Saturday, June 27, 2009

Let's look around a little

 
A coral head, or in Australia, a Bommie.  Twenty four feet depth, 8m..

 
.A Blackbar Soldierfish.  Red?  Big eyes?  He swims up in the water column at night to eat shrimps and little fish that go up there to eat whatever they eat.  Big restaurant in the 'sky' at night, hey?
I think that's 'Ten Ray Star' coral above the fish, and to the right, that's Great Star coral, Montastraea cavernosa.  The little fish are little fish, ha!
What's that tiny red thing?  Up and right of the Christmas Tree Worm?
Another kind of worm, and with the only visible part the 'radioles', the 'net' used to catch food that floats by.  The green bit is Antler Algae, and most of the other stuff is different kinds of algae, plants.
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 Big battle going on here, for pace to grow, between the Mustard Hill coral, and the Symmetrical Brain coral.  The Grooved Brain corals on either side will be joining the fight in a year or so.  Maybe I'll come back on a schedule, every two months? to keep a visual record of who dominates.

The purplish stuff is an algae called Reef Cement.  It is very hard, calcarious, and cements dead corals together.  And it provides a surface for new little coral polyps to settle and begin growing.

 
.Looking closely at the 'nothing' between corals.  I see a little fish, and another fan worm.  Both on the right.

Good camoflage, hey?  You mostly see things because they move.  This tiny fish wags back and forth, then, seeing a morsel to eat, zips out to grab it, and is back in his hole in about one second.  Incredibly quickly.  Oh, this is a Secretary Blenny.  I don't know how this name happened!

OK, see you later!  Thanks for stopping by!
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