No swim on Saturday?!

Yes, today there will be no early swim....who on earth makes a haircut appointment for Saturday at 9 a.m.?

A goofball, that's who!  But knowing this was coming up, I did swim yesterday. So here's the rest of what happened...

Can you find the 2 brighteye chromis? I love these fish because they are shy but inquisitive.  They'll run from you (after all, they are only about 2 inches long), but then will peek out at you from their hidey-hole.  Very cute.  Love the eyes, too.

And the Abudefduf:

I have heard that some fish have dots on their bodies to confuse predators, making them think the dot is their eye.  Guess that's what this fish has, too.  I have recently noted also that most stripes are in sets of 5.  Intriguing.  There IS a plan!






This was also a shocker for me: the Threadfin Butterfly Fish has blue!  Now before you see the photo, picture that fish in your mind...do you see blue?!

There is blue, right at the top edge of their body.  I never knew that until this pair came right up on me.  I haven't much experience with this behavior, but think it's probably because people have been feeding the fish in this area.  Yes, stupid, I agree.  God gave them food..why do they need us?






And who is this guy?

Should I have called this an Eagle Eye Challenge? If you click on it, you can see the tube on the top of the coral/rock.  There's a little face poking out of that tube!

Think it's some kind of blenny, but I could easily be wrong. I didn't see one just like it online.. It was funny to see it pop back into the tube, just backing up quickly. Only to pop out again when it thought I was gone.. I was multi-tasking too...it's hard when you have an octopus to take pictures of and then you see something else that's also cool. Choices must be made.

Tako #3:

You can see his eye and a bit of the body.  Hiding pretty well. 

Saw the usual eels, too.

Until I saw this on my monitor, I didn't realize that this eel, too, is fairly well disguised.  It's in the middle, just below and to the left of the red rock.

Box Feesh...

And now for the real Eagle Eye Challenge:

Once you know where to look, it's obvious that there's a Devil Scorpion Fish there.  But not easy to spot, since it's the same basic color of the surrounding area...Again, I only spotted this one because it moved!
Just realized that I put the cropped photo of this one in yesterday's post..that's what I get for posting one swim on two days.  But this shows you really how hard they are to spot.

A small eel just inside the hole, sharing space with a boring urchin.  I guess it knows how to slide around and not pierce itself.

And now in the Not So Great Photo but Cute department:

It's a 3 spot damsel. They guard coral heads.  It is so cute to watch because the fish darts around the coral, fending off possible attackers.  It's great because the fish is no bigger than a minute, but has a huge spirit.

There were quite a few shells in this dive.  You can see they do receive some punishment from the environment:

I do have some good books, both in my home library and from the actual library, but didn't yet look this one up.  One can often see a tiny hole in the shell, meaning that someone preyed upon the little guy..







Another eel:

Mostly, they stay in their dens, and only occasionally wander off in search of prey.

Hermit Crabs abounded, but this is the best photo:

I do enjoy the crab colors: this one with black and orange legs and blue stalked eyes..Mostly I find them when they start walking around.  Otherwise, you think it's just a shell.  And again, this is why I rarely take a shell home....one never knows who might need a new home.











Wana and a brighteye chromis:

Another Trunk Fish:

Oh so lovely!  

And not to end on an unlovely note, but this is a shell that had someone living in it, I think.  It's covered with lots of ocean gunk:

It was easier to tell it was a shell in person.  But I thought again that I'm glad I don't collect intact shells....this one, though covered in gunk, was still very much in use.  Besides, I have no clue how to get gunk off shells.
So that's it for this just over 2 hours dive.  Two ponds, 3 octopuses.  A great average..and thanks for reading.