Whidbey Island Critters

[Jan K]

Northern Kelp Crabs rivalry on the rocks of Keystone Jetty.
Three males and one female. It is all pincers and legs, pinching and jousting while the female hangs upside down beneath her suitor.

[Jan K]

The Skyline is one place where the Six-rayed stars thrive. So it is where one can see Six-rayed with more and less rays (arms) quite frequently. And now is the time of year when the babies are going away to live without mama to care of them

[Jan K]

Most sea stars in Whidbey Island water release their gametes into the water column as their way to reproduce. However two species
of small sea stars brood their babies until they crawl out from the safety of their mother's underside ...

[Jan K]

Cucumbers. The ones under the sea.

[Jan K]

Before the wind storm hits later today -
here are few more scenes of critters and their habitat from Tuesday and Wednesday dives at Deception Pass.

[Jan K]

Return to the Pass. Of course, the undisputed Lord of the Pass Jack was there too.
Nobody has more dives in these waters, I think he dove the Pass before the bridge was even built.

[Jan K]

At Langley. many female Red Rock Crabs carrying eggs.
And a Poacher. Not a pan for cooking eggs or a person who hunts game or fish illegally. Pygmy Poacher - a fish

[Jan K]

Langley Harbor slugs. Large and small.

[Jan K]

Update on Whidbey sea stars, end of March.

[Jan K]

Muck dive at Lagoon Point produced slugs which I don't encounter anywhere else in Whidbey Island waters. All very small and I had hard time to tell what is head and what is tail on the Diomedes' aglaja. I found quite a number of them floating in mid-water. Strange behavior for a slug living under the mud...

[Jan K]

The forecast for Thursday called for sunshine. (Finally). Instead, a tornado touched down at Monroe, and plenty of clouds over Whidbey, with some sun-breaks. In short, diving weather. Lately I am trying to to show not only the critters I come across during my dive, but also a wide angle shot showing the environment in which I found them. And tomorrow, instead of diving, I am going to visit the Scuba & H2O Adventures show in Tacoma. Hope to see some of you there.

[Jan K]

From the world of creeping or burrowing invertebrates with long, slender, soft bodies and no limbs.
The unusual reproductive way of the Necklace worms.

[Jan K]

Winter is over! New crop of seaweeds is covering the shallows of Keystone, the forest of Bull kelp is climbing up toward the surface.

[Jan K]

Keystone Pilings and Jetty, little bit of color on a gray Saturday morning.

[Jan K]

Last of the scenic shots from last week dives at the Pass.

[Jan K]

Wolf-eel and Plainfin midshipman are not a common sight at Deception Pass.

[Jan K]

The currents. They are what makes the Deception Pass such interesting place to dive. Feeding the innumerable amount of marine life thrive by providing flyby food, and so providing diver with plenty photo opportunities. One of them was the spawning of Vancouver Feather-duster worms...

[Jan K]

Few more from the Deception Pass...

[Jan K]

I am falling behind with processing photos, today I did yet another, this week third day of diving the Deception Pass. So the load is getting bigger with every dive and I seem to enjoy taking pictures more than working with them on the computer. But, it is better that being stuck in the darkroom with stinky chemicals. Here are few more pages of what is to see under the bridge ...

[Jan K]

Jan I can't believe you dove that! Yuk!

Yup, Yuk is the right word...

On Sunday dive among the Keystone pilings and current ride along the rope trail, I met Pacific octopus before it becomes a Giant
And a pair of mating Monterey dorids .

[Gdog]

Jan I can't believe you dove that! Yuk!

[Jan K]

Thanks Gdog.

While diving, we never know what kind of encounter is awaiting us once we descend into the watery world.
This encounter borders on the unnatural. Welcome to the DEAD ZONE

[Gdog]

Awesome stuff!

[Jan K]

Getting up at five in the morning to go diving on a cloudy, cold morning might not be something normal people would consider fun. But because I am not claiming to be normal and there was no wind or rain in the forecast (unlike so many times this winter), I revisited Skyline on Fidalgo Island only to find murky water. Well, at least I found lots of baby sea stars.

[Jan K]

Lagoon Point. Another worm. Do you like Spaghetti ?