Whidbey Island Critters

[Jan K]

Holmes Harbor, March 28, 2023
And some of the sea slugs I came across...

[Jan K]

Deception Pass, March 30, 2023 dive.

[coldfinger]

Jan - do you have an answer to your question for why the sea stars are twisted like that? I have noticed pairs doing that several times over the past few weeks and been puzzled, since they don't mate like that. I don't remember seeing it much in previous years.
Thanks!

[ktuli]

I saw a handful of stars all wrapped up around what looked to be a dead rockfish the other day... perhaps they are all trying to grab the last few bites of some meal and none of them are willing to give up their hold on it?

[Jan K]

Jan - do you have an answer to your question for why the sea stars are twisted like that? I have noticed pairs doing that several times over the past few weeks and been puzzled, since they don't mate like that. I don't remember seeing it much in previous years.
Thanks!

I did not find anybody who could explain what is going on with twisted stars.



Deception Pass, March 30, 2023.

[Jan K]

Keystone Jetty, April 2, 2023
The Bull kelp is finally trying to rise in numbers, but is is still a struggle against the invasive wireweed. Schools of Tubesnout seem to be happy about the invading seaweed which provides them with shelter and place their eggs.

[Jan K]

Keystone Jetty, April 2, 2023.
For your enjoyment, some fish, cucumber and crab.

[Jan K]

Happy Easter !
And while the winds are blowing and the rain is falling on our Easter Sunday, back to the recent dives, still trying to process the photos taken then.
Possession Point Fingers, April 4, 2023 dive.

[Gdog]

Love it! Keep em coming!

[Jan K]

Love it! Keep em coming!

Thanks. Not much exciting stuff, just trying to show divers what is there to see when visiting Whidbey waters.



Possession Point Fingers, April 4, 2023
The rest of pixels from that dive...

[Jan K]

Langley Harbor dive, April 5, 2023
Juvenile Sunflower stars are still around, even in bad visibility, quite easy to find.
It was nice to see Big skate, even if it was not so big juvenile.

[Jan K]

Driftwood Park, April 7, 2023
Juvenile Wolf-eels like this place...

[Jan K]

Langley Harbor, April 5, 2023
The Winged sea slugs and their eggs are still here, some of the egg mass "balloons" showing developing eggs inside them...

[Jan K]

Langley Harbor, April 9th, 2023.
The "somethings" crawling over the eggs of the Winged sea slug was bugging me, so I returned to Langley to investigate. There were fewer of the slugs and their eggs this time, but I found some nevertheless. And I can add a new critter to my list, a very tiny slug with a fitting name -Hansine's Egg Eater. Not really rare, but hard to see due to their size. And there were lot of them, now that I knew what to look for.

[Tidepool Geek]

Hi Jan,
Great find!
Great images!
Great research to figure out what you found!
Impressedly yours,
Alex

[Jan K]

Thanks Alex

Langley Harbor, April 9, 2023
And the rest of the pixels...

[Jan K]

Deception Pass, April 13, 2023
The gate to the Little North Beach parking is now open.
Not much fish life . Once again the weird tide situation when the low tide is higher than the high tide prediction ...

[Jan K]

Deception Pass, April 13, 2023 dive.
The rest of pixels ...

[Jan K]

Keystone Jetty, April 15, 2023
It was little windy, creating white caps on the Admiralty Inlet and some surf at the entry point. Manageable. Only two other divers braved the waves
Underwater it was calm and we had great visibility. Finding Pacific Lyre crab was a nice surprise. Although they are supposedly very common, I never seen an adult anywhere in Whidbey Island waters, only a juvenile once in the Lagoon Point muck.

[Jan K]

Keystone Jetty, April 15, 2023
And few more from that nice dive ...

[Jan K]

Driftwood Pond #1. April 22, 2023

[Jan K]

Driftwood Pond #1. April 22, 2023
Somebody dumped bunch of Pacific Oysters
right off the road into the shallows where they now reside and surprisingly, survive. I don't recall when I seen them for the first time, but it has been years... As an interesting note, two other invasive species, Japan mussels and Japanese wireweed in addition to the Pacific oysters - all came from Japan... With the warmer temperatures and more daylight, the shallows of the pond are starting to get covered with slime algae. To me, it looks interesting...

[Jan K]

Keystone Jetty, April 23, 2023 dive.
From the stagnant waters of Driftwood Pond to nearby swift waters of the Keystone Jetty.
If you wondered how barnacle grows...

[Jan K]

Keystone Jetty, April 23, 2023
And we have another Fred taking up the coveted real estate residency on the Rock of Life. Long live Fred The Fourth !
And the rest of pixels from that dive.

[Jan K]

Skyline, April 25, 2023
Few of the sea slugs I found in the silty waters on early morning dive.