Northwest Dive Club

beyond the amazingness of the scene, your ability to get them in focus astounds me!

LCF wrote:Jan, those are photo contest material, for sure. Not only did you catch something unusual, but the expression on the sculpin's face, with his little pectoral fins spread wide, really captures the drama of it.

I totally agree!! That's the kind of thing that really gets judges' attention! Fabulous capture, Jan!

Jan your pictures are beautiful. It takes true skill to take such great photo's! I wished i could take such wonderful photos!

Also photos are nice but please reserve this section of the forum for jan's pictures. I myself have made the excited mistake of posting pictures here too and i understand. Please see this as a humble reminder and not an act of anger. Also to not blow up this thread with acts of anger, pm me with any regards to MY post.

Wow! Wonderful, Jan....simply WONDERFUL! How exciting to get such a shot!

- John

Amazing shots! The greenling is trying to swallow him 'against the grain'-fins and spines make it very difficult for the predator unless it has a huge size advantage- so this could go either way. I suspect the greenling will have to spit him out to reposition at some point, and it will depend on whether he's beaten the sculpin senseless enough by then.

Greg Jensen wrote:Amazing shots! The greenling is trying to swallow him 'against the grain'-fins and spines make it very difficult for the predator unless it has a huge size advantage- so this could go either way. I suspect the greenling will have to spit him out to reposition at some point, and it will depend on whether he's beaten the sculpin senseless enough by then.

Thank you all for comments. Greg, I tend to agree with you about the sculpin having a good chance to get out of this encounter alive. I was watching the struggle for 8 minutes until the greenling disappeared inside the rocks and I could swear that the sculpin was sticking out more then when I found them. It was hard to take the pictures because the large Plumose anemones were shielding them.

Wow, this shot blows me away! I am amazed at your super-sleuth photo ninja sneaking-up skills, that you didn't spook this Painted Greenling and were able to get multiple shots from multiple angles. But the head on shot is perfect!

I wonder if his cirri were twitching as he came across this Scalyhead.

- Janna

Do you have some sort of fish whisperer/hypno-magic powers to make a painted greenling sit still for so long???????

dwashbur wrote:Do you have some sort of fish whisperer/hypno-magic powers to make a painted greenling sit still for so long???????

My thoughts exactly...

Slugs are easier - no whispering necessary

You know, Jan, that last photo is such a beautiful example of the difference between a photographer and an artist. I have seen hundreds of those nudibranchs; I have seen even more photographs of them. They're pretty things, so the pictures are always nice, but to catch one at JUST the right ankle, with the right background, and the right light to make it look as if it's glowing from within -- that's art. Thank you, as always, for sharing your fantastic pictures with us.

Oh, and BTW, Peter and I were trying to identify a shrimp he had taken a photograph of -- so what did I do? Searched this thread for "shrimp" and checked out your pictures! This is an incredible critter ID resource.

Thank you for the compliment, I appreciate it.
According to the State Park website,Deception Pass access to the North Beach will be closed
for the season until April. :(
I took advantage of the beautiful weather and dove the morning slack - what a great dive.
And I found new to me critter - Smooth Velvet Snail. Always nice to add something to the list

There are some other spots in the pass that I would love for you to see Jan - I will look ahead for good tide days through the winter and early spring and shoot you an email. That snail is quite a find! I don't recall ever noticing one there - in fact, thinking about it, I only remember noticing them further out in the strait - west of Port Angeles.

Couldn't agree more about the art of photography. I work pretty hard at my photos and I've learned enough to be something of a photographic technician. I can deal with the technicalities now, but the art eludes me 99.9% of the time. I'm a big fan of Jan's images for a couple of reasons: every one captures the attention long enough for the viewer to learn something; and every one reminds me what a pleasure it is to hang out with Jan on a dive outing - he has such a genuine fascination and excitement for marine critters. That's where the art is: being able to connect people with the subject.

Deception Pass keeps presenting - the Granular Claw Crabs which eluded me for years -
I now find them on almost every dive, I am still enjoying them - this mama will hopefully
supply even more of them for us to see .. After my first shot, she started to hide the eggs
from me ...

No way! That's an incredible find

great crab shots!~ what did she do? just tuck them all behind her?

Trying to catch up from all that diving last week..
More from the Last day of September Deception Pass dive :

That's a really interesting sponge, Jan. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for something like that.

The juveniles are hard for me to ID.

Wow, I rarely see Salmon on my dives - what a great find and some very nice clear shots.

- Janna

Janna, I usually don't see salmon either, this was one of the rare encounters, they were feeding on the snooty plankton.
Well, at least that is what it looked to me like...
The other night I noticed how the Longfin sculpins lost their usual vibrant colors and appeared dull.
Anybody else notice this ?

As long we are dealing with color of fish, here are some Copper rockfish from
Keystone, which put on makeup differently, left side of face dark, right one
more traditional ..
The two fish staked their territory ...

Fascinating find, Jan!

Whoa - that is a neat find! I've only seen bilateral changes in coloration before - never independent sides as shown in your photo Jan. I wonder if these fish can control that independently or if perhaps just this individual has some kind of nervous defect or damage that prevents one side from changing color. Wait a minute - they were both showing different colors each side of the gill plate? Amazing stuff - you _always_ catch the coolest behaviors! I will be watching out for this for sure.

Thanks. Yes, both fish had the same solid color on the left side while the right had the usual pattern. And they stayed together in the same spot. It would be interesting to see if they are there next time I get the chance to get to the end of jetty. And if they keep their "yin-yang" pattern....