On night dives, a number of species appear that are completely hidden during the day. Tube-dwelling anemones are nocturnal. At night, they extend their tentacles out of their tubes in the sand. If disturbed by a bright diver's light, they retract back into their tubes.
Lobsters forage at night. This spiny lobster was out on a sandy area near the reef.
The next photo is a mystery to me. I showed it to a local naturalist friend, and he didn't know what it was. Four arms were sticking out of the sand, something like an anemone, but the spine-covered arms were fewer and structurally quite different from anemone tentacles. My closest guess is a brittle star, with one arm and its central disc buried in the sand. Anyone knowing the identity of this animal, please post a comment, and I will add the ID to this post. The arms were about 3.5 inches long. All photos were taken at a depth of about 20 feet.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
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