Three octopuses! But no frogfish

I have to admit, today the waves out where I last saw the frog fish intimidated me, so I didn't venture out quite far enough. Who likes being slapped by a wave?!

But I did see 3 octopuses, so very thankful for that.

The one following is a really good hider. It has found a nice spot to lurk. 

 The Saddle Wrasse seemed totally unaware of the octopus in the den nearby.

None of them came out to play, but that wasn't surprising. I did twinkle my gloved fingers at them, to no avail. I guess I'm happy they don't interact here, as there are those terrible people who would catch and eat them. I can't stomach the thought.






I also spotted a small Devil Scorpion Fish:

 The mouth is slightly agape in this one.

 Without the orange on the fin showing, you'd hardly know it was there.

 They do specialize in hiding. Often I don't see them unless they move.

 In the one below, the orange colored fin is on the top..the body, mouth and other fin are all the color of the bottom. Ambush predator.

It didn't like me hovering. Get over it!

 The Abudefduf swimming over the sand.

A couple of biggish Needlefish

 And the small blenny. Awwwww.

 Clouds and palms

 A cone shell covered in ocean goop, sitting on its wider part.

 Eel tail

A small honu resting in a little cove in the rocks underwater. 

 Lizard fish

 Money cowry

The moon and palm tree

 Pencil urchin and Brighteye Damsel fish

 The big guy cornet fish from the other day...this time, showing its plaid colors

And a turban shell between a rock and a hard place. I didn't touch it, but assume it was occupied.

 And a cowry, Cypraea Isabella. I actually looked it up! And I had to put it down on the bottom again, as I couldn't be sure it was empty.

Three octopuses, what a hit! I do hope the frog fish is still there when I next venture in. 

Frogfish on the hunt

Today, I saw no octo-fishes, but did see the Frog Fish!

I do get carried away with the little guy! You can see its eyes, feet, tail and some of its head. It is rather like the leaf fish, in that it puts its paws on either side on the rocks to hold itself steady. How could you not love these fish?!

The 4 spot Butterfly. It did have a mate, but they declined to stay close together, so separate pix for each one.

Strangely enough, this Abudefduf had a cloudy right eye. It's strange because we just last night watched an episode of The Aquarium and both sea lions had detached retina and they had to take our the eyes to avoid infection. Sad, but better to be alive! I'm curious as to what happens to make the retina detach. I don't know what ailed the Abudefduf, but hope it's not serious.

Banded Urchin. Note the 2 types of barbs.







Speaking of serious, the black banded wrasse was sparring with a female box fish, which was odd. I never see the Trunk or Box fish cause trouble. But this wrasse took care to get it going away.

 Blue Lined Butterfly. 

Blue spined Unicorn

 Male Christmas Wrasse with a bit of light.

 And very interesting clouds today. Loved the wispiness.

 Rock Mover Wrasse showing its clown face.

 Several layers of clouds

And of course must include palm trees for my sweetheart. Clouds in the background is a bonus.

 Cornet Fish hunting. It occurred to me that fish seem to be almost constantly hunting. Perhaps they sleep at night.

Somebody caught and ate this crab. The claws were all that remained.

 If you look carefully, you can see the green spotted fish hiding in the coral. Still haven't been able to see it well enough to know what the fish is.

 Female Christmas Wrasse.

A honu swam by me.

 And two slept on the beach. Someone had kindly marked off their territory, so that was nice.

 Horn shell. I thought it occupied, so I didn't bother to pick it up.

Sergeant Major, I think.

 Papa box fish.

Pencil Urchins. They always stand out against the grayish-greenish rocks.

 Sergeant Major as a tiny little thing.

 I saw plenty of eel tails. This one was well hidden and the face was never evident on this Snowflake Moray.

The U for Sesame Street!

 Supermale Christmas Wrasse

 This poor urchin had completely loaded itself down with rocks for protection.

White spotted toby

 A bit of a Zebra Moray. It hid underneath the rock, so I never saw its full length.

I did try to spot octopuses, but am happy with what I did see. I gave a shout out to God when I saw the frog fish!