Barracuda love shiny

I was a little surprised to spot a barracuda today.

And I was reminded why I wear gloves while swimming: I have a shiny silver cross ring that I wear. And Barracuda supposedly love shiny!

So the gloves hide the shiny while I'm swimming. I have never had a barracuda take it upon itself to bite or even look twice at me, but I also do not want to encourage that behavior.

They are always lurking in the "foggy" water, so they are hard to spot. I'll bet the fish they chase have a hard time seeing them, too.

There was a small octopus today. Very happy about that. Here's what it looks like:

 You can see its eye, siphon and even a bit of the lovely aqua color I have noted before at the base of the siphon.

 And it peeked at me.

 And changed color, adding bumps along the way.

 I do wonder what went through the Maker's mind when He created their eyes. Well, really the whole animal is a question mark!

Why did God make 'em able to be bumpy? (Here it was hiding under an outcrop of rock, so eye on one side and body on the other.)

And change colors so rapidly? 

Mind you, I'm not complaining! Love the little critters. I also noted where this one was in relation to the rocks and coral, so hopefully, I'll be able to find it again next time. Possibly. No video today; it stayed in its den, regardless of my twinkling gloved fingers.

Barred Filefish 

 Blue Lined Snapper. I never noticed until today how the blue lines intersect on its back.

Christmas Wrasse male

 Nice big Parrot.

And the white shell.  I thought it might be a basket shell, but am not sure. Also, I am pretty certain that it's the same one I saw previously...and it had a crab inside.

I think they are Ladyfish. I am terrible, though, at most of the silver fishes (the exception being the Giant Trevally), so don't quote me.

 Snowflake Moray eel, taking in the scene.

Bluefin Trevally. One was circling around a rock, but I couldn't spot what it was harassing.

But I could spot the lovely morning sky:

 Sliver of a moon and palm tree

The moon and Venus to the left

 Starting the pinkness

Pinkness and rain out at sea

 I normally don't swim to the left, but this is what it looked like this morning. 

The waves outside the reef were charging, so I didn't venture out. I do wonder, though, if the little octopus I spotted in the channel a while ago is still there?

A post from October 22

My swim made me tired on Tuesday, so I forgot to post until today! But I did see two octopuses and a barracuda.

I almost missed this octopus, as it blended so well. At first, I thought it was a rock.

 And then it turned dark. You can just see the siphon at the bottom of the darkness.

This is what I first saw. I noted the rocks outside and thought: there should be an octopus there. And there was.

 He'e #2 hid really well. 

This barracuda's only interest was swimming away from me. Glad. It hangs out in somewhat cloudy water.

In the deeper side, there was a group of cornets, a pinktail durgon and a ringtail surgeon. If only the water had been clearer.

 Sometimes you can see entirely through the fish.

 This Saddle Wrasse swam right below me. I see these so often that I forget how pretty their colors are.

Female Trunk Fish, scooting along the bottom.

 One of the tiny Humu that are hiding near escape holes.

Kihikihi near a rock. So graceful.

 This Leaf Fish was stuck so close to its rock that I had a miserable time trying to take its photo.

 Yes, there's a small seal there, sleeping. On the left, just above that biggish rock.

Lizard fish, having buried itself in the sand.

And then it flipped around so it could see me better.

They run so quickly, it's sometimes hard to see where they go.

 The Saddle wrasse again. Until this picture, I hadn't noticed the pretty lines of purple on the tail and back. This is one of the more prevalent fish in the pond.

 Spotfin Scorpion Fish. 

The young seal again. I cropped out the people who were standing around looking at it.

Some of the immediacy gets lost when you write your post a few days later. I was tired but happy after this 2 hour swim. I told an Oahu friend that we were moving back; he said he would alert the octopuses. ha. Thank you for reading.