Octopus was hunting!

I stumbled upon an octopus hunting.  Well, perhaps not stumbled! ;)
I was swimming a bit more out in the clear water, further away from people.  Armed of course with my camera, I saw an adult Rock Mover Wrasse down below, probably 18 feet below me.  Once I looked closer, I saw that the Wrasse wasn't trying to move rocks, but an octopus!

As I said, the depth was bigger than I'm used to, so the fish and octopus aren't as clear and close as I would have liked. In fact, some of the movies I took didn't turn out well because the depth was greater but also the waves were moving me around.  Go figure.

 Above, the octopus is putting out a leg to search for food.  

I probably spent at least 20 minutes hovering above this octopus.  In fact, I was probably lucky to be farther away, since I didn't disturb the octopus.  However, the Wrasse did!  I have seen fish swim on their sides against the bottom, but this wrasse swam and rubbed against the octopus!  It kept on rubbing itself against the poor octopus.  Not sure why.

Calling this one "No I don't want to talk!"

Such a clown face!  And peering right into the octopus, who, even though irritated by the fish, kept on putting out feelers for food.

Finally, the octopus had had enough:

He thwapped the fish with one of his arms.  (And by the way, if you haven't seen Finding Dory, please do!  And be sure to watch all the way through the credits, because the octopus is featured in those too....and it's on DVD and Blue Ray now.)  I have seen octopuses do this before: they put up with irritation for a while, but eventually they put their arm out to strike at the offending fish.  I love it.
 Once I dragged myself away from the octopus, I saw a nice Yellow Tail Coris.

C'mon, can you get colors any better than these?!


 This is the fish that is red with white polka dots when it is a juvenile.  Who could have thought of that combo?!  (Well, God, that's who.)


I keep forgetting to include the sunrise clouds BEFORE the snorkeling:

I was also gifted by seeing a couple of pinktail durgons.  They are shy, so it's hard to get a shot that totally shows how beautiful they are. But here's today's attempt with the duo:

Again, the depth was working against me, but if you click on the photo, you should be able to see both.

In this shot, you can not only see the colorful tail and clear fins with black outline, but also the mouth with those teeth.

And, as has become my custom, as soon as the rose bush blooms, I take a photo, so I don't miss anything:

And later in the day, it had water drops on it:

Another colorful design and execution....

Just can't let go of the octo-experience!

You can see the wrasse still flying around the octopus, which in this case was clinging to the coral head, with all his legs strewn around...and no, don't know it's a male. 










And surprisingly, today I'll finish with the Humu....a very tiny one, probably about 2 inches long.

Eagle Eye Challenge!

For some reason, their coloration is muted when they are small.  Love those mysteries!