Northwest Dive Club

I was so excited about the grunt sculpin that I didn't even notice the eggs until looking at the pic after the dive.



I also saw a mass of lavender gray eggs last night....I've seen them at Cove 2 near the I-beams as well. Anybody know what they are?

The purple eggs look like greenling eggs to me - and the location sounds right too. Usually there's a very colorful mama around and a watchful proud papa, though they're not NEARLY as aggressive as lingcod daddys are when watching over their eggs.

Excellent pics, Penelope ... my grunt sculpin pics didn't come out at all.

Those look like kelp greenling eggs in the second photo.

Here's a couple pics of mine that came out OK ...





Very relaxing dive ... pretty nice vis too ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Sounder wrote:The purple eggs look like greenling eggs to me - and the location sounds right too. Usually there's a very colorful mama around and a watchful proud papa, though they're not NEARLY as aggressive as lingcod daddys are when watching over their eggs.

Haha, yeah, I've been spanked pretty hard by a lingcod when I (unsuspectingly) got too close to his eggs.

There was a kelp greenling close…..she was napping on the bottom, with a kelp leaf draped over just her head, probably thinking she was well hidden.

Nice pics of the octo Bob! And the worms….they're hard to get shots of, they're so shy.

Nice pics everyone!

I'd agree on the purple eggs being Kelp Greenling eggs.

I'm not sure about the first picture. If those are Grunt Sculpin eggs those little gals are tougher than I thought! Pretty large looking eggs to belong to such a small critter... although... you never know! The egg mass is as big as the sculpin!

proof that we need more artificial reefs!

Penopolypants wrote: I also saw a mass of lavender gray eggs last night....I've seen them at Cove 2 near the I-beams as well. Anybody know what they are?

Supper for that octo above.

Tom Nic wrote:Nice pics everyone!

I'd agree on the purple eggs being Kelp Greenling eggs.

I'm not sure about the first picture. If those are Grunt Sculpin eggs those little gals are tougher than I thought! Pretty large looking eggs to belong to such a small critter... although... you never know! The egg mass is as big as the sculpin!

I don't know whether they are or not either but it's amazing what comes out of some marine animals. Consider what comes out of Stubby Squid or Market Squid. Some nudibranchs seem to have egg masses larger than the nudibranch.

I hate to be a spoiler guys but those are White spotted greenling eggs. Painteds have orange eggs. I gotta get back out there. Haven't done 3 tree in awhile. How was the viz?

Dusty2 wrote:I hate to be a spoiler guys but those are White spotted greenling eggs. Painteds have orange eggs. I gotta get back out there. Haven't done 3 tree in awhile. How was the viz?

Hmmm... you're probably right. Come to think of it those were Whitespotted Greenling that I've been getting buzzed by a month or so ago.

Nice pic, and welcome to NWDC BTW!

Three Tree is one of my favorite "old reliable" sites. Sparky said viz was around 25' on Sunday. Hopefully we've not been getting too much rain to mess the viz up too bad.

Dusty2 wrote:I hate to be a spoiler guys but those are White spotted greenling eggs. Painteds have orange eggs. I gotta get back out there. Haven't done 3 tree in awhile. How was the viz?

I don't think anyone said they were painted greenling eggs ... we said they were kelp greenling eggs ... and I still believe that's what they were, since there was a kelp greenling nearby watching the nest.

For comparison ... http://www.digigreen.net/forums/green-w ... -eggs.html

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I'm with you, Bob. (and many others) regarding them being Kelp Greenling eggs. I was there yesterday and saw about four female Kelp Greenlings all in one area - and one of them was VERY BIG too.

- Janna

There are several resident? really good sized female kelp greenlings that hang out around the tire piles that I have seen several different times.