Forgive me if I get any chicken/sausage taco on this post: I am eating and writing at the same time. I can offer the advice that it's better not to do that! (Especially since I at first typed TAKO instead of taco. ha.)
I did see 4 octopuses. So many, in fact, that I lost track of which one was where. But no matter, enjoy the pix:
You can easily see the siphon; the eye is a bit harder. Look to the left of the siphon. It's a slit that is kinda reddish. And you can see that there was sand in the water; I was on the deep side.
The natural coloration; the eye has small white lines radiating out from it. I don't think the octopus had really seen me yet.
And this octopus stayed near its red rock. Good identifier. On the deep side, I prayed that the spear fisherman would not spot the octopus that I did.
Octo-face. You can see both eyes.
Same octopus, but slightly different coloration. It, too, was hiding in a hole/den.
Previous photo, siphon open.
Following photo, siphon closed.
On to the frog fish:
It really just stays still. I don't know if they eat at night, but I've only ever seen this one holding this pose. I have heard, in answer to my wonder about why they apparently have holes in their skin, that some people think they are trying to emulate a sponge.
A Manini (Convict Tang) at a cleaning station.
An Abudefduf duo
More cleaning station action, with Manini and Bluefin Trevally
This poor Whitemouth Moray had been chased across the bottom by some fish.
I couldn't really tell what the shell was, but I could tell that it had a dark operculum closing its opening. Protective action. Since it was occupied, I put it back down.
Smallish Humu. See the possible juvenile coloration later in the post.
Juvenile Yellow Tail Coris (and the adult later.)
A heavily armored urchin, covered in coral and shells and rocks.
Angry octopus. Dark color.
Palms, clouds and moon.
Pencil urchin. Note the small re-growth in the bottom center of the animal.
Pinktail Durgon showing its spike.
And its yellow fins and pink tail..
You might wonder why I took this: note the tail in the middle of the photo. It belonged to.....
this pretty well hidden Scorpion Fish! This guy never moved a visible muscle while I was photographing it.
Fish ships passing. Christmas Wrasse and Ambon Puffer.
A white cone shell, which told me it had been in there for quite a while, since I don't know of any white cone shells. It also looks cemented shut. I didn't pick it up.
This is the possible young Humu. The colors seem a bit muted. I could easily be wrong.
Yellow Tail Coris adult. I am amazed at how many colors they have.
I am also amazed at the wonderful marine creations I get to see. Thanks for reading!
