Marine life behavior
Bali, Indonesia ~ I spotted the Blue Ringed Octopus as it swam across an open expanse of rubble and landed on a small rock. It was late afternoon and the current was quite strong, so I had decided to head back to the shallows where there was more light and where it would be easier to get back to the boat. I spotted the octopus and forgot all about the marginal conditions. We have had more success observing blue rings catching … Read more
Today on Blennywatcher, I’m sharing images of two things that are not related, but caused us some confusion a few years ago. In Beangabang Bay, Indonesia, Ned and I encountered what we were certain was a very large squid egg case. It turned out not to be so, but at that moment we were certain that was what we had. It was long and tubular, similar in color and shape to the Diamond Squid egg case we’d seen in photos. We … Read more
June 2012 ~ Our last two posts have been about our Fish & Critter Hunts in Lembeh Strait, Indonesia, hosted by Eco Divers Resort, Lembeh. The Wi-Fi connection on the boat allowed me to post from the event but didn’t support the more resource intensive video upload, so those had to wait. I couldn’t include everything we saw, so went with some of my favorites, including a cool Melibe nudibranch, hatching Flamboyant cuttlefish, A very tiny frogfish, mating nudibranchs and … Read more
June 2012 ~ Earlier this week I posted photos from the first week of our Lembeh Fish & Critter Hunt with Eco Divers Resort Lembeh. We sadly said goodbye to our friends from the Octopus Army and greeted a new crowd for Week 2 and wow, another super adventure! The group embraced the hit list of 30 animals with gusto and with the help of our superb dive guides, most had checked off the entire list by mid-week. One of … Read more
June 2012 ~ We are blogging from the center of Lembeh Strait, Indonesia this week. When I say we are in the center of the Strait, that is where we are, literally – out on Eco Divers’ day boat, posting through the miracle of Wi-Fi. This pinhead sized shrimp, photographed by Wendy McIlroy, exemplifies the reason we keep returning to Lembeh. Ned and I made our first dive here in 1999 and since, have made the 44-hour trip from our … Read more
Since we started the Blennywatcher Blog, we have met some really interesting people online. Two in particular have helped educate me about the subjects of my own posts and I am indebted to them for their willingness to share information. This past February, I posted video of a tiny frogfish and several juvenile lionfish that we observed riding around on Protoreaster nodosus sea stars (the link to that post is here). A few days later, Dr. Peter Wirtz contacted me after reading … Read more
Lembeh Strait, Indonesia ~ Juvenile Red Emperor Snappers, Lutjanus sebae, are not that uncommon here – we almost always find a few tiny juveniles nestled down in the spines of the Radiant Sea Urchins. They shelter there until they are ready to move to deep water to live out their lives as much larger and less colorful adults. In 2006, we were lucky enough to find a small group that had grown enough to start venturing out from the protection … Read more
May 9, 2012 ~ Ned and I are very excited to be participating in REEF’s free online Fishinar series tonight. REEF, the Reef Environmental Education Foundation, offers some wonderful outreach programs for scuba divers, snorkelers and fish enthusiasts but we think the Fishinars, a.k.a. webinars are the coolest yet. Tonight’s program, “Speed Dating Fishy Style: How Fish Spawn and When You’re Likely to Catch Them in the Act”, will highlight many of Ned’s unique fish behavior photographs. If you read … Read more
Bali, Indonesia – March 2012 We have this image of a lovely juvenile sole thanks to our friend Mark Willis who found it on a muck slope while the rest of us were photographing nudibranchs and a cool blenny. He had shown it to Ned and several others in our group but by the time I got there, it was lost. Mark showed me the image on the back screen of his digital camera; my pantomimed “knife to my heart” … Read more
Bali, Indonesia March 2012 ~ I am certain I just saw a coral move across the sand. I don’t have time to stop because I am swimming rapidly to keep up with Ned and our guide Eddy, but now I’m paying more attention to the individual corallites, scattered over the otherwise empty expanse of black sand. There are hundreds of them, spaced from inches to a few feet apart and when I see a second one move, I have to … Read more