Best of Mike #502

Both of the fish in this pixture are Sergeant Majors… so named for the 5 black bars on their body.

Their normal coloring is that of the one in the background… mostly white, yellow and silver.

It is my understanding that it is the males that turn the darker blue color… and they do that when they are guarding their eggs.

If you look closely at the upper right part of this frame… you will notice what looks like a purple stain on the coral head. Those are the eggs.

Sergeant Majors are always an aggressive and a territorial little fish (4-6in long).

But when they are guarding eggs that aggression ramps up a lot… and they don’t want anything, even something as big as a diver, anywhere close to their egg patch.

Best of Mike #501

People wonder why we get so excited about finding seahorses.

Three reasons… 

They are Lydia’s favorite sea creature.

They are kind of exotic.

They are so challenging to spot.

They really don't move around a lot… at least not on a daily basis. 

But even when you know where they are going to be… they do a splendid job of blending in.

Best of Mike #500

The Yellowline Arrowcrab is only about 2” tall. 

They have a golden brown triangular body, a long pointed snout, long slender spider like legs.

And because she can be fancy like that… mother nature often gives them violet tips on their claws.

We see them a lot and find them to be unafraid of divers… retreating only if molested.

Best of Mike #499

In May of this year we were in Bonaire for 5 weeks diving… and of course taking pixtures.

On the very first day of that trip I flooded the battery compartment of my strobe… and by the time I realized what was happening the strobe was beyond any hope of repair. 

The prospect of many days of diving with no pixtures looked pretty bleak. But luckily I found a dive shop (Dive Friends) that was well stocked with photo gear and I was able to buy a replacement strobe.

Then the universe balanced the scales. 

On the 1st dive of Day 2 we were approached by an Eagle Ray… not once but twice.

He was a small one but he came in closer than I have ever been to one before… allowing me to get 4 nice pixtures. 

I previously posted one of those in BoM #452 and here’s another. 

I had no idea that their face was shaped like that.

PS… the new strobe works great!