This is the smallest Flowery Flounder I’ve seen while snorkeling. It was probably about 3 inches long. The only reason I saw it was because it was moving for just a moment before it settled down.
If you can’t see it in the top photo, the cropped version should help.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Double Trouble.’ See more responses here.
A pair of juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons spell trouble for small fish living in the pool behind Pelekane Beach in Kawaihae.
Giant Porcupinefish can inflate themselves into a ball. When they do so, long spines along the back become raised and stick out, making them an extremely unpleasant proposition for any predator. Oh, and they’re poisonous, too. Trouble, indeed.
Spotted Eagle Rays hunt for molluscs and other creatures hiding in the sand. They root out prey with their duck-like bills.
Wild pigs can dig up a garden in no time, searching for worms and the like, but they go bananas over fallen fruit. These two were slurping down fallen mangoes.
This cow looked very suspicious of these cattle egrets, especially the one on its back. But they weren’t up to any trouble, just waiting for the cow to start grazing again and stir up some insects for them.
The Gold Dust Day Gecko on the left isn’t licking the paint. He’s sticking out his tongue and leaning to make his body look bigger in a challenge to the other gecko. The other one was singularly unimpressed and chased off his adversary.
When I was snorkeling a couple of days ago, I came across this green turtle coming up for air. It took a breath and then curled down into deeper waters at a leisurely pace, before disappearing under a ledge.
… Christmas Wrasse, that is, this one swimming past a ledge occupied by blue-black urchins.
On a recent swim, I saw this shoal of fish, mostly comprising of Whitebar Surgeonfishes, heading off on its morning business.
The Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge theme is ‘Blue.’ See more responses here. After sorting through some photos, I found a cluster of abstract blues that I like so here they are.
On my last swim, I saw this Wedgetail Triggerfish slip into this crevice in the rocks. I thought it might have disappeared, but there it was, wedged in, side on. It might have been protecting eggs laid in there or just waiting for me to move on!
This fish is also known as the Picasso Triggerfish. In Hawaiian, it’s called humuhumu-nukunuku-ā-pua-a and it’s the official state fish.
Posted for Bushboy’s Last on the Card photo challenge. See more responses here.
I don’t see Spotted Eagle Rays as often as I used to, but that’s true of many creatures that live in the ocean around here. This one went skimming by a small school of Yellow Tangs and out into deeper water. Happily, it looked in excellent condition with a beautiful array of white spots on its wings.
Graham's Island 