May 1st. Little bit of good news from Langley Harbor. I came across 29 juvenile Sunflower stars, all of them look healthy ! Still only 6 to 8 inches across, but hopefully they will survive to become the large predators thy once ruled at Langley tire reef area. The wasting disease is still present, although not affecting other sea stars in any significant numbers. Fingers crossed ...
It was an early morning start on Sunday when a group of divers assembled at the Little North Beach parking lot, Deception Pass State Park. Gray overcast above, colors down below.
Jess is smiling even as her drysuit was flooding due to a leaky valve. Us divers are like this, just a little crazy, but happy, (most of the time).
Second day Deception Pass tidal cycle attracted only two divers.
So we had the beauty of underwater garden to ourselves. The visibility is down to the fact, that many of the marine critters decided to spawn.
Red sea cucumbers doing their thing ....
May 8. The third day of Deception Pass dives proved to be the most exciting. Not only the slack currents lasted over one hour, but the underwater world in the Pass exploded into a truly spawning extravaganza. The Painted anemone is a very common in most dive sites around Whidbey Island. I see few on almost every dive, but in thousands of dives, I have never witnessed them spawning. While I saw few spawning on the yesterday's dive, this time there were hundreds releasing gametes into the water which turned the visibility into a almost fog-like scene. Some call photographing this spawning porn or X-rated activity, but to me it is chance to witness how nature makes all this underwater beauty possible. Enjoy this for what it is - future fields of colorful anemones.
Langley Harbor dive shows off its Sunflower star juveniles, I counted 31 healthy individuals. Interestingly, they all prefer one area on the south side of the tire reef. And one of the mooring H-beam anchors is very popular with Ochre, Mottled and now, also the juvenile Sunflower stars. When the anchors were installed back in 2013, then the dominant specie - Sunflower stars (Pycnopodia) occupied it in impressive numbers.
Keeping an eye on underwater Penn Cove - the starfish look happy, (only a couple are sick), well fed on mussels.
Crabs like mussels too, but unlike the stars, the crabs fight a lot
Driftwood Park juvenile Wolf-eels, some like live in old tires and some in discarded bottles and glass jars.
Never have I seen an adult here or the nearby Keystone Jetty.
Sunflower stars at Driftwood Park ! What a pleasant surprise! I don't know where they came from, but finding eleven adult healthy Pycnopodia is a very wonderful sight ... And seeing an octopus, even if only a small portion of the animal, was nice treat too ...
Jan K wrote:Driftwood Park juvenile Wolf-eels, some like live in old tires and some in discarded bottles and glass jars.
Never have I seen an adult here or the nearby Keystone Jetty.
Many years ago, late '80s, early 90's there were a couple adults on the jetty.
Jan K wrote:Driftwood Park juvenile Wolf-eels, some like live in old tires and some in discarded bottles and glass jars.
Never have I seen an adult here or the nearby Keystone Jetty
Unfortunately, that was before I moved to Whidbey.
Wrinkled dogwinkle snail eggs cover many objects on the artificial reef at Driftwood Park.
Other critters make home in and on the man-made structures ...