Octopus anyone?

Today we had the fortune of encountering an octopus that was out and about. Most often, we catch glimpses of an octopus hiding inside a hole, with nothing more than a little bit peaking out, as is seen in the bottom photo. Today's octopus was out in the open, and after putting up with our observations for several minutes, it took off and swam to a lower position on the reef. They are really skilled at changing their coloration to blend in with their environment. The middle and top photo are of the same octopus with different surroundings.

A very lobster dive

Early in our dive today, I found a lobster shell, which a lobster had recently shed, to grow a larger shell. A friend came over, and picked it up, and proceeded to carry the shell throughout the dive, on top of her camera. We saw lots of interesting fish on the dive, but were truly amazed when a very large live lobster was spotted, deep inside a coral head.

Fairy basslets

Beautiful, bi-colored fish, fairy basslets are always a joy to see. They don't get much bigger than 3 inches, and are often seen swimming upside down, below ledges. They are fairly abundant in Bonaire, but not always easy to photograph. Their violet and yellow coloration perks up corals that sometimes appear drab, 50 feet below the surface. These little fish occur down to 200 feet, much deeper than I will ever go.

Hunt for a lionfish

Lionfish are invasive species that belong in the Indo-Pacific region, and were accidentally introduced into marine waters of the SE United States several years ago. Because they have no natural predators in the Atlantic and Caribbean, each year, since their introduction, they have spread deeper into the Caribbean. They are rather spectacular looking, however, they consume a large quantity of small reef fish that have no instincts to avoid lionfish. One account reported observing a lionfish corral and then eat 20 small wrasse. Consequently, local marine park officials are encouraging divers to mark the location of lionfish, and report them. And trained divers then attempt to capture and eradicate the lionfish. This afternoon, I went on a lionfish dive with 2 skilled divers, and lots of tools (nets, collection bag, gloves, instruments to poke them out of holes, etc). The location of this particular lionfish had 3 markers (corks on vinyl tape, attached nearby) indicating several other divers had seen and reported this fish. While the fish was out in the open for a short time, as soon as anyone tried to move a net towards it, the fish quickly moved deep into a very protected shelter under a coral head. We made several attempts to catch this fish, but did not succeed. So the lionfish still lives, but we are working on a new strategy to catch it.

Web cam on the reef

If any of you were watching Bonaire's reef web cam today at 3:30 (Bonaire time), that was me taking a photo of the web cam. It seems a little odd, but yes, at about 50 feet on one reef, a web cam is sending out underwater images to the world. In case you wonder what the fish think of this, they appear to like the cement pad that anchors the web cam. A bunch of goatfish were just hanging out on it when I passed by.

Why wrecks are interesting

Some divers are crazy about wrecks. They love diving on sunken ships, boats, planes, whatever! Wrecks that have been in the water a long time become sites where fish aggregate, and seek shelter. Sponges and other invertebrates settle on old hulls, and a community develops. These photos are from a small steel boat that is in about 95 feet of water. From a distance, everything looks kind of bluish. Close-up, when light is added, the colors become quite vibrant.

One reason to look closely at anemones

Anemones are lovely creatures on their own. However, lots of little shrimp live in and around anemones. Sometimes they are so small that they aren't easily visible. However, one of the anemone-living shrimp is brightly colored. It is the squat anemone shrimp (1/4 to 3/4 inches long). These are the best photos that I have of squat anemone shrimp.