Whidbey Island Critters

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

Post by Jan K »

The quick way, swim from the beach to the lonely buoy between the jetty and pilings, there is a short rope trail to the anchor.
The longer way, just follow the line from jetty till you reach the buoy line, turn right, follow it to the anchor, on Sunday, the big anchor was completely wrapped in kelp.
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

On Sunday dive we found first Crimson anemone at Keystone. In all the years diving the jetty, this is the first one there.
And as it is quite common elsewhere, the colorful Candy stripe shrimp was on it too. So Maya had chance to see her first
Candy. I know other divers reported sightings there in recent weeks, but I was busy diving elsewhere :)
It is nice to see new addition to the Keystone scene.
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

Langley stars enrolled in Cornell University ...
Well, sort of. In the ongoing quest to get answers to the Sea Star Wasting Syndrome phenomena, I was happy to contribute just a little bit by collecting some specimen to the effort. I was surprised that they were able to make it through the TSA waiting lines and arrive on the other side of the country alive. I hope they will like their mussels as well as our famous Penn Cove variety...
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

Lots of baby fishes at Keystone now.
Here are some of the Sailfin sculpin youngsters.
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

more babies from Keystone:
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Jellyfish are also becoming a common sight these days.
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

I don't know where they came from in such large numbers, for one week ago
there were some around the area in the shallows, but what I found yesterday
was amazing. Thousands and thousands of Barnacle eating dorids, in places
packed together like sardines, and with their eggs all over the area.
Too bad that the visibility was poor due to the minus tide and the ferry
turning prop while at the dock, also the current was unusually strong carrying
plenty of silt, but it is a sight to behold. In all the years diving Keystone,
I never seen them in these numbers, although these slugs are famous for
this kind of behavior...
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YellowEye
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by YellowEye »

Nice work Jan!
I hope those guys eat up all the barnacles that have been plaguing keystone a bit. Let us know how it goes? Do they leave ugly empty shells behind?
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

Romantic pairs at Keystone...
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

This Painted greenling male guarded three egg clusters, each one in different stage of development.
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

Driftwood Park - some crabs around there, but this is the time for Moon jellies, one even with SEVEN instead the normal four gonads !
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

I was very young when I saw this movie:
"Vynález zkázy premiered in Czechoslovakia on 22 August 1958,[ and was featured at Expo 58 in Brussels, where it won the Grand Prix at the International Film Festival.Over the following year, the film also garnered a Silver Sombrero at the First International Film Festival in Guadalajara, a Czechoslovak Film Critics Award, a Crystal Star from the French Academy of Film, and other awards. In France, André Bazin praised the film in Cahiers du cinéma, and Paul Louis Thirard reviewed it warmly in Positif. The director Alain Resnais named it as one of the ten best films of the year. The film was screened by the Museum of Modern Art in December 2012 as part of the exhibition An Auteurist History of Film. MoMA's film curator Charles Silver called the film "a bubbling over […] of unprecedented imagination" with "an undeniably poetic fairy-tale quality." It was screened again in New York City in August 2014 by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, as part of the series "Strange Lands: International Sci-Fi." In The Village Voice, Alan Scherstuhl commented that "The handmade dazzlements still dazzle today … Could it be that old special effects, dependent upon camera tricks and theatrical invention, stir something sympathetic in us that glossy pixels do not, inviting us not just to dream along with the fantasy but also the painstaking creation thereof?"
The baby Lumpsuckers I saw yesterday at Keystone brought back memories ...
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

Another favorable tide cycle at Deception Pass.
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

Happy Father's Day !
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

Another fish adding to the schools of babies swimming in our murky waters these days...
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

The tiny doughnut shaped eggs laid by these small snails are easily spotted on many of the kelp and Green sea lettuce seaweed at Keystone shallows.
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

Don't like getting old? In your next life, try to become a sea urchin :)
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

Tubesnouts at Keystone shallows caring for next generation ...
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Scubie Doo
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Scubie Doo »

Love the drawing on this one Jan :)
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Tangfish »

Such pretty eggs, Jan! Also, I had no idea that sea urchins don't age!
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Desert Diver »

Question that was not answered is if they don't age, why do they die?
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

they might not get old, but they do get sick and get eaten :eek:
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Tangfish »

Now I'm gonna feel a lot more conflicted about feeding an immortal being to a hungry wolf eel!
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Jan K
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Jan K »

Ever wondered what clam is buried under the siphon peeking out from the sand ?
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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by GearHead »

Thank you! I have often wondered what type of clam is buried beneath the sand. This is a great pictorial.


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Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Post by Tangfish »

So much info I have always wanted to know!
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