Aloha and welcome to another one of these (mostly) underwater photo diaries. This diary is meant as a brief respite from the struggles of the day and as a reminder that we share this damaged planet with some amazing and beautiful creatures.
I will structure this diary roughly from the simplest to the most complex creatures that I photographed over the weekend. Of course we have all be evolving exactly the same length of time so let's have some humility.
Tiger or Divided Flatworm
We will pass over the cnidarians (jellys, hydroids and corals) that often appear as supporting characters and start with a flatworm. This brightly colored critter contains tetrodotoxin, the same poison found in pufferfish. Don't eat it.
We now move on the molluscs starting with this beauty from the Family Cypraeidae:
Tiger Cowry
Although founds throughout the Indo-Pacific nowhere do these gorgeous shells grow as large as Hawaii where they get up to six inches long. Of course they are now hard to find because people take them for display. This one was probably four and half inches.
The name tiger comes from an age when tiger referred to any large cat, including leopards.
We now jump to some more molluscs of the Order Nudibranchia and I had a multi-species weekend.
Desirable Nudibranch
Desirable Nudibranch
Trembling Nudibranch
Snow Goddess Nudibranch
Snow Goddess Nudibranch
Named after the Hawaiian snow goddess Poli'ahu, sister of Pele.
Gold Lace Nudibranch
Gold Lace Nudibranch
The scientific name of this creature is H. terramtuentis means "looking at the earth with care" to honor the Earthwatch program whose volunteers helped the scientists with their research.
Tom Smith's Nudibranch
Tom Smith's Nudibranch
It is named for the dive buddy of the naming biologist Bertsch.
Imperial Nudibranchs
Often seen "trailing" in pairs like these two.
Imperial Nudibranchs
Fried Egg Slug or Varicose Phyllidia
This critter and the following are phyllidia which do not have the gills on the topside but around the underside edge.
Pustulose Phyllidia
Staying with the molluscs we jump over to the Order Octopoda.
Day Octopus
This definitely confounds the concept of moving from simplest to most complex creatures because while they may not have a spine there is definitely a lot more going on in the brain of one of these creatures than many more "advanced" creatures including fish.
Day Octopus
We distrubed this critter from one hole and it jetted across the reef and slid into this round hole. Here it is eyeballing me from it's hiding place.
We now move on to the Crustaceans, more specifically the Decapods, shrimp, crabs and lobsters.
White Stripe Urchin Shrimp
This tiny creature lives on the spines of sea urchins. I cannot believe my dive buddy actually spotted this thing. Amazing.
I believe this is a Hazlett's Hermit Crab but I am not sure on my ID.
Argus Hermit Crab
Apparently a fan of Wishbone Ash's third album.
Cone Shell Hermit Crab
Banded Spiny Lobster
Banded Spiny Lobster
Come closer...
Now I am going to switch to creatures with spines starting with the fish:
Thanks to my dive buddies amazing ability to find things we had a great weekend for poison-spined ambush hunters:
Devil Scorpionfish
Leaf Scopionfish
Decoy Scorpionfish
Lowfin Scorpionfish
This one is very rare and I do not recall seeing it before. At first I throught it might be diseased but when I looked it up I found that the white middle section is normal in this species.
Hawaiian Green Lionfish
Hawaiian Green Lionfish
There are quite rare partially as a result of over-collection for the aquarium trade.
And the highlight of the weekend was this little beauty:
Hawaiian Red Lionfish
Definitely a rare treat. This is not the same species as the lionfish currently overpopulating the Carribean, but is edemic to Hawaii.
Also called the Hawaiian Turkeyfish
One more look.
Something a little different
Wire Coral Goby
This is not the same individual I have shot and posted previously. We have it a break from the big strobes this weekend and found a new one to harass.
Well that is all for today. If you have a problem with this diary I refer you to the Complaint Department:
Please feel free to treat this as a community photo diary and as always, be good humans.