OUsnakebyte May 25, 2009 Share May 25, 2009 Well, one of the perks of teaching is the free diving (scuba, not "free diving..."). And, to be honest, I enjoyed the teaching aspect of the trip just as much as I enjoyed the diving itself (well, almost ). Of course, I took so many pictures - I wouldn't dare bore you with them all. Here are the ones you all might find interesting: Red-tipped Sea Goddess - apparently, the ID book says it's an invasive. What isn't these days... Lettuce Sea Slug - saw tons of these Diploria sp. detail (labyrinthiformis, I think...) Azure vase sponge Sponge and M. cavernosa Sponge and M. cavernosa detail Meandrina meandrites - aka "conehead" - one of the strangest growth formations I've seen... More to follow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OUsnakebyte May 25, 2009 Author Share May 25, 2009 When I was on this class trip back in 2006, I saw one lionfish at the Blue Hole, and it was promptly speared. Three years later, I saw at least one lionfish, if not multiple, on every dive... Here is one of many... Lionfish 1 Cleaning goby and M. cavernosa It's not all hunkey-dory down there... Siderastrea siderea afflicted with Black Band... I waved off the cyano, but I doubt it did any good. I needed a toothbrush and epoxy... Took a snorkel through the mangroves Back to a night dive; found a rough fileclam And a sleepy parrotfish (Queen adult?) in its mucous bubble There were more Pedersoni shrimp at this cleaning station than I have ever seen - at least 12-13. Caught one in the mouth of this tiger grouper It's good to see the big fish still around. Caribbean reef shark - the puppies of the sea... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OUsnakebyte May 25, 2009 Author Share May 25, 2009 Chased this HUGE stone crab all over the reef trying to get a good photo Caught this pair hunting together... An encouraging, albeit small, patch of cervicornis. Saw PLENTY of rubble... Took forever to frame this fairy basslet against this fan. I finally gave up... TUNICATES!!! It never ceases to amaze students that these animals are chordates - same phylum as us... Found a nice lavender patch of this Porites sp. Usually I see it in the grayish phase. Just for good measure, another stinkin' lionfish. The surge almost took me into this one... Squat anemone shrimp, dancing... I'm not going to say it was the pride and joy of the week, but I was pretty dang proud of myself for spotting this decorator crab on the last dive. The little guy was about the size of my pinkie nail - note the mysid shrimp next to the anemone Cheers Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaryL May 25, 2009 Share May 25, 2009 awesome mike!! great pics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan May 25, 2009 Share May 25, 2009 Well, one of the perks of teaching is the free diving (scuba, not "free diving..."). And, to be honest, I enjoyed the teaching aspect of the trip just as much as I enjoyed the diving itself (well, almost ). Of course, I took so many pictures - I wouldn't dare bore you with them all. Here are the ones you all might find interesting: more to follow... These are fantastic. Very nice. Thank you for sharing them. I look forward to seeing more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Camaron May 26, 2009 Share May 26, 2009 awesome shots, i need to go diving, looks like fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onyx May 26, 2009 Share May 26, 2009 Sweet, thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OUsnakebyte May 28, 2009 Author Share May 28, 2009 (edited) These are fantastic. Very nice. Thank you for sharing them. I look forward to seeing more. Well, that's all I have of the good stuff. The rest of the photos are just grid surveys - 1 meter x 1 meter squares of pvc we used to count coral vs algal coverage. I figure those would just bore everyone... I won't leave you in suspense, there is much more macro algal coverage than coral coverage on these reefs. turf algae Mike Edited May 28, 2009 by OUsnakebyte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan May 28, 2009 Share May 28, 2009 Well, that's all I have of the good stuff. The rest of the photos are just grid surveys - 1 meter x 1 meter squares of pvc we used to count coral vs algal coverage. I figure those would just bore everyone... I won't leave you in suspense, there is much more macro algal coverage than coral coverage on these reefs. turf algae Mike Oh, so the algae on my coral is almost identical to what lives in the ocean. Lucky me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boret May 29, 2009 Share May 29, 2009 Awesome pictures!!! Thank you Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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