Five octopuses and two leaves

Sounds almost Biblical doesn't it?!
Five octopuses will always be a cause for celebration, even if they are not the best photos...I told my friend today that the octopuses are very smart: they make their dens and sit in them on the side of the rock where the sun isn't shining. Good for hiding, bad for photographing!

If you look carefully, you'll see the white spot on the right, in the hole, that is the siphon. That's what I mean: they hide and it's really hard to see them.

 This one was on top of a rock, so easier to see.  The eye has the light beige lines radiating from the center, in the middle of the photo.

A bit of suckers, on the left and on the right. And below, the octopus was visited by the Brighteye Chromis. I'm not sure if the fish even knew the octopus was there...

 I saw the hole with rocks around it first, then peeked in to see the octopus.

Look just above the white rock on the bottom....the brown bits are the octopus.

 A better photo..you can see the octopus and the eye. I like the white rocky stuff too....nice contrast with the brown of the octopus.

It saw me and turned mostly brown.

 Peeking at me. Eye just below the pink rock near the right of the photo.

 Same octopus, still peeking.

This was the last one of the day. Very enjoyable and very near the beach! I was really surprised, again, as last week, that it was there....people were walking all over on the bottom. 

You can see a bit of the siphon, just below the eye.

 The eye...it is very interactive. I try to be Ninja, but I am bigger by far. I can always tell when it sees me.

You can see both eyes. I would almost stop here, because 5 is a great number of octopuses.  But I did say 2 leaves....

And is it leaves when it is fish? I mean, they are Leaf Fish, so would we make it plural like that? It was fun to do, but probably more correct to make it two leaf fishes.  Anyway, here they are:

Not the prettiest fish, but def interesting. Below, the head is to the right.  You can see the jaw is slightly open.

 They rest on the surrounding rocks.

 And they move with the waves. Very like a leaf.

I call it Pokey. Ow. Glad I've never landed on one of these. I do enjoy seeing them, because they have two types of spines...really thin and then the lined ones. Anal sac is the round thing near the right.

Peacock grouper and blue spined Unicorn Fish. I have no clue what they were so excited about, but they were all poking under the coral overhang just out of the shot.

Needlefish and a sergeant major fish. Hard to get the needles on film, but these were lower in the water than usual. They are not just sitting still, either, so this was a lucky shot because I was able to focus on the little fish, which also caught the rest.

White Cheeked Tang.  For once, not from above. They are really thin. But such nice colors.

 Spanish Dancer, a nudibranch. Maybe 3 inches long, moving slowly along the rocky bottom.

Pinktail Durgon, showing its retractable spine on top of its head.

 Indo Pacific Damsel. They will come up to me, then swim by.

 Yellow tail coris juvenile.

 Juvenile Rock Mover Wrasse

Below, one of my faves: the Ambon Puffer. Note the blue fin underneath. I think that is so cool, as that color is present nowhere else on the fish...the rest of it is that pretty aqua colored lines.

 Pinktail. There were quite a few swimming around today.

Five Christmas Wrasses in one area! Woohoo! They are quick. And as with the peacock grouper, I have no idea what they were looking for inside the reef, but it brought them to one place, so thanks to whatever it was.

 I still cannot figure out a way to demonstrate how small this fish is, but less than 3 inches from nose to tail. Raccoon Butterfly. Note how you can't really see the eye, which is in the black line on its face....I've heard it said that the 2 black spots on the tail make other fish think those are the eyes. 

 Cleaning station: two Hawaiian Cleaner wrasses working on Convict Tangs. With the Pinktail just heading out of the shot.

 More Needlefish.

 The tiny Humu with the sun on its face. Can fish get sunburned?!

View of clouds and palms from the water.

Very nice swim. Thankful.  Not just for the pretties, but for the safety: I kept hearing the lifeguards mention a seal or two in the water, but they never say where it is! I poked my head up but didn't see any until I was on the way out. They were way down on the other side of the beach. Leave 'em alone if you see 'em, please. Not only is it protective of the seal, but it's also the law! And thanks.

Cinq pieuvres!!! Merci a Dieu!

For those of you not possessing the fine habit of French language, that means 5 octopuses! and Thanks to God! who else answers prayer so abundantly!
I also prayed for safety, which He also granted me. And of course, lots of other cool animals. Like two seals..playing in the water....keeping me out...and in the other deeper pond. Of course, they came over to the deeper side too, but stayed near the beach. Which rather explains the lack of photos of the little darlings. Every time one popped up, I had just taken a photo. Ah well.

The female trunk fish. I recently watched a youtube video of various box fishes...quite amazing how diverse this family is!

 Needle fish. Up near the surface of the water...they just love to cause me fits!

Octopus #2, I think. I can only tell them apart because of the rocks around their dens. And no, they aren't all the same octopus! They also differ in size.

Two Ambon Pufferfishes.  So pretty.

 See what I mean?! Be sure to catch the blue underneath.

This Yellow Tail Coris had just picked up the red rock shown above its head and thrown it upside down. Ostensibly to look for prey. These fish are as tough as the Rock Mover Wrasse.

 Octopus 3. Maybe. They are wicked smart: they dig their dens on the side away from the sun. And in the afternoon, when the sun changes, I think they hide. Or go to another den.

Pinktail Durgon. 

Octopus #4. A smaller one. And stayed right where it was. See the white siphon.

Peeking at me! This was a surprise octopus...it's pretty rare for me to see 3, let alone 5! If you look closely, you can see its eye above the rocks in the center. Definitely monitoring my movements.

 This little Trunk fish probably was about an inch from side to side. Oh so cute. And afraid. It eventually hid under a rock overhanging the area. Well, I guess I can't blame them...I'm at least a thousand times bigger than it was! (Actually, let's not dwell on that too much. ha.)

 One of two Leaf Fishes.

 It looks short in the picture below, but it was bent. The rest is behind the fish. Good catch on the face and fins, though, right?

Male Trunk Fish.

 The last octopus, #5.  I actually heard myself say NO WAY! when I saw it.  Very near the beach. I'd be willing to bet that it has had experience of being almost stepped on, hence the den under a rock. The only good way I had to see it was to find the white rock and look behind it. Oh and the shell: they blow the shells out once they've had dinner, so if you look for a group of shells, you might be able to see one of these 8 legged darlings...

 The white star pattern is around its eye. 

Below is the first octopus of the day...hard to see, right? It is doing what I mentioned above: staying in the shade.  Having absolutely no consideration for my feelings...

Spotfin Scorpion Fish. This was a good day for these Scorp family animals to be out of the usual hiding place! This one is usually well hidden under an overhang or in a hole. Tail near the bottom of the shot and head near the top.

And the super cute tiny Humu. The hole right behind it was a welcome place to hide.

It didn't, but it sure wanted to! They are really feisty, so he was kinda letting me know that he would do what HE wanted to! And I let him. Who could argue with something so adorable?

I am so thankful to God for both the safety and the lovely critters I got to see.  Five Octopuses!!!! Woo hoo!

Almost forgot to show you the 1st Leaf Fish. Hanging out underneath an overhang...These are the colors I'm seeing lately. I have seen dark colored ones, also.