Northwest Dive Club

Beautiful dirona shot, Jan; it almost looks like it's glowing!

Parasites pestering Red Irish Lords. ( they are also common on Buffalo and Great sculpins).

Interesting as always. A bit yucky though.

Gro-oss! Makes me want a full face mask and dry gloves!

WylerBear wrote:Interesting as always. A bit yucky though.

I agree, not a picture one would hang on the wall. But it is something I encounter while diving
and I do try to document what I see. Some stuff is yucky indeed. But they are critters and have
most likely some function in the greater scheme of things.
The Red Irish Lords are guarding eggs now.

Considering how often I see fish leeches though, do you know how much they affect the health of their host? Are there the equivalent of tropical cleaning stations, or other critters that'll eat the leeches?

fnerg wrote:Considering how often I see fish leeches though, do you know how much they affect the health of their host? Are there the equivalent of tropical cleaning stations, or other critters that'll eat the leeches?

I was searching for more information, but could not find much. Hopefully somebody will enlighten us ...

Seems we are getting more wind here in the north ...

but it is calm down under the waves

GPO in disguise as Red, or the other way around ?

I would really lean toward the red on that but without being able to see the tentacles it does make it tough.

Dusty2 wrote:I would really lean toward the red on that but without being able to see the tentacles it does make it tough.

The reason I went with GPO, this side wasn't showing any of the eyelashes I saw on the opposite one.
It was hiding inside a broken piling so my access was limited ...

Yes I know what you mean. I look for the gold color wrinkled skin between the head and tentacles. It's more reliable than the eyelashes but unfortunately it's not visible here so it makes it a toss up. After comparing with a few of my own shots that I know to be GPO's I would say that you are likely right. I have been known to make a wrong call once in awhile.

Nice shot on that wolfie! Great depth of field.

I spotted Widehand hermit turning around an empty shell and it was obvious
that it was sizing it for a new home. So I settled down and waited. And waited.
The crab ignored me, but sure paid a close attention to the job at hand. It was
interesting how it poked around and into the new shell, once almost moved then
slid back into its old one while turning the future house over again. When it
finally made the move, I wasn't in the best position to catch its "naked butt"
on camera. But the crab did hold onto the old shell for while. Twenty minutes
of hermit entertainment


Home, sweet home ...

Jan, this may be one of the most fun sequences you have ever posted, to me. For whatever reason, I adore hermit crabs. I could sit and watch them forever. I've seen them having what looked like little wars, I've seen what looks like mating (pretty silly, when one hermit crab is carrying another still in her shell) but I've never been lucky enough to watch one change homes.

A friend in Mexico has been playing with them, offering them better shells, and has enticed a couple into moving. But these are amphibious ones, and she gets to sit on land and watch them!

Lynne, watching hermit crabs and their antics is fun, I wish we had land hermits here,
I would stay warmer...
I am still trying to figure out why some of the sea stars go through all these contortions ..

Jan K wrote:Lynne, watching hermit crabs and their antics is fun, I wish we had land hermits here,
I would stay warmer...
I am still trying to figure out why some of the sea stars go through all these contortions ..

Removed picture from quote, like we need all these to load up twice?!?


LOVE the yoga reference Jan!!!

You never cease to entertain

Simply awesome!

Enough of stretching, now relax under the parasol

Oh, Jan, what a dive! I'd be happy with just one of those sculpins, and the octo in the shell was just the icing on the cake!

While cold and gray topside, colors found down below ...

Another invasive tunicate ...

You always have awsome posts. I really enjoy reading them thanks

Why are anemones sometimes open and sometimes closed ?
I could understand the close after anemone swallowed something, but it doesn't
explain hundreds of them doing it same time. So I contacted an expert:

Thank you, Jan, for asking a question that's puzzled me for years!

And thank you for the beautiful anemone shots -- I keep trying to get a good portrait of them, because they are SO pretty, but it really takes the right equipment and conditions to do it.