated equation. I tigate this phenomenon. We just become unique new species, presented this idea at a meeting have to have more preliminary because they are isolated there. in Taiwan a couple of years ago, data to support to the applica-

67 X-RAY MAG : 21 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED