Lumpsucker at Redondo today

dphershman · Post by **dphershman** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 8:45 pm

The past few months at Redondo have been a bit disappointing critter-wise, but today was different. We saw several GPOs (they seem to be more interested in the pipes than the boats right now), a couple of Nudibranchs, but also one very large Lumpsucker on a piece of wood at our safety stop. Very cool!

Spiny Lumpsucker Eumicrotremus orbis

Shaggy Mouse Aeolidia papillosa

Janolus fuscus

Jan K · Post by **Jan K** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 9:18 pm

Very nice. Love the Lumpie. The larger one still eludes me ...

dphershman · Post by **dphershman** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 5:23 am

Jan K wrote:Very nice. Love the Lumpie. The larger one still eludes me ...

Thanks! This fellow was just sitting on a piece of wood in the open sand at our safety stop. I've only seen these guys at Redondo in the eelgrass further north, away from the most frequented dive area. Most of the eelgrass was stripped away by waves in this past winter's storms. So seeing this one was a real surprise as I wasnt even looking for him.

ashitaka666 · Post by **ashitaka666** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 7:13 pm

Oh wow, excellent pictures. What type of camera/house did u use and was there a filter as well? Also I imagine some type of lights were used. What type?

dphershman · Post by **dphershman** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:22 pm

ashitaka666 wrote:Oh wow, excellent pictures. What type of camera/house did u use and was there a filter as well? Also I imagine some type of lights were used. What type?

thanks!

I use a Nikon D80 DSLR with an Ikelight Housing (someday I'll upgrade the camera!). Two Ikelight strobes, one is a DS125 and the other is a DS160. These photos were done with my trusty Nikon 60mm macro lens. No filters, no diffusers either.

H20doctor · Post by **H20doctor** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:21 pm

Redondo has all the lumpies... Its so not fair

Grateful Diver · Post by **Grateful Diver** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:14 am

I'm as excited by the prospect of nudis as the lumpie ... they've been pretty much deficient from Redondo since the Thanksgiving storm. Nice to see the place finally starting to recover its usual life ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

dphershman · Post by **dphershman** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 8:28 pm

Grateful Diver wrote:I'm as excited by the prospect of nudis as the lumpie ... they've been pretty much deficient from Redondo since the Thanksgiving storm. Nice to see the place finally starting to recover its usual life ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

We can only hope.... we used to see lots of varieties there, but the last few dives I didn't see a single invertebrate and barely any fish at all.

Hopefully this is a sign of things to come this spring.

Grateful Diver · Post by **Grateful Diver** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 7:18 am

It's been unusually wet weather the past few months. Considering all the runoff that happens at the 'Dond, I'm hoping it was just that the critters went elsewhere to enjoy a bit less pollution and fresh water ... and that now we've had a string of less rainy days, they're daring to come back ... also, with the longer days the spring "lettuce" is starting to grow.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Scubie Doo · Post by **Scubie Doo** » Fri Apr 22, 2011 10:03 am

Found this little guy at Redondo last night. It was at 12' just north of Salty's. It was really on the move and would not hold still for a good shot :-) There was almost no large life but we saw 7 stubby squid (including the smallest one I have ever seen). I zoomed in to show the grains of sand. There were a lot of baby critters, small gunnels and poachers. And one medium sized octo under the boat.

I am pretty sure Penders got a few really nice shots of the PSL. So hopefully he posts them

mpenders · Post by **mpenders** » Fri May 13, 2011 9:48 am

Scubie Doo wrote:I am pretty sure Penders got a few really nice shots of the PSL. So hopefully he posts them

Takes awhile for me to get the hint. Here's a couple from our April 21 dive at Redondo:

John Rawlings · Post by **John Rawlings** » Fri May 13, 2011 10:25 am

What wonderful photos!!!

It never fails to amaze me how varied the coloration of Lumpsuckers can be!

- John

Scubie Doo · Post by **Scubie Doo** » Fri May 13, 2011 10:45 am

It has been so long I forgot we saw this... Better late than never I guess :-D

Scubie Doo · Post by **Scubie Doo** » Fri May 13, 2011 10:50 am

BTW - Good pictures. I knew you got a couple keepers!!!!!

lavachickie · Post by **lavachickie** » Sat May 14, 2011 7:19 am

I really hoped to see a lumpy this past fall/spring and it still eludes me. Everyone is seeing them but me! waaaaa! Was going to go to Redondo tomorrow but scrapped because of the weather. Maybe I should reconsider (it's a day of eight hours of driving for me for two dives, remember).

dphershman · Post by **dphershman** » Sun May 15, 2011 6:13 am

lavachickie wrote:I really hoped to see a lumpy this past fall/spring and it still eludes me. Everyone is seeing them but me! waaaaa! Was going to go to Redondo tomorrow but scrapped because of the weather. Maybe I should reconsider (it's a day of eight hours of driving for me for two dives, remember).

It poured pretty badly last night, and its going to be raining hard here all day. There's a small stream that empties onto the beach, things get kind of mucky with a big runoff. Most of the time you'll see lumpies at Redondo at night, but once in awhile you can spot them during the daytime. Look in the shallows at about 10-15 feet north of Salty's.

Northwest Dive Club