Starvation

.

OK, choose my shell.  The little crab in that huge, to him, shell must be starving to death, literally.  I'll chop some food, I have some frozen calamari, and stuff the shell, and take it to the crab.  I am silly, yes, I know.






.
.

OK, there's the bit of reef, a bommie the Australians would call it.

Garden Eels down in front, looking like bits of waving wire.  They face into the gentle current, catching bites of food floating by.  I don't know what.  Eelie hamburgers.  ha




.
.

I turn up the big shell that the crab is in, an ancient Milk Conch that passed away.  The conch shell must weigh half a kilo, a pound.  The crab couldn't weigh 5% of that.

I set the Whelk shell, stuffed with the food, so that Crabbie could go get a meal, and hopefully come to his senses and move in to the smaller shell that he could move around in.

The fish are saying, "Food! Food? Food!  We smell it, where is it?  Food!  Food??"
.
..

Tug, I'd decided to move the show to the coral, out of the open sand.  "Oh, no you don't!" said Crabbie, he was really strong, holding his bounty.

His claw and legs should be a dark purplish brown, with white speckles, but digging in the sand, seeking the food that wasn't there, and maybe even trying to move that gigantic shell, he's worn off his colors.  Skin?

.

Nestled in a crevas.  But then much too visible, I don't want a strange Bubbling Monster to do any shell collecting!  And lurking around there was a Graysby fish, maybe big enough to steal the Whelk shell and Crabbie's food.






.
.

OK, there.  I hope to go back this afternoon, and find the conch shell sitting there, and the little whelk shell gone away, taken by Crabbie happily into the sunset to live happily ever after.

If not?  Groan, I'll have some more food.  Owell, silly me.  This is how I play.  No casinos or card games for me.
.
.
.
OK!  Thanks for stopping by!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Speechless again!.

.

Damselfish.  Trying to decide if the Big Bubbling Monster needs to be bitten.











.
.

Blackbar Soldierfish, trying to decide if they should run and hide.  They did.











.
.

Elkhorn Coral.  Meditating.












.
.

Brain Coral, trying to look like a loaf of bread.  Spiny Urchin trying to hide, but I see him.











.
.

Sea Fans waving in the gentle surge, enjoying the company of an attentive Brain Coral.












.
.

Pillar Coral, playing with his fish, Black Durgons.











.
.
,
Thanks for stopping by, I'll find some wordiness for you again soon.
.

Some scenery, about 45 feet deep, 14m.











.
.

How about that?  A right brained post!  No words!  I have company that's keeping me busy, better posts to come!  Thanks for stopping by!
.

Predators

.

Definitely a preditor, and he has his eye on something, a Barracuda.  Massively strong, see how thick his body is, all muscle.  When they hunt, they settle to near the bottom, and dress up in camouflage colors.  They don't move until the time is right, and then they charge forward with such a lightning strike that you cannot see them go, they simply disappear.  Hard to believe unless you've seen it happen.  No, they don't zip away, they are simply there, then they are not there.
.

Two more predators, but only frightening to a critter one millimeter big!  A Goldspot Goby in front, and a Bridaled Goby in back.  Funny how they sit on the bottom.  You normally think of fish as swimming around.





.
.

And a mix of critters that eat.  I guess anything is a predator if it eats!











.
.

Must a predator move around in order to eat?  This purple bush-looking thing is an animal, a coral, a 'colony' for lack of a better word, of polyps functioning as one individual.  A Sea Whip of some sort, I'd have to memorize the descriptions and look closely, or be lucky and get clear close up photos.  The polyps extend from the edges of the flat blades of the branches.  for food, they grab whatever they can that floats close enough.

Animals that look like bushes and trees, but are slow growing and so delicate that a slight touch by a human can cause injury.  This one could be forty years old, or more.

Oboy, Have fun when you can!  Thanks for stopping by!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

fishy Monday

.

Some fish today,  a Redband Parrotfish chomping at the -- whatever they chomp.  You can actually hear their teeth grinding the coral rock, which is soft calcium carbonate.







.
.

A pair of Banded Butterflyfish.  They generally go around in pairs.











.

One of the tiny jewels of the reef, a Fairy Basslet.  about an inch long, 2cm.  They orient themselves to the surface they're near.  If they are under a ledge, they're upside down!  But that's right side up for them.  I would get dizzy.









.
.

Another view of the same fish, now headed up, he's on a verticle surface.   I really don't know what's right side up for him!

Oh, my, all for today!  Thanks for stopping by!









~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.

.

Gallery

Just some random photos today.
.

Ha, I was going to call this guy a plain brain, but the book says it's a Symmetrical Brain coral, Diploria strigosa.  OK.  Kind of a lot of silt around the bottom.  Not a funny looking rock, a 'colony' of hundreds of tiny animals, on the surface of their skeleton laid down under their bodies.  They are kind of like a living rug on the surface.  Sometimes people say that polyps can hide down in their little holes, but that is not true.


.

Dee-ah-Demma.  Or usually called Spiny Urchin.  These spines can penetrate and sometimes cause humans problems when the human blunders into the poor little boogie and breaks his spines, causing injury and much dismay to all involved!   Fire coral in the background, best to stay away from that stuff, too.  But remember, these things cannot chase you.
.
.

These are called Sea Rods, I thimmk.  Pretty.












.
.

Ah, and my favorite, a Sea Plume.  I was once lucky to snorkel a little bay on the Venezuelan island Blanquilla.  There were hundreds of these there, and they must have been fifteen feet tall!  I've SO wished to go back there on a dive boat!  Looking down from the surface is just not the same.  This Sea Plume is about six feet, 2m, tall.



.
.

Blurry female Bluehead Wrasses, in front od a sponge.  They swim so fast, difficult to get good focus.











.
.

Like many other fish, and some insects, these Wrasses are born all females.  As they grow, they stay in loose schools, and after a while, the biggest one changes into a male.  This is a teenage boy, I guess.
.
One insect that's born all female is the Aphid.  In the spring, for the first fifteen generations!  No wonder they take over your garden so quickly!  Males are born in late summer for egg making.

.

Here, for sure, is the "Terminal" male Bluehead.  They swim by sculling their pectoral fins, not flapping their tail or wriggling their whole body.  They seem to be a little 'negatively bouyant', they sink, because they bob up and down slightly with each stroke.  They really go fast.  When this fish is eaten, or something happens to him anyway, one of the females will change sex and color to replace him.
.
.Ah, Thanks forstopping by!
.

Crazy

This is crazy, I cannot answer a comment, meaning I cannot comment on my own blog, signed in even!  Here's my comment, grrr.
.
So,  Laurel,
 .
Yes,Thank you for the compliment!
.
For me, reading is escapism.  I just about cannot put a book down until I've finished, even though I usually read non-fiction, history, travel and personal accounts.
.
I certainly am paralyzed while reading!  And am not painting or taking care of day-to-day Life while I'm reading.  And most time spent on the Internet counts as reading.
.
Once, I found out that if I have a room painted white, with nothing in it but a chair, and I spend time just sitting there, then I become more creative and productive.  This room I'm in right now has an old black and white checkered floor, ugh, and lots of clutter.  Maybe that's why I'm not painting any lately!  Plus some other things are going on.
.
Dreaming is fine.  Try, sometimes, to have a sketchbook in front of you.  Hmmm.
.
OK, once again, thanks for the compliment, and for commenting!
.
(Posted by Melissa, not Anonymous, I and others have been having troubles posting comments here.  ???)  Rather----not posted as a comment!!  grrr!

What today??

.

Some shallow scenery.  Fire corals, and a purplish sponge, and the little yellow Wrasses zooming around.  A Damselfish in the corner.  The willow-looking tree in the background is an old Gorgonian coral.  Hum, not a tree, will I ever get used to that?





.
.

Closer upper.  The two Wrasses over on the side look like they're talking to each other.  Damselfish rushing for cover.  Another Wrass sponge diving.











.

More Wrasses, checking out the Tube Sponges.  Zoom they go!











.
.

They're looking at me!  The coral lump is one of my landmarks when I'm paddling around Cane Bay.  Some spots on it survived the bleaching in 2005.  It's about 4 feet tall?  a little over a meter.








.

A little lump, several years, or more, old.  About the size of a bowling ball. 









.
.

It's called Elliptical Star Coral.  Here I go again, pretty polyps!  Bumping and jiggling against each other in slow, slow motion.








.
,

Another lump, a Mustard Hill Coral.  About the same size as the Elliptical guy.

 

  
These 'mustard' polyps are teenie tiny!  Hum, I didn't get the color quite right.  More magenta and less cyan next time!

 .
Oh dear, a mob of Bubbling Monsters!  I'll go the other way.  I feel OK about diving alone for a lot of reasons.  I've dived Cane Bay for twenty years, hunderds of dives.  The sea is warm and gentle, most of the time.  I don't dive when it's at all rough.  I trust my gear.  I used to lead introductory dives here, hearding around six beginners, who was my buddy??  Yipes!

OK, so here I go!  Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

.