Today was a great day in the water, as I saw all of the coolest animals. And a seal swam by me. It is so incredible how different they are in the water vs. on land:
3 snoozers while I was in the deep end. I have a hard time getting a good shot when I'm in the water.
Before I went in, this one was trying to decide if it was safe to come up onto the beach. Eventually, it scared some uninitiated swimmers in the Kiddie Pond. Our seal volunteer had to tell them to move away. They are wild animals! The 3 pictured above were fooling around, going from one pond to the other. The one below swam by me, after the fish made a run for it, in the Kiddie Pond. Whenever I see the fish "run", I always look to see why, by looking behind me. It could be a seal or something that I don't want to see, like a shark. And praise God, I have never seen a shark over here. Seeing them on Oahu was enough for me.
This one did look at me as it swam by, but decided that I wasn't very interesting, apparently. I have had them come up to me, as if asking "Wanna Play?" So I'm glad I didn't have to discourage interest today.
Note the mossy green on this one's mouth. It was trying to come ashore, too.
And the big excitement of the day, yes can you believe it's something other than an octopus?!, was the yellow Frog Fish. Such an amazing lemon yellow, it really stands out on the reef. I tried to get the eye in the photo, which was somewhat successful on the one above. They rest on the rocks and wait for prey. They are Ambush Predators, so it is curious to me that they have the yellow coloration: isn't that very eye-attracting? Hard to be secretive when you're bright yellow.
I didn't see the little angler apparatus that some have on their heads. This one might have been too young. And it was also pretty small: maybe 3 inches all told.
You can see the big "paws" too. They rest on the rocks.
I was able to spot this one a couple more times after I first spotted it. So I do hope to be able to see it again next time I swim. They are exciting not only because they are very cool animals, but also because of their rarity. I don't know the purpose of the small holes they have in their skin, but will think on that. If you haven't already, go to youtube or google to search for frog fish. There are many varieties and shapes. You can also look for "frogfish eats puffer" on youtube...that's my video. octopigirl7
I cannot be 100% sure, but this is the same octopus well hidden that I saw on the previous swim. It is very smart and made its den well hidden so it stays out of the traffic pattern. It's the part with the blue and purple rainbow colors. I think...
And we mustn't forget the flounder! The video is on youtube, look for octopigirl7 to see it. And subscribe if you feel like it. Here are some pix of the flounder as it tried to evade me.
Can you see it? On top of the rock. I'm thinkin' really good camouflage.
Yes, it's still on top of the rock. The Yellow Tail Coris was darting around above it.
It decided to make a break for it, and sped off.
You can see the eyes on the one above, right at the top of the shot. I'm told they start off with eyes on either side of their heads, and then one eye migrates, so they're eventually both on the same side.
Magic Carpet ride
It rather appears to be frowning, right?
And now we progress to the Lizard Fishes...of which I saw a few today, from big to the tiny one seen first:
They'll sit still until they get irritated with you, then they'll zoom off. It's cool to watch them, as they can quickly bury themselves in the sand, so all you see are their eyes. I'm actually not sure if the one following is a lizard: it has some similar characteristics, but the mouth is not quite the same. At any rate, it's a tiny thing.
The tiny one last. So adorable. This must be lizard sprouting season, as I have been seeing a few of the tiny ones.
The cute little 3 spot chromis again, guarding its coral.
Abudefduf. It still puzzles me, as they are not very colorful, why I like these fish so much.
As I do the blenny.
And here's a young Blue spined unicorn, before it got its unicorn.
The older version has its unicorn on the forehead.
Bright Eye Damsel. These little fish are so bossy! I have seen them scare away fish that are much larger than they. I've even seen them dart at an octopus, if they feel it's in their way.
Male Trunk Fish
Needle fish
A pair of Ornate Butterfly Fish
And not so pretty: the fishing line and hook I took off the bottom today. I'm not sure you can really see it, but that hook was incredibly rusty, so I'm glad I got it up and thrown away.
Picasso Trigger. This is the same one that was bossing other fish away from its area a couple of days ago.
Below are two things of interest, the first being that I think an octopus might have been hiding under the rock. But can't prove it, because it was very much more patient than I was! Sometimes if you wait out of sight, you can spot them when they come out to take a look. The other thing is a tiny wrasse in the upper left. It backs into its hole and watches the scenery. I think this is the same type of fish that pretends to be a cleaner wrasse, but actually bites the fish it is ostensibly cleaning. Shame, shame!
Rock Mover wrasse. They didn't lead me to any octopuses today, but I like seeing them anyway.
Stocky hawk fish on top of a coral head.
That pretend cleaner wrasse again.
For some reason, the Threadfin Butterfly fish were following me today, about a foot below where I was swimming. Note the pretty blue line at the top of the fish. My suspicion is that someone had been feeding fish, and they were hoping for another handout. I actually saw an idiot breaking pieces of bread up and throwing them in the water! I asked the guy why he was doing that, adding that God gives them enough food! He kept doing it. Teaching, in a bad way, his 2 grandkids to be stupid, too. I mean, after all, if one were going to feed wild fish, one should at least feed them something that might be in their natural diet!
This is called being too close to the wild animals!
If you see the frog fish, please leave it there! I had just given a kindly lecture to 2 men who were walking on the bottom, advising them that they were walking where animals live. Glad they missed this Frog Fish!
So a jam packed swim, and very enjoyable. Please help keep things pristine by not walking on the bottom when you go into the ocean. After all, it's not a lake! And thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment