I had just jumped in the water and submerged my head when I saw something move. The fish immediately plopped down by a rock but I’d already recognized the distinctive shape of a devil scorpionfish. I hung around for a short while hoping it would spread its pectoral fins in its distinctive display, but it never did. The second photo, which has run on the blog before, shows what I was looking for.
A couple of days ago, I was snorkeling when I saw this enormous fish. I snapped a quick photo, fearful that the fish would quickly disappear. But it stuck around for a minute or two, passing back and forth in front of me, before sliding away into deeper water.
I knew it was a jack, but not one I’d seen before. When I got home, I dove into my fish book and figured out this was a giant trevally. According to my fish book, the giant trevally is the largest of the jack family. The biggest recorded catch is one that weighed 191 pounds. That would be heavier than me! That’s a tad worrisome because my fish book also notes that these curious and fearless fish ‘have been known to grab and rip away divers’ bright snorkel tips and colorful fins.’
This one was smaller than that, probably somewhere between three and four feet long, but comfortably the largest jack I’ve ever seen and probably the largest fish I’ve seen of any kind other than rays and sharks.
My fish book notes that the large-spotted snake moray eel can be encountered both day and night, but is not often seen. That’s true in my experience. This is only the second one I’ve seen here and the first I’ve photographed.
Yesterday I posted a photo of a crown-of-thorns star, with a few rock-boring urchins in it. Today’s post shows one example of the channels left by these urchins. This image initially looked like a brain to me, but then I began to see more of a tree in it.
Posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Past Squares – Spiky/Lines.’ See more responses here.
I saw this crown-of-thorns star working its way across the rocks in shallow water. Those spiky spines are venomous so this is not something to handle. Also visible in this photo are some equally spiky, though not poisonous, rock-boring urchins
Posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Past Squares – Spiky.’ See more responses here.
A few days ago, returning from a swim, I ran into this little eagle ray not far from shore. It’s probably the smallest one I’ve seen, with a wingspan of not more than two feet. But what really jumped out at me was it’s small beak, long tail, and clear white eyes. I hadn’t seen eyes like that before.
The ray looked in very good shape, which is always good to see. Some of them look like they’ve been in the wars. Like most rays, eagle rays have poisonous spines at the base of their tail so, as with most things in the water, it’s best to look but don’t touch.
Posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Past Squares – Spiky.’ See more responses here.
I was getting close to the ladder where I get out after a swim, when two large bluefin trevallies went by. One swam off, but the other one turned around and to check me out and I snapped this one photo in murky water.
I was happy how it cleaned up and how it caught the fish’s curiosity and it’s sparkling blue markings.
Posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Past Squares – Blue.’ See more responses here.
According to my marine invertebrates book, collector urchins (Tripneustes gratilla) gather algae, shells, and other material on their spines. Why they do this is not entirely clear. It might be for disguise, protection from the light, or even to store food. These urchins are quite common in the shallows and their adornments are many and varied.
Posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Past Squares – Spiky.’ See more responses here.
Graham's Island 