Category Archives: Marine Invertebrates

Isabelle’s Hermit Crabs

Lately, I’ve been taking photos of heads of coral to see what lurks within. In this instance, I thought I saw something down there and snapped a couple of photos. When I looked again, I thought, maybe that’s just dead coral.

It was only when I got home and zoomed in on the photos that I saw red in the bands on the legs of what proved to be Isabelle’s Hermit Crabs. According to my marine invertebrate book, this crab was unknown in Hawaii until 2003, meaning that it is a new arrival or has somehow been overlooked by previous researchers. The species only got a formal name in 1997, from a French zoologist, who named it after his wife.

The Numbers Game #74

A monument commemorating Ikua Purdy, a Hawaiian paniolo — This statue in Waimea celebrates the role of paniolos in the region. (Original post 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 195. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

A stick swimming crab in the waters off the Big Island, Hawaii — A fascinating, but rarely seen, Stick Swimming Crab. Original post here.

A fascinating, but rarely seen, Stick Swimming Crab. Original post here.

Saddle Wrasse

A cheerful-looking Saddle Wrasse swims over a patch of coral. One side of the coral head has long since died, but the other looks quite healthy and hosts an Arc-eye Hawkfish.

The Numbers Game #70

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 191. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

A small world

Tiny fish shelter in a tangle of lines in the waters off Hawaii

During a recent swim, I saw a small tangle of lines floating in the water. While I’m not a fan of debris ending up in the ocean, I know these kinds of thing can have a positive side, so I headed over to check it out.

While I liked the color and reflections of the scene, what I was looking for was whether this floating raft sheltered anything. I had to look closely, but saw a few tiny fish hiding in the lines. As I approached from one side, they disappeared to the other. We played this game for a while and I was able to get a few photos.

I don’t know what the fish were, but they were likely juveniles of one of the pelagic species. They were very small, a half to three quarters of an inch long. The clump of line itself was only 6 to 9 inches across. But such environments provide valuable shelter for a variety of tiny creatures. It was only when I looked at the photos that I noticed another one, the small orange crab on one of the lines.