End of the season in Bonaire

Thanks for joining me underwater this season in Bonaire. Time to get out of the water and fly off to the states.

Flamingos

We are flying out tomorrow.

Parakeets

Here are a few parting shots that didn't get posted, but are worth a quick peek.

Yellowhead wrasse

Sharpnose puffer

Blue chromis

Turtles

This year, we have occasionally encountered turtles on our dives, and all of them have been hawksbill turtles.  They have been one to two feet in length, and most often we encounter them no deeper than 40 feet. They are interesting to follow, and watch as they feed on sponges that don't look very appetizing. They don't mind divers, if the divers give them space.

 

Remember, turtles are reptiles, and they need to breath air at the surface.  We occasionally see them going up for air, like the one below.

Viva la French fish!

We have two French fish down here, the French grunt, and the French angelfish.  Sorry, but I don't know why either was named French.

French grunt are about the same size as smallmouth grunt (6 to 10 inches), and are easy to distinguish, because the yellow stripes below their lateral line run diagonally, instead of horizontal.  During the day, we encounter small schools of them milling around shady areas of the reef.

French angelfish are about the size of queen angelfish (10 to 14 inches).  As juveniles, they are striped and act as cleaners.  As adults, they lose the stripes and are elegant looking. We often see pairs of them feeding on sponges. Top photo is a juvenile, next photo is an intermediate phase French angelfish. Bottom two photos are adults.

A pair of predators

It's not unusual to find predators on the reef.  But today, we found 2 in close proximity, at about 50 feet.  That made for an interesting photo.

First, the two-toned longlure frogfish.  It is an ambush predator, and lures prey in, using its lure appendage.

Second, the spotted moray. It is a pursuit predator, and feeds mostly at night.

The frogfish in the foreground, and the moray behind.

Sea slug

On our morning dive, we encountered a lettuce sea slug.  It was less than an inch long, in about 10 feet of water.  Their color helps them blend in with algae, which they eat.  Sea slugs absorb oxygen through their skin.  The ruffles on the back provide more surface area for oxygen absorption. The head end can be recognized by the pair of tentacles that look something like rolled paper.

In all these photos, the head is on the left side.  Now that you know what they look like, see if you can find the lettuce sea slug below.

Smallmouth grunt

As you might guess, the grunt family is named for a sound that they produce.  This sound begins with teeth grinding deep inside the throat, and is then amplified by the air bladder.  They certainly don't grunt all the time. I don't think that I have ever heard it.

Several species of grunt occur in Bonaire.  The smallmouth grunt is one of the 2 most abundant grunt species, here. During the day, we often see large numbers of them milling around in reef shadows.  Most of the ones we encounter are between 6 and 8 inches, but we also see juvenile stages that are much smaller (about 2 inches), often in shallow water over fire coral reefs.