Best of Mike #344

A Black Spiny Urchin behind a cloud of Gobies swimming in the area.... and a little bit of slimy sea grass floating by too.

Best of Mike #343

I am reasonably sure that this is a Rock-boring Urchin.

They are so named because they bore a hole in the substrate and this is where they remain during the day.... and then venture out at night to hunt and feed.

They are described as having short thick spines in colors of black, olive, tan, red and reddish orange.

Best of Mike #342

There are a lot of different things to see in the underwater world. But there are not a infinite number of things. 

So we do see some sights over and over.

Many of those things are not a rare find and some are not exciting in what they are "doing".... they are just pretty.

Staghorn coral is one of those pretty sights.... and I am going to take a pixture just about every time I find a healthy stand of it.

Best of Mike #341

Here is a Trumpetfish doing what they do.

Adopting a position in the water column that he hopes will camouflage him.... next to a rope that is the mooring line for a buoy above.

Best of Mike #340

I think I might have talked about Butterflyfish in previous posts. These two are Banded Butterflyfish. 


They always travel in pairs but it is surprisingly hard to get a pixture of the pair together. 

This is probably my best effort to date.

Best of Mike #339

I am thinking that this is a Yelowhead Jawfish.

They inhabit sandy and coral rubble areas where they dig a burrow. It is then their habit to hover vertically above that burrow. 

When spooked they will retreat tail first into that burrow.... reappearing when they again feel it is safe.

This is without question to best shot that I have ever gotten of one of these skittish little critters. But it is not the money shot. 

The males of this species will incubate eggs inside their mouith.... and that is the shot I would love to get.

Best of Mike #338

These are Palometas.... well all except for the guy on the very front left. He is probably a Leatherjack.... just hanging with the cool crowd.

These guys like to swim in small schools, in shallow water, where there is lots of sunlight. 

All of that and their coloring make them seem like the ghost fish of the reef.

Best of Mike #337

A Grouper.... tucked under a coral head to avoid some of the current.

They are not the most striking fish on the reef but groupers are a fish that can grow to be some of the bigger fish that we see.

3ft is pretty common and some in the grouper family can grow to be as large as 8ft long.

Best of Mike #336

Yet another pixture of and anenome because I just like them a lot.... and always get a little excited and a little shutter happy when I see a healthy one.

I get a kick out of just about everything about them.... from the fine detail  on their stalks to their different shades of yellow and green.

And, in some cases their different colored tips.

Best of Mike #335

A Redbanded Shrimp.... doing what they so often do, hanging upside down under a ledge.

Very often all we will see of them are the white antennae, that they are waving around to attract client fish.... as they are cleaners.

But in this case I was able to get a good angle for my camera and shoot up under that ledge for a a few pixtures.

There are way too many antennae here for just one shrimp.... so there must be a small crowd in there somewhere.

Best of Mike #334

A Spotted Cleaner Shrimp.... hanging out at home on his anemone.

Best of Mike #333

Here is a small pack of Bearded Fireworms.... a yellow one up on top and a couple of red ones down below.

They are at work devouring a fish carcass that was tossed overboard during the cleaning process from a boat above.

Best of Mike #332

This would be either a Hawksbill or Green Sea Turtle. I struggle with the identification unless I can see the front of the face or the top of the head between their eyes.... neither of which is visible in the pixtures that I took of this guy.

But I am leaning towards the Hawksbill because of the brown coloring of the shell and what appear to be overlapping shell plates.

Hawksbills are a medium sized turtle meaning they can grow to between 2 and 3 1/2 feet in length and weigh between 95 and 165 lbs.

Whichever species that this one is.... it is on it's way to the surface for a breath.