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. The top photo was one of these and I thought, I must have run this before, but I hadn’t. It turned out to be a photo I’d processed, but neglected to move from my originals folder. Without The Numbers Game, I would never have found this!
This week’s number is 138. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
An Ember Parrotfish swims in the company of a pair of Convict Tangs and a Whitebar Surgeonfish, but it was the bouldered bottom that caught my eye here.
With some creatures, it’s easy to see how they got their names. The Orangeband Surgeonfish is one of those.
The Humpback Whale season is drawing to a close. This past week or so, I’ve seen the odd one here or there, but that’s it. Before that, we’ve enjoyed a prolific season with lots of whales and lots of activity from them. Alas, none of those things translated into the kind of whale photos I long to capture, but it was, as always, a pleasure to see them. Not just to see them actually. This year, while snorkeling, I heard more whale singing than I have in several years.
Now, they’re heading to their Alaskan feeding grounds. For the calves, this is a perilous journey. Collisions with boats and entanglement in drifting fishing gear is a danger for all whales, but especially juveniles. Then there are predators, such as Orca Whales, which prey on the calves. But those that make it are part of a growing population of Humpbacks, as they rebound from their perilously low numbers before protections were introduced.
On a recent swim I saw this Spotted Pufferfish milling about high in the water. Usually they disappear fairly quickly when approached, but this one didn’t and I was able to get this photo, with the fish’s spots illuminated by the sunlight.
I posted (here) about how one of the concrete barriers at Mahukona Beach Park ended up in the water after some high swells. I took this photo from the edge of the parking area. It got my usual editing, but no added effects. This is just how it looked.
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 134. Captions are on the photos.
You can see more responses here.
This Banded Urchin is one that actually looks like its name. The most common long-spined urchin here, it’s generally a uniform dull black. Long-spined urchins provide a refuge for small fish, such as the Bright-eye Damselfish seen scooting for cover here.
