Best of Mike #263

I really like to scuba dive.... and, you would think that after 700+ dives I would be completely comfortable below the surface.

But that is not the case.

When you are born to breath air and walk on solid ground.... there is always going to be at least a little trepidation as you descend under the sea.

And, when the rocks have eyes.... it only adds to those feelings.

You can see in the top left corner of this pixture the bottom end of the mooring line. So this is right under the boat.... the very beginning of the dive.

You have floated calmly down from the surface to settle on the bottom. You look to the right, as you orient yourself.... and the rock beside you opens it's eyes.

Really its the Flowered Flounder on the top of the rock that opened it's eyes.... but believe me that's not what your brain tells you at the moment that it happens.

When a Flounder is born is has an eye on each side of it's brain.... just like most fish.

But because they hunt by lying camouflaged on the bottom.... it is much more convenient to have both of their eyes on the side that faces up.

So, over the course of the metamorphosis from larval to juvenile.... one eye migrates.

Which side the eye moves to....is dependent of what species type the Flounder is.

Best of Mike #262

The central character in this scene is a.... Brown Banded Feather Duster.

When I see a scene like this.... I think garden.

Then and now, I hear a little bit of the Beatles tune.... Octopuses Garden in my head as I look at it.

Feather Dusters are worms.... still a surprise to me that things yucky on land are so beautiful underwater.

They prefer areas of the reef where there is water movement.

The swaying is often what catches my attention.... and probably the attention of whatever they call food too.

They are most often found in clusters.... like you see here.

But are a shy bunch.... instantly retracting into their tubes if you get too close.

If you are willing to wait, moitionless.... the crowns may slowly extend and reopen.

Best of Mike #261

I am a big fan of the long lens.... and filling the frame with a single subject.

So, anytime I have a pixture of more than one creature.... it is a happy accident.

In this case.... I focused on the Basket Star draped out of the Vase Sponge.

I am a little fascinated by this scene each time I see it. 

In my head this is always a vision of a Zombie creature crawling from the crypt.

While I was working on that shot.

An Arrowcrab walked into the frame.... from the depths of the sponge.

Happy accident!

Best of Mike #260

A Flamingo Tongue is a type of snail.

When it is alive, this snail, has bright orange-yellow and black markings.

The flamingo tongue feeds by browsing on the living tissues of the soft corals on which it lives.

Adult females attach eggs to coral upon which they have recently fed.

After roughly a week and a half, the larvae hatch.

Early in life they float as plankton.... but will eventually settle onto corals.

Juveniles tend to remain on the underside of coral branches.... while adults are far more visible and mobile.