7 octopus - perfection!

Seven supposedly refers to perfection. So it was perfect that I saw 7 octopuses, but the photos are less than stellar. It's all good though. We are working on a move to Oahu, so I'm storing up the good Kauai experiences.

 The Rock Mover was irritating this poor octopus #1.

And this photo is what I first saw. Deep side.

 #2. Stayed in the den and didn't do much other than breathe.

 #3 was a great hider. The brown part in the left of the den is the octopus.

 #4 I think.

#5 

 #6

 #7

One always wants them to sing and dance, but sometimes, they are just hanging out breathing.

 The male Trunk fish was touching the female, then swam away.

Very happy to see the Big Eye Emperor! I haven't seen one this size ever.

 Cornets meeting.

 A Drupe shell covered in ocean goop.

 Kihikihi (Moorish Idol) and a Christmas wrasse.

 Needlefish

 The Pinktail always runs away. And since it's the deep side, the photo is never close up. But still enjoyable.

 While this photo is a bit fuzzy, I included because it appears that the Stocky Hawkfish was peeking at me.

 A tiny Humu. I smile every time I see these tiny guys.

 Bluefin Trevally

Yellow Tail Coris. I showed the juvenile in my previous post. So pretty.

Frogfish and two octopuses oh yeah!

As I work my way to 400 posts (can you believe?!), I am reporting finding the frogfish again. Very happy about that. 

Same size and same general area as Thursday swim, so pretty sure it's the same fish. So cute and small.

  You can see its eye above, near the bottom of the photo.

 Bracing itself against the waves.

 So you can get a bit of perspective of how small it is.

And how it can appear to be upside down.

 With a bit more sun on its skin. The picture above might be close to the actual size of the fish.

It didn't move at all, so I was able to snap a few pix. Then I left it alone....well, I say that, but later I came back to see if I could again locate it, but the waves were sucking me out, so I left the area after briefly spotting it. 

You can just barely see some of Octopus #1 skin inside the rocks. He stays hidden, which I think is an excellent survival strategy.

 The rest of these are he'e #2, who was much more out in the open. Below, it was peeking at me.

I did twinkle my fingers at #2, but it didn't acknowledge that. It was probably wondering what I was trying to do. I was just very happy to see more out of its den than #1. 

The fish to the left, Yellow Tail Coris, is the adult of the red one below. Yeah, go figure.

Manini and the Indo Pacific Damsel awaiting a cleaning

 Bird Wrasse and saddle wrasse

Blue spined unicorn fish

 Bubble shell. Thankfully, no one was home. So it came home with me.

 Bubble shell in situ

and in my glove with sand inside

 This crab was hiding in a hole near the frog fish

Drupe shell outside 

 and inside. I think the original animal was inside, so I put it down again.

 I do think the original animal was inside...note the small tube to the left. That would be the area where the tube of the animal would exit the shell.

 Some fisherman lost his lead...with fishing line. It's in my trash can, now.

 Mystery fish hiding in coral. It could be a spotfin scorp, but I didn't see quite enough of it to be sure...

 Purple coral

 Purple scrunchie...please don't wear these in the water...apparently they fall off.

 Snowflake moray

Today's partial shells, operculum and trash

 And a nice surprise: the Turban shell with the operculum and I assume the animal inside! I left it there, of course.

Very nice swim and then I was able to snag my friend, the Seal Lady, for lunch, so a very good day! (Fish tacos at Keoki's...yum yum!)