The Seven-eleven Crab (Carpilius maculatus), is easier to identify than it is to see. That’s because it’s mostly active at night. This one was probably on its way to its daytime resting spot when I saw it. It gets its name from the prominent red spots on its shell, two behind each eye and three on the back, with the other four generally less visible along the rear, though two of those are clear in this photo.
Posted for Becky’s Squares: Seven. See more responses here.
The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 158. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
Also, seven photos posted for Becky’s Squares: Seven. See more responses here.
Yesterday, in the water, I saw these three Spotted Eagle Rays heading my way. They were on the smaller side, but all in excellent condition, except for the slightly larger one that had lost much of its tail. The three made several languid loops around my wife and I before they finally eased away into shallower water.
The second photo gives a good view of the ray’s spiracles. They have one on each side, just above and behind the eye. These openings allow them to pass water through to the gills, even when they are digging for prey and churning up a lot of sand.
This sign has been in place, near the Old Coastguard Station in North Kohala, since I moved here. That was 12 years ago. But the sign was put in place six years earlier than that, after an earthquake caused the cliff, traversed by the trail, to slide into the sea.
The trail is the Ala Kahakai trail, a modern rendition of the network of trails used by the early Hawaiians. 175 miles long, it stretches from the northern tip of the island, down the west coast, and along the south coast through Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. Segments of the trail are open to the public; other parts cross private property and are not yet accessible.
This ‘temporarily closed’ segment crosses the cliff frontage of a gated community. Rerouting the trail will require the cooperation of community residents impacted by moving the trail. This hasn’t happened yet.
I reckon the most likely change in this situation, that I might see in my lifetime, is that the sign will fall down. Replacing it could take several years!
The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 156. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
A Giant Porcupinefish waits patiently while a Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse gets to work. Cleaner wrasses remove dead tissue, parasites and mucus from fish of all sizes that visit their cleaning stations. Watch out for those spines!
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Reunited.’ See more responses here.
Just the one this week, a skydiver about to be reunited with solid land, hopefully not too abruptly.
On a recent swim, I saw this Peppered Moray Eel zipping towards me in fairly shallow water. My response was to start taking photos. The eel’s response was to stop dead, raise its head up, and give me a decidedly unimpressed look.
We held our positions for a short while and then I edged off to one side and the eel did the same, before deciding enough was enough and scooting to sanctuary under a large rock.
Graham's Island 