Best of Mike #259

This pixture will give you a pretty good idea of why camouflage is so popular amongst marine species.

It really works.

This is a Shortfin Pipefish.

If you are thinking they look like a straight-bodied seahorse.... you would be right 

They share many characteristics with their seahorse relatives.... including leaving most of the conception and parenting duties to the male.

Their name is derived from the peculiar form of the snout.... which is like a long tube, ending in a narrow and small mouth.

That mouth opens upward and are toothless.

Pipefish are secretive and adept at camouflage.... so they are rarely observed by divers.

Best of Mike #258

It's called a Sea Pearl.... and I feel like I have found pirate treasure every time I see one.

Which is an over the top reaction.... as this is really a form of algae.

Large, thin-walled, round sacs.... dark green in color with a bright reflective sheen.

The largest will grow to a diameter of about 5 cm.

Often they are covered with a thin silvery to light lavender alga.... making them all the more exotic.

Each sac is a single cell organism.... that attaches itself, with fine hair-like runners to a hard object.

They tend to be a solitary creature.... but occasionally you will find them in small groups. Or what I like to think of as major pirate booty.

Best of Mike #257

The next few pixtures that I post.... will be from this year's trip to Roatan.

There are not many of them.... and they may not be my best work.

It usually takes me a few dives to get back in the groove on each trip.... both diving and pixturing.

You usually don't see the pixtures from those early dives.... because they get deleted in favor of the better shots that come later.

But on this trip, we only dove one day because Linda got sick.... and we got to take the air ambulance to Miami.

I can tell you that the air ambulance is a Lear Jet, we were the only passengers.... and it's not nearly as sexy as it sounds.

Whatever she had is gone now.... and might have been gone, even before we even left Roatan.

We know it wasn't the heart attack they had originally feared.

But we still don't know what it was.... so we don't know how it will affect our diving.

Worst case scenario.... we are done and these are the last pixtures that will get posted to this Blog.

Best case and the one we are hoping for.... there will be a pause in the posts, as I don't see us taking another dive trip before next year.

Best of Mike #256

There are a number of different Triggerfish species.

This is a Saragassum Triggerfish.

As a group triggerfish are thought to be pretty aggressive.

But the Saragassum is known as one to least aggressive in their species.

The rather bizarre anatomy of the triggerfish reflects their typical diet of slow-moving, bottom dwelling crustaceans, mollusks, sea urchins and other echinoderms, generally creatures with protective shells and spines. 

Many will also take small fishes and some feed on algae.

They are known to exhibit a level of intelligence that is unusual among fishes.... and have the ability to learn from previous experiences.

Their aggressive protection of their their eggs and nests.... applies to all intruders including scuba divers and snorkelers.