I think this is the last of our "firsts" from this trip.... a Juvenile High Hat.
Similar in shape, coloring and behaviors to the juvenile Drumfish.
You can find them swimming in the protection of a reef opening or overhang.
We have seen lots and lots of drumfish on our dives.
But this is the first time that I have spotted a High Hat.... or at least the first time I recognized it as a High Hat.
Another of our firsts from the Cozumel trip.... a White-nose Pipefish.
Pipefish look like straight-bodied seahorses with tiny mouths.
The name comes from their peculiar form of their snout.... which is like a long tube, ending in a narrow and small mouth which opens upwards and is toothless.
The body and tail are long, thin, and snake-like.... and hey have a highly modified skeleton formed into armored plating.
A dorsal fin is always present.... and is the principal (in some species, the only) means of movement.
Pipefish tend to be weak swimmers in open water.... moving slowly by means of rapid movements of the dorsal fin.
Like their seahorse relatives.... they leave most of the parenting duties to the male.
This colorful little guy, is a Nudibranch.
Another of our "first evers".... from this year's trip.
The really amazing thing about him is his size.... not how big but rather how small.
Let me see if I can give you an idea of that size.
Look at the inside of one of your hands, now the fingers, now the crease on the inside of the knuckle of any of your fingers.... that's how big.
I know this because when I got there.... Pepe (our Divemaster) was holding him on one of his fingers.
Which he then held down next to the reef.... so Mr. Colorful here could inch his way back to home.
Had he not been holding him.... I never would have seen him. Which probably explains why it's taken more than 700 dives for me to find what people tell me has always been there.
All known nudibranchs are carnivores.... some feed on sponges, some eat other sea slugs or their eggs and some prey on members of their own species.
In the course of evolution, nudibranchs have lost their shells.... because they have developed other defense mechanisms.
Some have external anatomy with textures and colors to mimic their surroundings.
Others, have intensly bright and contrasting colors that make them especially conspicuous in their surroundings. This is believed to warn potential predators that these slugs are distasteful or poisonous.
One of our "first ever" sightings on this trip was this little guy.... a Web Burrfish.
Most dive operations, on Cozumel, including Scuba Club.... don't work on New Years Day.
But shore diving was still an option.... so we took it.
This dive turned out to be one of the best that we had all week.
The reef isn't that much too look at.... but on this day it was a wealth of small critters, including 3 we had never seen before.
Web Burrfish are quite shy and spend most of their time tucked into crevices along the reef.
Very occasionally, you will find one swimming slowly near the bottom.
But go slow and be gentle.... as they will inflate when molested.
We are fresh back.... I mean, last night fresh, from this year's dive trip.
We were again in Cozumel.... staying and diving with Scuba Club.
Since I started the Best of Mike series.... I am always a little conflicted about what to do with pixtures from the most recent trip.
It has become my habit to pick few of the very best to insert into the Blog.... and then return to the regularly scheduled program.
So here we go with this year's pics.
There is absolutely nothing underwater that Linda wants to see more than Seahorses.
Until this trip, she had a lifetime total of one.... and felt like she was missing out.
In just two days we tripled her lifetime total.... and made Linda a very happy girl.
This is the Lined Seahorse that Pepe, our Divemaster, found for us on Linda's 429th dive (which also happened to be #700 for me).
Lined Seahorses vary in color from reddish orange, to brown to black.... and their markings vary too. But the markings that they do have a definitely line like and definitely not spots.
Normally, they curl the base of their tail around branches of coral, sea grasses and other holdfasts.... but will occasionally be seen floating free.
When approached by divers they will very rarely move but will tuck their heads and turn away.... that shyness and their small size can make them a little bit of a challenge to photograph.
