Northwest Dive Club

You are a fountain of knowledge, Jan! Always inspired by your photography and artwork

Thanks

It saddens me when I come across sights like this .
The cut off head of Lingcod at the underwater park where they are protected and in time, when they protect their nests ...

Not to mention potentially endangering divers. People like that guy need to face fines and gear confiscation, at a minimum ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Frustrating indeed Jan.

Closer look at the Sunflower star, which is slowly returning to Keystone ...

Jan: I've wondered about this. On a night dive I have had a pycnopodia raise one of its arms and point it at my dive light and continue to follow it as I swam past.
-Curt

Curt, that is an interesting observation. I shall try it some day. Or night

In spite of the silt in the water, diving Deception Pass is always rewarding...
Colors, and more colors.

Beautiful!

Another encounter at Keystone Jetty - Where the toothy big fish take their oral hygiene seriuosly

What a dangerous job!
Great shot!!!

Latest Holmes Harbor and Langley Harbor sea star surveys.
Langley with two sick stars attests to the presence of the wasting ...
Not all is well, yet.

Great to see the sunflower stars returning. Fantastic photos, illustrations and info as always, Jan!

Thank you, yes, I miss the Sunflowers, they used to get involved in all kinds of mischief, fun to photograph
And the obviously kept in check the Green sea urchins. ...

Unlike other sea stars which release thousands of eggs into the water column and hope for the best, the Six rayed ones keep the eggs underside and nurture them till they hatch...

Since we are on the subject of reproduction, I switch from stars to crabs ...
After week of bad weather and unfriendly tides I was able return to Keystone to check on the horde of Graceful decorator crab females.
I found them still at the same spot, this time it was a hive of activity as they climbed on top of each other to get as high as possible into the water column to release their larvae. Unfortunately, it seems I got there little late as most of them already released their brood into the world ...

Hi Jan,
Very cool find! I've never heard of this behavior but it is a great idea in terms of giving the larva the best chance possible for dispersal.
I seem to recall Greg J. talking about aggregations of Dungeness crabs but I think that the circumstances were different.

Innovatively yours,
Alex

Selfie from Deception Pass. It sure looks like Cabezon is the one on the right :

Few more from the last couple dives at the Pass. First day was kind of drizzly, sunshine the next, Can't complain, still rewarding dives.

Another Lingcod cleaning at Keystone. Sometimes year goes by without sighting, must be a lucky year for them.
On the other hand, the commensal worm on sea star is much common sight.

Happy clams of Keystone Jetty. Relative safe from the frying pans thanks to the underwater park status

Visibility improving at Keystone

Spawning is happening all over the place, at Deception Pass I found two critters for the first time, Creeping pedal cucumber and Green sea urchins on Thursday and on Friday Stimpson's sun star and Red sea cucumber, but them I have seen spawn before. It was a good way to spent April Fools Day

Couple dives at Skyline under the blue skies. What a beautiful weather we had

Hi Jan,

Congratulations on finding the baby six-rays - those puppies are hard to pick out under the best of circumstances!

Observationally yours,
Alex