Two crabs

There are many species of crabs living in Bonaire's coral reef habitats.  They vary widely in color, size, and shape.  Many crabs are more active foraging at night, and hide under ledges and in holes in reef structures, during the day.

The crab pictured above is a batwing coral crab.  It was about 5 inches wide.  This species is in the same family as the stone crabs of Florida, and has a very hard shell.

Above, is the yellowline arrow crab.  Compared to the batwing crab, the arrow crab is more of a delicate ballerina. The legs of this crab spread out about 5 inches, but the body was less than an inch wide.

Peacock flounder

This flounder is camouflaged to blend in with the sand.  Its stalked eyes stand out from the surrounding sand.  But the closer you look, the more color you see.  First you might see the faint blue ringed markings on the body. Gold spots on the eye stalks, and blue spots on the fins and head certainly do not look like sand.

This flounder was about 8 inches long, and the photos were taken at a depth of about 30 feet.  In all the photos, the flounder is facing to the left, and the mouth is below the eyes, to the left.

Super close-up for color detail around eyes

Honeycomb cowfish

This fish, a type of boxfish, is named for the honeycomb pattern across its body, and the sharp spines above the eyes that resemble cattle horns. They vary widely in color, ranging from blue hues to green and yellow. And they are able to rapidly darken or pale.

These fish were about 12 inches long, and the photos were taken at depths of 30 to 40 feet.

Check out the horns.

First turtle of the season

This morning, we encountered our first turtle of the season.  It was a small (10 to 12 inches) hawksbill turtle (the most common turtle in the Caribbean).  The entire time we watched, the turtle was preoccupied with feeding on something beneath a ledge.  Turtles often feed on sponges, so my guess is that the turtle was feeding on a small sponge, which was out of my view.

We were a few feet above the turtle, at a depth of about 45 feet.  These are not the most flattering photos, but at least they show the turtle doing whatever it wanted. I didn't see any tags on its flippers, so it hasn't been included in any of the official surveys yet.

Scrawled filefish

This morning, I encountered a scrawled filefish that I could approach without scaring.  Most often, I have chased after this species, but this kind fish stayed in one place long enough for me to take several photos.  This fish was about 18 inches long, and the photos were taken at about 35 feet deep.

Their coloration varies, and they can rapidly darken or turn pale, but they all have blue spots and lines, and black spots.  They look kind of out of focus because of all the scrawled markings.

The file, for which they are named is an elongated first dorsal spine.

File down

File down

File up

File up

The royalty of parrotfish

About a dozen species of parrotfish inhabit Bonaire's coral reef ecosystems.  They vary widely in size and color.  Only two species have royal names: the queen parrotfish (which can grow up to 2 feet long), and the princess parrotfish (which reaches about 12 inches in length).

Queen parrotfish at about 20 ft.

A close-up view of the parrot-like mouth of the same queen parrotfish

Princess parrotfish, photo also taken at about 20 ft.

Parrotfish scrape algae and coral polyps off rocks and coral reefs, with their beaks. As they feed, they also ingest bits of coral rock. Their tough digestive systems break the rock down into sand.

Animal, vegetable or mineral?

This is not always an easy question to answer underwater.  Many animals camouflage themselves in coral reef habitats.  Some are hiding from predators, and others are hiding from prey.  Hide and seek is an important part of coral reef ecology.

So, can you figure out what is featured in the first photo?

This color was with a flash.

The photo has been cropped and enhanced with red.  The eye is in the center.  The mouth is upper left.

This shot shows the whole animal.  The spotted scorpionfish (about 12 inches long) is upside down, facing left.  The banded tail is clearly visible to the right.

So the correct answer to today's question is an animal trying to look like vegetables and minerals.