Whidbey Island Critters

[Jan K]

Possession Point Fingers. October 27, 2023 dive.
The cold and sunny weather streak continues, Mount Baker now wears white coat again.
The price of finding Golden Dirona was a paid by getting soaked through a leaky neck seal...

[Jan K]

Keystone Jetty. October 28, 2023 dive.

[Jan K]

Hot off the press: Starfish Are Basically Bodiless Heads Crawling Around The Ocean.
From the magazine Nature. November 2, 2023

[Jan K]

Skyline, November 1, 2023 dive.

[Jan K]

Holmes Harbor, November 5, 2023 dive.

[Jan K]

Langley Harbor, November 7, 2023 dive.
It started with good visibility, but as the wind increased above, the visibility decreased below. The food fight for mussels along the tire reef did not help neither. Crabs and fish stirred the sand while some mussels fell from the floating dock above... Not far away, discarded fish heads provided additional source of free food

[Jan K]

Langley Harbor, November 7, 2023 dive.
The rest of the pixels.

[Jan K]

Driftwood Pond #1. November 8, 2023 dive.
Moon jellies, still going strong. Thousands in some deeper locations, but only few jellies in the shallows...

[Jan K]

Driftwood Pond #1. November 8, 2023 dive.
The winter scene in the pond is subdued, not much action as even the invasive Japanese wireweed. is on a hold mode. The Japan mussels cover large area along the eastern slope. They too are invasive species, except their impact in this isolated pond is minimal. Surely, they don't seem to bother the Moon jellies...

[Jan K]

Driftwood Pond #2. November 10,2023 dive.
The two ponds, so close together, and yet so different always puzzled me. So it was just natural, after diving with so many Moon jellies in #1 to see if what I can find in # 2. And as expected, not single Moon jelly.... But I found small anemone which I only seen one time, years ago at Holmes Harbor.

[Jan K]

Driftwood Pond #2, November 10, 2023 dive.
The Glassy Bubble Shell slugs took residence in this pond. None are found in Pond #1. Not laying eggs yet. They seem to feed in the shallows on Japanese fireweed, on green Hair algae and Sea lettuce as well in the deeper parts of pond on stuff associated with rotting wood and bottom muck.

[Jan K]

Keystone Jetty, November 14, 2023 dive.
Barnacles already growing on juvenile Puget Sound King crab.
They will be gone after next molding ...

[Jan K]

Possession Point Fingers, November 16, 2023 dive.

[Jan K]

Langley Harbor, November 17, 2023.
Clouds of forage fish. Pacific herring in the shallower water, Shiner perch below it.
Dead Spotted Ratfish in the floating dock mooring mess. Very interesting dive in good visibility.

[Jan K]

Langley Harbor, November 17, 2023 dive.
The rest of the pixels. And Happy Thanksgiving !

[Jan K]

Langley Harbor, November 18, 2023 dive.
The visibility was so good on Friday that I returned on Saturday to enjoy more of it. Well, although there was no rain, no wind, same high tide cycle, the great visibility did not survive 24 hours. Saturday provided almost 20 feet visibility, instead of 30. Well, still not bad. My friend Ken installed water temperature logger at the seawall, so now can hopefully monitor the temperature which affects the sea star wasting, ( at least that is what seems to be part of the problem).

[Jan K]

Langley Harbor, November 18, 2023 dive.
The rest of pixels. How the second Whitespotted greenling male convinced females to deposit their eggs in such confined spot is amazing. But looking at the number of unfertilized eggs in that bunch tells me that it was not a best place to start new family.

[Jan K]

Deception Pass, November 21, 2023 dive.
Leaky neck seal shortened my dive by adding lots of cold water inside my suit, making my dive rather unpleasant.
The Kelp greenlings are in mating mode, overall, this time, there was very little color at the Pass..