Suspended at Sandy Bottom - UPDATED

Here's the response from Bill Rudman at the Sea Slug Forum.

Suspended at Sandy Bottom

We went to Sandy Bottom today after a long absence and found this phyllodesmium trapped inside a mucus membrane along with its eggs.

Another photo you really have to enlarge.

Allied Cowry

Prosimnia semperi

Frogfish at K41

Eggs on the Saw Blade

Today we went to visit the Saw Blade Shrimp that Diane found last week at K41. And to our delight, the shrimp now has loads of eggs!

It's really worth enlarging the second photo.

New Species Name

The Sea Slug Forum has named one of our unidentified species.

Trapania miltabrancha

























The species name miltabrancha is based on the Greek words for 'red gill' because Gosliner & Fahey, who have recently "described" the Trapania, consider the species to have 'pale red gill leaves'.

Here's the Original Submission to the Sea Slug Forum


Unidentified Trapania from Tulamben
February 28, 2007
From: Brian Francisco>

Diane's Greatest Find Ever

Diane has been combing black corals in Timor for four years looking for Saw Blade Shrimp (Tozeuma armatum). The Tozeuma is found exclusively on black coral, but as you can see, their camouflage is spectacular and they are very good at rotating around the coral branch, hiding from view.

New Nudi

This is a new nudi to us. We'll send it to the Sea Slug Forum for an identification. If anybody knows the species name, please drop us a line.

Xenocrab

Xenocrabs are more commonly found on whip corals, and usually below 20 meters from our experience. This xeno was found on a gorgonian black coral at 16 meters at K41. Notice that the xeno has decorated himself with little polyps from the gorgonian.

ONE THOUSAND DAYS !

Today is the 1000th day of UWET on the net. Here's a small tribute to UWET we found this morning at Tasi Tolu

Cuthona kanga feeding on a hydroid

Mr. Clean

Sneaky Pete

Actually, this is a photo of a ghost shrimp taken at Dili Rock yesterday, about 6mm.

Independence Day Dive

For those of you familiar with Tasi Tolu, this stonefish was laying under the collapsed barrel sponge. Feel free to click on the photo to enlarge it, but it still ain't pretty.














And this nudibranch, possibly some type of Scyllaea or Notobryon, was our reward for getting out to Dili Rock at 5:00am.

Take the Money and Run

This harlequin shrimp is to determined to run away with his prized starfish. The starfish, however, seems to be keen on sticking around a bit longer.

Whip Coral World

Attachments

Razor Shrimpfish

Click on the image to enlarge.

K41 and One Tree Sunday

Dawn Dive at Dili Rock

Lilach, Gustavo and I hit Dili Rock this morning. Although the reef was still fairly silty and grey, the water was cool and clear.

Ceratosoma alleni

Diane spotted this Ceratosoma alleni at Maubara on Sunday. If this is indeed C. alleni, it may be one of the first sitings outside the Philippines. Check out the Sea Slug Forum's factsheet.

Cristo Rei

We found protection from the weather at Cristo Rei on Sunday.

Bubble Beach Baby

Back in the Water

Diane and I finally got back in the water yesterday!!!





















Check out the little white and red isopods on the body of this brittle star. They must be about 1mm!






















Diane spotted this shy little estuary seahorse at about 7 meters. We spotted a total of six seahorses on the dive.

Weather

Timor is in the midst of yet another la nina low pressure system. The rain and wind has turned the sea near our favorite dive site into chocolate milk. And we are expecting the bad weather to continue for at least the next two weeks. Hopefully the conditions will improve after that and we can get back to some serious diving.

Little Yellow Frogfish

NICK!!! I had to reach far back into the archives for this one.

Hopefully dive conditions will improve soon.

Just a few photos