Northwest Dive Club

Nice opportunity to see a gunnel out in the open! I love finding the little guys -- it takes a patient and discerning eye to pull them out of their camouflage sometimes.

some more from this tide cycle at the Pass

Course sea fir hydroids are one of my favorites. They are home to many of my favorite nudies. If you look really close in the pic in the frame you will see one on the tip.

Poor crab, with the mob of Scalyhead sculpins tearing it apart, it had no chance...

Scalyheads are one of my favorites... These photos remind us that just about everything underwater is a voracious predator!

Jan, I have to tell you that, solely because of this thread, I found a cryptic nudibranch today! Saw the bryozoan, knew what to look for, and found it! Neither of my buddies could understand why I was bouncing up and down and squeaking through my regulator, but I knew. Just an example of how these pages enrich diving for the rest of us. Thank you so much!

Lynne, I am glad that you found the cryptic critter, it took me years

dphershman wrote: photos remind us that just about everything underwater is a voracious predator!

Wow!

Nice picture!

That top pic sez it all! The expression on his face is priceless!

more from the weekend menu at the Keystone dining hall :
serving jello, I mean jelly ...

Added another critter to my list

Jan, once again your education and TIMELINESS amaze me... I took a picture of a critter i didn't recognize on our browning pass trip, then guess what I find when I got home today!? You are a genius!

Blaiz, easy with calling people names !
You managed to take the Manacled sculpin pictures on your first trip to Canada,
I struggled for nine years here....
OK, looks like the Lingcod annual internal physical exams are in progress, two sightings
this weekend. At least to my knowledge, maybe others saw it happen too ...

dphershman wrote: just about everything underwater is a voracious predator!

And it goes on and on

You sure seen to have the knack for being in the right place at the right time. Good job ID'ing that critter from just the tail markings.

Another critter added to my list.
Even if it is only a flea

Jan: Great pictures of a little animal which revived my memory. We had a late ichthyology lab at Shannon Point marine biology labs, ending near midnight, followed by field collecting at 6am the next morning. We decided to sleep on Shannon Point beach, rolling out our sleeping bags. We spent the night, but got little sleep, because these little amphipods which had been feeding on the rafts of algae bombarded us and invaded our sleeping bags. I've never looked at these crustaceans benevolently since. :angry:
-Curt

Not sure about the diagnosis, I keep seeing this large female Ling at Langley now
for more than two years, I still wonder how it can survive with tumors in mouth :(

I've seen these types of things on fish before and figured they were some sort of tumor. A viral infection causes this? ..... amazing.

Dan, second opinion is always a smart move. When I researched fish tumors,
I could not find anything which resembled this Ling's problem.
But now, back to diving.

Jan: The ability to match the background makes the flounders the champion in my book, although stonefish and frogfish can be pretty hard to see. Sometimes I have to check my notes to realize what is supposed to be in my tropical photos. Your drawings really help highlight the fish. Below is another Irish Lord, while not as cryptic as yours, I think the white patterns on the fish aligning with the background is interesting.
-Curt

Does anybody know how long it takes RILs to change their colors, if they move to another substrate? I've always wondered about that, because occasionally you see one that is quite the wrong color for his background.

LCF wrote:Does anybody know how long it takes RILs to change their colors, if they move to another substrate? I've always wondered about that, because occasionally you see one that is quite the wrong color for his background.

Good question, I am trying to find that out for long time, maybe somebody knows that answer.
Curt, I agree with your flounder observations.

Sunflower stars - they will eat everything, even if it means spines embedded in their feet ...

I have always wondered what eats the Sunflower stars . . . Bill at God's Pocket told me Puget Sound King Crabs love them, and tear them apart with abandon. I can't imagine much else that would!