Whidbey Island Critters

Fish & Invertebrate sightings and descriptions, hosted by resident NWDC ID expert Janna Nichols (nwscubamom).
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YellowEye
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by YellowEye »

Agreed! Those scale crabs are cool!
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

Thanks Lynne, Eric.
Memorial Day weekend was favorable for diving, even if little bit early in the day and rather gray and gloomy above.
On Sunday only two divers, but today it was different story. Lots of divers, few came armed with spearguns to get their Lingcod,
more of us were shooting with cameras :)
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

On Sunday there was guy fishing from rocky perch right over the kelp bed, casting into the choppy waters below.
The Kelp greenling I found was not his doing, but the many lost lures tangled on the kelp along with strung out descarted fishing lines attest that he is not alone who is trying to catch fish in that kind of environment... :(

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Catching fish,invertebrates and even occasional diver with a camera is always rewarding ... :)
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

wrapping up the Memorial Day weekend photo shoot:
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

Adding a small and transparent critter to my list.
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by ScubaJess »

Wow super cool! I love Jellys!
Live Long And Prosper!!!

Stay Warm underwater with the Weezle Extreme Plus undergarment! Please let me know if you would like to order one or have any questions. :luv: :partydance: :eric: :taco:
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

Another first for me - Scalyhead sculpin eggs, guarded by the male inside an empty barnacle shell ...
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

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Signs of the returning disease at Langley Harbor :eek:
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

small school of new fish fry at Keystone:
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

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Snails scavengers on dead Buffalo sculpin
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

Decorating is part of crab's life. At least there is a lot to choose from :)
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by LCF »

A decorator crab was the catalyst that made me fall in love with Puget Sound diving. On my 4th OW class dive, the instructor picked up a small one and let it crawl on his glove, and then handed it to me. I watched the graceful animal and was amazed . . . I haven't stopped feeling that way in the 10 years I've been diving here, and I still love decorator crabs.
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

Plankton soup = mostly bad visibility.
For the Red sea cucumbers:
Plankton soup = good eating ... :burntchef:
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LCF
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

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I love watching them feed. It enlivens low viz dives :)
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

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So far, all well at Coupeville among the sea stars there ...
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

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Can survive out of water, but so far I found them only underwater.
I never thought of looking for Cockscombs walking along the beach ...
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YellowEye
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by YellowEye »

Cool! I've seen lots of gunnels (crescent gunnels) under rocks when tide pooling at Alki Lighthouse. In fact they're so common, it seems there are way more under rocks than you ever see diving!
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

The statistics from Seattle Times are quite unsettling ...
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Tidepool Geek »

Hi Jan,

Great post & terrific photos as always!

For those interested, here are some background links:
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-new ... get-sound/ (The recent Times article)
http://www.int-res.com/articles/meps_oa/m525p153.pdf (The research paper on which the article is based)
http://www.int-res.com/articles/suppl/m525p153_supp.pdf (Data supplement to the research paper)

Ecologically yours,
Alex
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

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Thank you Alex for providing the links...
So much work went into the study from which I used only a small graphic table.
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

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Monday morning dive at the Pass ...
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

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Time to tend the eggs, the courtship is over, no more black fin displays, no more serenading ...
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

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baby Oregonians entering the world at Keystone Jetty :
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Tangfish »

So cool, Jan! We Washingtonians need to claim a few sea creature names to play catch up, soon.
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

Thanks Calvin. Somewhere I read that gooye duck was a candidate :)

Little color from Keystone rocks:
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