Thursday, May 30, 2019

Arrogance is bad...

I told my friend today that it would be arrogant of me to think that because I'm not finding octopuses these days, there are none!

Obviously, they are using their hiding camouflage very well. Historically, I have noted that May is a slow month for octo-viewings...I am really ready for June. 

So you will correctly assume I had another non-octo day. It even occurred to me that I could do an Octo Greatest Hits blog post with previous photos. Well, maybe. We'll see. And it's not that I didn't see any cool creatures. I just didn't spot any octopuses. And it wasn't for lack of trying. 3 hours in the drink and no octopuses.

And now that I think about it, there also were no seals on the beach and no scorpion fish in the water. Perhaps everyone took a vacation together.

In any case, following is what I did see:
 The 3 spot Chromis, guarding its coral head. This is one of the larger ones I've seen.



A trio of trevally. I think they were circling an eel at this time.
 Abudefduf



Ambon puffer. I always wonder why there are some areas on their bodies that have no dots or stripes. 
 My book says that this is the Bullethead Blenny. When the male is seeking female companionship, he gets "nuptial colors" which means below his jaw, his skin is blue. I will be looking for that.
 Shortjaw Bonefish
Rock-boring Urchin 



Christmas Wrasse. It is AMAZING how hard it is to catch this fish on film with light on its body! They are super fast.
 Chub
 We are very fortunate to live in such a beautiful place.



Commensal fishing: 3 goats and a bluefin trevally. The trevally, I think, is rather lazy. It follows the goat fish, hoping to snap up a prey item without much effort.
 Drupe shell and rock boring urchin
Hawkfish on top of a coral cluster. Hence the hawk name.. 













Hebrew Cone, buried in the sand.
 Humu. The regular one.













Indo Pacific Damsel
 Fisherman's lead and an earring I found today.
 Somebody ate a lobster and left the carcass floating around.












Male Box fish
 Moorish Idol











Nice orange rock. I'll probably use this in my underwater game somehow.






 I think it's a yellowfin Surgeon fish.
 Parrot fish from above.




The Peacock Grouper escaping to somewhere else to hide.
 Pencil urchins. I would be so claustrophobic!
 More pencils. The one previous hides out near the wave break.
 Picasso Trigger fish. You can see the spine. At this moment, it's not extended, but I'm told they can extend it so they can't be pulled out of holes by fishermen.

 This Humu has its spine raised a bit....it was being aggressive to the other fish.




I think this is poo, but am not sure. Oddly, they don't put poo in the fish books!
 Rock-boring urchin.





Rock Mover Wrasse
 Snowflake moray




This Spanish Dancer was small and in an awkward place, so I didn't get a great shot.





A few reasons why one shouldn't walk on the bottom or reach into rocks.
 Bluefin Trevally
 An urchin wearing its garden...














Octopus, show yourselves! I'll be back in the water in a few days and would very much enjoy seeing you all!

Sunday, May 26, 2019

Sunrise clouds and shells

Lacking a swim today, I found some nice sunrise clouds and shells. Enjoy!
 Imagine the jaws it would take to break this thick shell! But it may have been bashed against a rock by the waves.
 Interesting cloud, eh?
A neighbor's hibiscus with water droplets. Olympus TG-5 camera! 
 sunrise and palms
 Doesn't this look like a desert shot? Well, tropical desert.  Well, actually, tropical garden spot!



 A Turban shell with the operculum still in it.
 Another Turban shell with nobody in it.
 Nice yellow flower.

Saturday, May 25, 2019

No octo-joy, but a good swim nevertheless

I have checked my octo-records, and it is a normal thing to see fewer octopuses in May. Gee, I hope June is better. But there were good things that I saw and also since the waves of summer and fall are starting, I am happy to be in the water at all.

I didn't get to swim as far out on either side because of the waves, but here's what I did see:
 Can you spot the 2 lizard fishes? One is just showing its head and the other most of the hidden-in-sand body.
 Isn't that so cool?!
 Abudefduf zipping about near the dividing rocks.
 Ambon
 Blenny poking out of its hole.
 Above, a Blue spined unicorn
 cone shell hidden
 clouds, of course
 clam shell (empty! yay)
 Some small bluefin trevally at a cleaning station



 colors
 A well covered cone shell
 Convict tangs at another cleaning station. The one in the center had just gotten his gills cleaned; perhaps he felt he needed more attention?
 Cornet fish
 Sea cucumber
 Devil Scorp, #1 of 2
 Drupe shell
 Female trunk fish
 Female Christmas Wrasse













Pretty fleur on the way to the car

 Purple goat fish and below, stocky hawk fish
 Indo pacific chromis

 Juvenile Bird Wrasse
 Another chance to see the Lizard fish...this one just showing its head
 and the other one's body

 Male Trunk Fish showing its face for once
 White operculum in situ

 Ornate Butterfly fish. It had a companion, but neither cooperated at the same time.
Busy clouds










Pencil urchin
 Pinktail
 I think it may be poo
 Rock boring urchins. In other words, I'm told they drill the holes they are resting in.



 Rock Mover wrasse. They can pick up large rocks and thrown them about to find food underneath.

 Saddle wrasse
 Saddleback  butterfly
 Another Devil Scorpion Fish












And the other one:

 Sea cucumber
 Convict tang, sergeant majors and a juvenile yellow tail coris, the latter of which I didn't see until I looked at the photo at home.
 A tiny shell and a tube on a rock
 Snowflake Moray trying to hide



 Spotfin scorpion fish
 Squirrel fish
 Teardrop butterfly fish
 In this one, you can really see how it got its name: Threadfin Butterfly fish
 Bluefin trevally
 A pair of goat fish, cruising together
 Banded Urchin.
Oh and from my last post, the other, lighter colored Spanish Dancer is called a redmargin Spanish Dancer!