More fun from Kali Biru- little shrimp looking for algae on one of Amy Tan's hands.
Muck and Suckers
Saturday, May 18, 2013
More fun from Kali Biru- little shrimp looking for algae on one of Amy Tan's hands.
Monday, October 22, 2012
These colors are real- if you were to swim up to this tube anemone today with your mask and snorkel, this is what you'd see. No flash, no Photoshop.
The tube anemone comes out of the sand, its tentacles bend with the surge, and somehow it catches and eats enough plankton to keep up with this rigorous schedule, grow, and mate. If you disturb it, faster than you can blink it withdraws into its sand-colored tube. The only way to see it is to move slowly and be patient.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
On
a night dive, unless it's a full moon or you've stirred up a storm of bioluminescence you can only see what's lit by the beam of your handheld light. The exciting stuff is at the distant edges of
that beam, where an animal might think you're just tossing around a little moonlight. Once they figure out you’re actually an enormous well-lit
spaceship that sounds like Darth Vader, they’re outta there. But sometimes you get lucky- in that moment
before you swim over a piece of coral, you notice its branches bend juust a little bit in the surge, it
raises bumps on its skin, and it has eyes. Before your brain can even process what you see, you
freeze, hoping to recognize the cuttlefish before it recognizes you.
For the animals that don't take flight--is it fright that keeps them there, or are they just sleeping? An interesting paper on sleep and possible REM in cuttlefish:
Monday, October 15, 2012
What a mug! This toadfish was not happy to have a dive light shining into his nursery. He was busy guarding his young in a dark and quiet cave under a coral head, one of many potential homes along a sandy slope off the island of Mutus (Raja Ampat, Indonesia, Nov 2010). His young were even less excited to be woken up. Look closely and you'll see they're all making tracks to the back of the cave, most of them leaving us with the ever-popular fish butt shot (cropped close up below).
Think of this scene if you hear people talking about temperate toadfish waking them up in the night.
![]() |
juvenile toadfish |
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Ok, you win. I'll write a blog. Now and then I'll post a pretty picture from a far flung place and add a little story, or some other spark of curiosity.
I'll start with this shot of sponges, tunicates, coral, hydroids, and algae. This scene is altered only by a point-and-shoot camera flash. It's one of many reasons why I'm a complete and total sucker for muck.
This photo was taken in Lembeh, Indonesia, May 2009. This spot was where "muck" diving was first popularized by an enthusiastic diver named Larry Smith. When everyone else was being wowed by coral reefs, he and his fellow pioneers found unassuming and altogether alien critters in the sandy bottom. They made stars of sucker-studded players like Wunderpus and the Mimic octopus. Sea squirts were suddenly charismatic. The closer you look, the more patient you are, the more beautiful muck can be.
I'll start with this shot of sponges, tunicates, coral, hydroids, and algae. This scene is altered only by a point-and-shoot camera flash. It's one of many reasons why I'm a complete and total sucker for muck.
This photo was taken in Lembeh, Indonesia, May 2009. This spot was where "muck" diving was first popularized by an enthusiastic diver named Larry Smith. When everyone else was being wowed by coral reefs, he and his fellow pioneers found unassuming and altogether alien critters in the sandy bottom. They made stars of sucker-studded players like Wunderpus and the Mimic octopus. Sea squirts were suddenly charismatic. The closer you look, the more patient you are, the more beautiful muck can be.
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