Lettuce and cucumber

Sounds like a salad right?  Of course, I'm posting photos of sea life, so the lettuce becomes the lettuce sea slug and the cucumber becomes the three-rowed sea cucumber.

This morning, I found this lettuce sea slug crawling on a dead coral structure at a depth of about 20 feet.  It was a little over an inch long.  From a distance, they are easy to overlook.  However, up close, they are delicate little organisms.

 

The lettuce sea slug is heading down in this photo

The two tentacles stick out ahead of the body

It turned around, and is now heading up the coral rock

The elaborate skin ruffles are used to absorb oxygen through the skin

The three-rowed sea cucumber is quite a bit larger than the lettuce sea slug.  This one was about 10 inches long.  They don't move very fast and aren't much of a challenge to locate or photograph.  This photo was taken at a depth of about 20 feet.  It is heading towards the right.

Web burrfish

This morning, early in our dive, I found a web burrfish.  This fish is uncommon, both in sheer numbers and in its appearance.  It is a member of the porcupinefish family, which you might guess based on its spines. 

This fish was about 8 inches long, and was seen at a depth of about 30 feet.

I tried to move in front of it, to take a photo from the front, but it kept turning away from me.

Fish is heading to the upper right, note the eye

Side view, fish is heading to the upper right

Top view -- fish is heading towards the top of the photo

Hawksbill turtle

On several dives this season, we have encountered a hawksbill turtle.  Over the years, we have seen many more hawksbill turtles than green turtles.  As you might guess, the name is derived from the shape of their overhanging upper beak, which resembles a hawk's bill.  Additionally, the edges of their rear border plates are serrated.

These photos were taken at the same site, a week apart, but quite likely are all the same turtle.  It was over 2 feet long, and the photos were taken at depths of 20 to 40 feet.

Eating a sponge

Note the bill

Swimming past a rope sponge

And of course, they are reptiles and need to surface for air

Sharpnose puffer

This morning, as we were getting into the water to dive, we encountered a recruitment pulse of sharpnose puffers.  The early juveniles were clustered around some extra rope beneath a fishing boat's mooring lines, in about 5 feet of water.  They were about a half inch long, but rather chunky, and dark, so they were easy to see.  However, they were hard to photograph as they were moving around.  I'm guessing that there were at least 40 or 50 of these tiny fish hanging around the ropes.

Each dark spot is an early juvenile, please pardon the lack of focus.

A close up of a tiny early juvenile, note the blue markings

Adult puffer at about 35 feet

An adult puffer, about 3 inches long

An adult, frontal view

Lionfish

In our third week of diving, today we encountered our first lionfish of the season.  The lionfish is an invasive species (from the Indo-Pacific region) that has rapidly spread through the Caribbean. Last year we saw lionfish much more often.  The decrease in population is likely attributed to a corps of dedicated lionfish hunters that remove them from the reefs.  This definitely doesn't eliminate their presence, as they are capable of breeding and living in water deeper than safe diving limits.  However, it gives other species a chance to live on the reef with a significant reduction in predation from lionfish.

We went from zero lionfish to two in 2 seconds, as we encountered a pair of sizable lionfish (10 to 12 inches long).  However, this morning, we reported the location of our sighting (at 50 feet), and were told that a trained lionfish-hunting diver would probably go out and dispatch them at noon.  As this species doesn't belong on the reef, it is the only species that divers are allowed to hunt.  And they taste good.  Dining on them is the ultimate revenge of the local diving population.

Two lionfish: center, and lower left

They are quite elaborate

A view from above, with the fins flared out

A look at the face of a lionfish

Redlip blenny

If ever a fish looked as though it had just stepped out of a salon, this is the fish.  Named for its red lips, this blenny has small, fleshy appendages above its eyes.  They look something like eyelashes, which fish do not have, but add to the pretty face of this fish. Variations of the redlip blenny are dark reddish brown, gray, and the bicolor version, seen in these photos.

Redlip blennies are small.  These were about 3 inches long.  They occur in relatively shallow water (the photos below were taken at a depth of about 10 feet).  They perch atop reef structures, and defend their territories.

Tarpon

Tarpon are the biggest fish that we regularly encounter on our dives.  We often see fish that are 5 feet long, and we sometimes see tarpon that are closer to 6 feet.  Silvery in appearance, tarpon have very large scales that reflect light.  They pay little attention to calm divers, and often swim quite close to us.

They range from near the bottom of the reef to very shallow water.  At one of our favorite dive sites, local fishermen moor their wooden boats in shallow water, and clean their catch, throwing offal overboard.  The tarpon regularly swim under the small boats, looking for an easy meal.

On night dives, tarpon can be quite annoying, feasting on prey that have been illuminated by a diver's light.

Octopus

On the reef, the octopus is the ultimate shape shifter and chameleon of colors.  And they do it so rapidly.  Here are some photos from today at about 30 feet.

Sea urchins of the night

Last night, we made a night dive.  There is definitely a different group of animals out and about at night compared to the daytime.  The bodies of these urchins were 2 to 3 inches.  The spines ranged from less than an inch to over 4 inches.  All photos were taken at depths of 25 feet or less.

I'm guessing that this is a variegated urchin

Long-spined urchin

Slate-pencil urchin

Long-spined urchin?

Changing color

Many of the reef fish that we encounter change color patterns over the course of their development.  And many species are capable of changing color almost instantaneously.

An example of a quick-color-change fish is the scrawled filefish.  Generally, their color has been described as ranging from pale gray to tan to olive brown. They are covered with bluish spots, black dots, and irregular lines.

This fish grows to over 2 feet long,  although the ones in the photos were just over 1 foot long. The photos were taken at depths of 40 feet or less.

 The next two photos were taken of the same individual about 5 seconds apart.  It was well camouflaged in the first photo, but blanched for the second.  Note its file (the elongated first dorsal spine) is elevated in both photos.

Patch reefs

Patch reefs are structures that are separate from major coral reefs.  Here, we encounter them on sandy or rubble substrates.  They provide refuge for lots of juvenile fishes that have recently settled.  When no predators are around, the little fish radiate out from the patch reef, to feed.  However, when a predator swims by, the little fish rapidly contract their range, and stay close to the reef structure.

Most of the fish using this patch reef are juvenile French grunt, also a few brown chromis are present.

Smooth trunkfish

We often see smooth trunkfish swimming above the reef or over sand.  They are members of the boxfish family.  As adults (up to 10 inches), their cross-section is rather triangular, with a broad flat base.  But younger stages appear almost spherical.  We enjoy locating the smallest ones, and watching them grow.

These photos were taken at depths of 20 to 30 feet.

Pea-sized, facing to the right, fins and tail practically invisible

Walnut-sized, facing to the left, tail wrapped around body

Softball-sized, with tail clearly visible