Sandy things

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Well, more blue pictures.  I went back to see if I could find yesterday's Super Stars, but alas, no success.  I did find one little fellow peeping out of a burrow, but I didn't stay nearby long enough for him to come out.
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My, my, such a big eye!













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Here 'he' is again, down in front, middle.  Not the same critter as the two Garden Eels in at the top of the photo.  Garden eels always come back out of their burrows as I get farther away, but this fellow didn't.
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Hey, maybe this guy is a nocturnal feeder, meaning that he doesn't come out until after dark.  I've not noticed this creature before, and this dive was very late in the afternoon, the sun had just set as I got out of the water.  A little mystery fish for me.
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OK, so here are some photos of the 'teasers' from yesterday's post.  First is a Shortnosed Batfish.
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  The book says their 'nose' gets shorter as they age.  So since this fellow's nose is furry, he must be a teenager.  After I took this picture, I backed off, and got down close to the sand.  Then I ever so slowly approached again, taking photos all along.

The fish started ?? standing up a little bit, so this mug shot, cropped from a much larger image, is as close as I got.  I didn't want to make him run away from me.
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Amazing face.  Grouchy looking, but just functional.  These fish will not eat if put in an aquarium, so you'll only see one diving.  Or, you shouldn't see one in an aquarium.

Oh, what a face.






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Something over there moved!
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On the side of the "volcano", which is sand expelled by some sort of worm that digs around under the sand.  A Biologist once told me that she was studying these worms, and that to dig the worm out of the sand is really difficult because they move so fast, and burrow away so fast that they're really hard to catch.

So what I saw might be something else, burrowing into the soft sand.

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And, yes.  Just who I've been seeking, a Shamefaced Box Crab.  A really big one, four or five inches, 12cm.








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I took four images, and actually lucked out, one was sort of in focus.  So here's his funny little face. "Oh No!" 

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 I just had to mess with him, there's my wrist at the bottom of the picture as I very slowly dug under the crab.

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And, yes, up he jumped, and off he went.  They're so funny when they're skittering along.  There's the boxy body that's stiff and unmoving, with all the little legs underneath wiggling along.

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I followed slowly, he just wasn't very afraid.  They're normally very shy, and burrow out of sight.

Finally I got this shot, but bleahhh!!!  The camera was looking on past the crab!  Besides forgetting to put the settings on underwater, I hadn't realized that I was close enough to have the camrea set on close-up.

Sigh.  Underwater photography is so frustrating.

But you get the idea, right?  Oh, my.  I haven't applied to National Geographic Magazine yet.  Maybe next year.

Thanks for stopping by!  See you tomorrow!

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