A day early

Normally, I go to exercise class on mon/weds/fri, but since we are looking to possible storms in our area, I went again today. Glad I did! Saw both the frogfish, octopuses, and a surprise barracuda! There was another surprise, too, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Barracuda are very stealthy. Look really closely...you'll perhaps first see the black on its tail. They hang out in mid-water, so closer to the surface, which makes it harder for me to catch them with my camera. Also, they move away, and I don't know about you, but it's never my plan to chase a barracuda! Also interesting, I never see them in groups over here. Perhaps I just don't get into deep enough water. That's totally ok with me, by the way.

And I didn't see it catch and eat part of this trevally, but a barracuda is definitely fast enough to do so. I guess it'll all be eaten by morning.

Just so you don't have the dead one stuck in your mind, here's a live one.

 And here's one pestering an eel. 

Octopuses. Yay.

 Somebody made somebody mad....

 A total of 3 octo-sightings today. A great day!

To the right, I call this one The Wrestler. Doesn't it look like a wrestler with bulging shoulder muscles?

 Following, this could be my new fave octo-photo. You can really see it eye, peeking out at me from its den.

 I have given up on naming and numbering. 

I now have my priorities straight again: octopuses first, then frogfish!

You can see it's starting to have some of that "stuff" on its skin. 

I didn't spend much time out here. This fish never does anything! Octopuses are much cooler, although not as rare.

I have been wondering: back in April I caught photos of a frogfish. In the deeper side. Then this fish a while later in the shallow side. Does this mean there are 2?! Or could the little guy have gotten clear across the water to rest in the shallower side? We may never know.

Nice pair of Moorish Idols...going to same way.

Black lined wrasse

 Cloud rainbow with palms

and without

 I noted an anemone crab underneath the coral head. When I got the pix home, that's when I saw the surprise Spotfin Scorpion fish (on the bottom of the shot.) When I'm focused on one thing, sometimes I miss other stuff.

This Trev and Christmas Wrasse were giving the poor Snowflake eel a bad time. 

And here's the female Christmas Wrasse.Another example of the male being somewhat more flamboyantly colored.

Hebrew Cone shell, dug in.

 Male Box fish

 Needle fish near the surface.

And a very pretty Spanish Dancer nudibranch.

 A little more light really makes a difference.

I laughed when I saw the following one: doesn't it look as if it fell off the ledge and bonked its head?

 And the following photo is to show you how small they can be. 

Pinktail Durgon

 A nice shell on the bottom

Here's the fish I've been trying to i.d. I'll look it up soon. No really!

 White spotted puffer. And no, I won't be counting the dots. Too many.

A nice swim. Please pray with me that the storms pass us by!

Nooks and Crannies - and 6 octopuses

I was thinking today as I swam that all the undersea animals seem to fully use the nooks and crannies that they find: fish hide, octopuses hide and so do eels and scorpion fish. All the more reason to not go in and feel your way around.

 This was taken in the deep side, so the octopus is hiding rather well (just to the right of the reddish rock in the middle.)

 Here is he'e #2, with the fish that was swimming all around it.

 And the Humu that swam around it, too.

 I think this was #3....in the ground.

 Below, when I first saw it. and then

 darker brown when it got mad at me.

 I love the aqua. That's sand in the water all around it. Eye is just below the siphon (beige circle in the middle.)

 And really there's an octopus in there! This one might have the best hiding place of all: an old cement block, where it can sink back and hide.

 This is the "normal" coloration in this reef.

 And this is the same octopus, I think, when the seal swam by. (Mortal enemies)

 Almost back to normal.

 Peeking at me!

It is really hard to decide which shots to use, especially when the octopus is being so accommodating. 

6 octopuses today. and very thankful

 Abudefduf.

 Rain at sea

 The black part is a leaf fish that was a really good hider, next to that rock.

 Palms, clouds and the mountain in the back.

 Above, a well hidden Cone Shell. And no, I didn't turn it over....they are venomous. It is the triangular thing in the middle.

 Female Christmas wrasse

 I think this may be a male yellow tail coris

 Two hawks and a chromis....note the latter with the pretty blue along its back.

 Humu and convict tangs

 Note the spike on the Humu's head. They can raise and lower it as they wish.

 Nice male trunk fish.

 palms, rain and the mountain

 Peacock Grouper

 Pencils.

 And lots of rainbows!

 And the ugly scorpion fish. This one didn't move...you can just see the mouth in the lower left of this shot.

 And the seal that swam by. They are VERY different creatures in the water!

 A Spotfin Scorpion fish.

 And the group of urchins. These have really long spines and are out in the deeper water. I am fortunate to never have come afoul of these things..

A very nice swim today....and only 600 pix!