Ghost Pipefish

Back to Macro - Back to Sandy Bottom

Diane, Liz, Marianne, Alan (an honest to goodness tourist!), and I dived Dan's Sandy Bottom this morning and found some terrific macro subjects. Among other creatures, we found this pipehorse and Doto with eggs.

SQUID REDUX

Squids Galore

David Dyer and I spent two and a half hours watching at least 100 squids at Bob's Rock on Sunday. It was all a bit overwhelming, so I tried to isolate a pair to observe. The larger male was intent on keeping his smaller female all to himself, oftentimes slipping between her and any potential mate that came close. The final photo below shows the two checking on a clutch of eggs laid inside the staghorn coral. This was definitely a day to remember.

Not the Pier

We tried to dive the Pier on Wednesday morning, but just was we arrived, so arrived the Pertamina fuel ship. And it's no fun being under the droning engine for the entire dive. We ventured down to Tasi Tolu instead and had a terrific dive.

Clarity

K41 was bustling today with divers, snorklers, and beach-combers. And we were all treated to calm, crystal-clear water.

Pertamina Pier

It was a quiet morning at the pier, but at least the security guards didn't throw us out. The pier seems to best just before dawn. I suspect we were a bit late in the day to catch the cool critters still out.

Inspiration for the Weekend

Mimic

Here's another shot of the mimic octupus we saw last Thursday. You may have to enlarge the photo to see it clearly, but I'm curious if this is a common mimic of a common undersea animal. Any guesses?

Holiday at K41

Thanks to Ron Sargent and All Saints Day for a great holiday at K41. Conditions were absolutely perfect! Below are a few highlights.

Lacy Scorpionfish in full color

The lacy scorpionfish was a bit cleaner today, revealing the full color of its body. I must have kept my focus on it for 10 minutes today, waiting for a good yawn. No luck.

Crusty Pipehorse

Where else? Tasi Tolu. We spotted this crusty Pipehorse, virtually indistinguishable from the surrounding branches, swaying in the current, scanning the bottom for tiny prey.

Lacy Scorpionfish

Diane and I spotted this lacy scorpionfish on Thursday night, but due to technical difficulties couldn't take a photograph. We went back to Tasi Tolu this morning and found it sitting near the fallen sponge coral. Under our flashlights and strobes, this individual appears to have a lavender tint, but underwater looks exactly like the green algae that makes Tasi Tolu such a great hiding place.

I did a quick search of UWET for other scorpionfish and was surprised to find that it's been over a year since our last spotting of a lacy.