This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Your 2022 Year-in-Review.’ See more responses here. Like last year, I’ve gone with a favorite photo from each month of 2021, with a caption and link to the post the photo first appeared in.
A little clump of weed, or some such thing, catches the light as it floats by.
Yellow Tangs nibble on coral heads on the steep slope down to deep water at Two Step, a popular snorkeling spot in South Kona.
At one of my regular snorkeling spots, there’s a spot I call The Eel Motel. It’s a little hole in the rock, which is often occupied by a small Whitemouth Moray Eel or Yellowhead Moray Eel. On this visit, the former was home.
In the top photo, the eel’s head is on the left and its tail on the right. Even though the eel has its mouth closed, the white tip to the tail is another sure identifier. I drifted above it, taking photos, while its head twisted back and forth keeping track of me.
The markings on these eels can vary quite a bit, one of which is a full spread of bold white spots, such as these.
These butterflyfishes are easily recognizable because of their distinctive black coloring. This one came over to check me out and, as most fish are wont to do, quickly got bored with me!
Yesterday, my wife and I hadn’t been in the water long when we saw large shapes ahead. There were two manta rays in fairly shallow water that was a bit churned up and cloudy. I took photos, but wasn’t optimistic they’d turn out in the conditions. The mantas swam away and we followed at a distance. There’s no point chasing mantas. Like most things in the water, they can put on a burst of speed that would leave us far behind.
The mantas didn’t go far before they curled around and came back towards us. The water was clearer in this area and sunlight illuminated them as they headed our way. The lead manta was quite a bit bigger than the other one, probably around a 14-foot wingspan. They passed close beneath us, then turned again, looped around and headed back. They did this back and forth three times before finally moving on.
Later, when I was coming back, I saw the big manta again. It was in deeper water that was more cloudy so I didn’t get photos, but I watched as it did a couple of loop de loops and some sharp banking and turning. It just seemed to be having a fun day in the ocean and in doing so, made it a fun day for us, too.
Recently, I’ve been seeing more Hawaiian Silversides, though not as many as in 2020. Still, there have been big enough schools of these little fish that sometimes I’ve found myself engulfed by them, zipping around in that wonderfully coordinated way that fish have.
I saw this scene almost immediately after getting in the water, the bright red catching my eye. At first I thought it was some kind of garish fishing lure, snagged in the rocks. Then I saw other details and figured it must be some kind of marine invertebrate and probably a molt.
When I got home, checked the photos, and consulted my marine invertebrates book, I realized it was the molt of a Red Reef Lobster. Its sensory hairs can clearly be seen on the claw. These lobster are active at night and so rarely seen, but they can live in shallow waters and they molt every 6 weeks or so.
I doubt I’ll ever see a live Red Reef Lobster, so this is probably as close as it gets.
Graham's Island 