Longspine Squirrelfish and friends

Hum, I wanted the squirrelfish first, still learning! Blogging, you put first things last! And I have no idea how the photos came out side-by-side in the post below. Owell!

OK, when a Squirrelfish is hanging out above the reef, they become very pale. This fish is REALLY at attention! See his fins so stiffly erect! The camera didn't catch his eye, a nighttime active fish, with large dark eyes.

He's over a "Do Not Touch Me" Sponge. This sponge is very defensive. If you bump into it, you knock loose stinging cells that can really hurt! Even someone diving along in front of you, well, if they hit the sponge with a fin kick, and you're following closely, you could swim through the cloud of stingers. And be stung. So? Just stay up off the reef.

The sponge is actually very pretty, a velvety looking surface, and a warm brown color. Just don't touch it.
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The blurry photo is one I plan to use for a painting. This is just a tiny part of the original photo, hence the poor focus. Maybe I'll put in some more fish, and a Great Star coral on the right side, we'll see, once I have brush in hand. That's a barrel sponge in the background, and a Stoplight Parrotfish.

Ok, off with me. There's been rain, so the yard is knee deep, should I mow, or paint??

Thanks for stopping by!

Anchor and Squirrel

The left photo has an old encrusted anchor, lumpy with coral, standing right in the middle of the image. There's a Blue Chromis fish above the anchor, swimming in front of a tangle of Rope Sponges. Many divers go right past without seeing the anchor. Mostly visible is the crossbar and shaft, at a slight angle. This is in about twenty five feet depth, or roughly seven meters.

This anchor is in Cane Bay, on St. Croix where I do most of my diving. There are lots of anchors in this bay because this was an easy stop for the old sailing ships to get their cargoes of rum. Thus avoiding the Customs Man, who couldn't get there quickly enough from town to collect taxes. Unfortunately for the ships, sometimes their anchors became hopelessly stuck in the reef, and the ship would have to cut the rope and leave the anchor behind.

The fish is a Longspine Squirrelfish. Fearfully regarding me, trying to decide if he needs to run for his life. Or her life. There are six different kinds of Squirrelfish. This kind is the most often seen here in the sea around St. Croix. I like the white tips on the dorsal fins, and the 'standard' spikey pose, this is usually their posture by the time a diver is close enough to see the fish.

Reef Scenery

Here's a blue photo for you, this is why I need to paint intead of click a camera.  The water filters most of the colors from the sunlight.  Red is absorbed first, then yellow.  This scene is in about thirty feet, ten meters of depth, off the north shore of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, in the Caribbean Sea where I live.

These fish, Black Durgons, have a striking white line at the base of their dorsal fin.  The way they swim, going through the water looking for bits of floating things to eat, they undulate their dorsal and anal (top and bottom) fins to move through the sea.  As they slowly swim, they lean over on one side, and then the other.  Dancers, they are.  They usually stay up in the water column, high over the reef.  But I guess on this day, here is where they found their prey, tiny jellyfish?  I don't know what they eat.

At night, they sleep down in crevasses and cubbyholes in the reef.

I'll get back to painting soon.  Thank you for stopping by.

Longspine Squirrelfish

Longspine Squirrel Fish and and Reef

8x10" oil on stretched canvas

This is a classic pose for this little fish. All spiked up and fully at attention, ready to run away. That thing he's under is supposed to be a Maze Coral. I'm just going to have to slow down and let my pickiness take over so that my corals look something like they're supposed to. Oof, hundreds of tiny, 'perfect' brushstrokes.