23 Jan 2020
Another beautiful morning!
The boat moved east-ish to Yangeffo for our last full day of diving.
Dive #31 – Mayhem – Yangeffo
Phyllidia elegans:
goatfish:
?
?
Map puffer- I can’t get over how lumpy they look!
Longfin spadefish:
TWO wobbegongs!!!
Freckled hawkfish:
Oh look, another wobbegong (we ended up seeing a good half dozen of them on this dive!):
Sea star working on regeneration:
Nembrotha kubaryana
Nora and Sherry checking out some little critters on the bottom
Dive #32 – Citrus Ridge – Yangeffo
Hello there puffer!
My, what large teeth you have (technically, it’s a beak)
*CHOMP!*
I was trying to get a better picture of that little yellow fish when Mr. Grumpy Gills here photobombed:
Yellowfish:
Goby!
Garden eels- these guys are so strange! They live in holes and stick their bodies out a foot or so to sway in the current, but if you get too close, or they get scared, they tuck back in and stare at you from just beneath the sand
closer…
Ha! this guy didn’t notice me!
This is a guardian goby and his shrimp- the shrimp is essentially blind, so the goby keeps watch while the shrimp clears out a hole for the goby to live in!
Two gobies and a shrimp!
Yellowfin surgeonfish:
Octopus #1
Octopus #2
Banded coral shrimp (yes, he was chilling upside-down):
Whitespot parrotfish- I liked that rainbow patch on his side- it looked like it should change colors like a mood ring:
Tricolor parrotfish (female):
Rabbitfish?
Red-breasted wrasse:
Humpnose Bigeye Bream:
Golden damselfish:
Finally! a wobbegong out in the open- most of them were hidden under ledges:
Pseudoceros laingensis – Purple-spotted yellow flatworm:
Another wobbegong!
Look at that awesome face!!!
Peacock mantis shrimp- first one I had seen that wasn’t in a hole!
Black-spotted puffer:
?
A juvenile humphead wrasse- poor guy looks like he got stung in the lips by something 🙁
Oo! barracudas!
A whole school of them cruised by!
Farewell, barracudas!
Dive #33 – Way Pretty Shallow
Little cardinalfishes:
Hello there, pygmy seahorse! I see your face!
Regal angelfish:
The water here was a bit murky, and I haven’t figured out how to minimize the effects of the particle in my pictures yet.
I think this is a juvenile Humpnose Bigeye Bream transitioning to adulthood (they lose their strips as they get older):
A skeptical checkered snapper:
Ah, red-toothed triggerfish, we meet again!
One day, I will get a good shot of his beak, which is indeed red!
Christmastree worm:
Sea star underbelly:
Masked puffer (I love these guys!):
Puffy sea star:
Mantis shrimp:
Little lionfish- look at the cool blue markings on his fins!
Trumpetfish:
Peacock-tail anenome shrimp:
(I think there is a seriously tiny shrimp next to him!)
This crevice was full of shrimps- it creeped me out a bit…
Hawkfish:
Many-spots sweetlips:
surgeonfish:
Sixbar angelfishes:
hawkfish:
Threadfin Anthias – this guy was a jerk- he would chase all the other fish away from his coral!
He was really pretty though!
Scalefin Anthias – also a jerk.
but a pretty jerk
Another Many-spots sweetlips:
Not the greatest picture, but this Moon Wrasse had the coolest pectoral fins!
Seriously, how cool are his colorings!?
Two Coryphellina exoptata:
Fish always point into the current:
Dive #34 – Gam Selatan – Yangaffo
This is only half of the flatworm- it was huge and wrapping around this piece of coral!
Slug of some sort:
Such an angry little crab!
TINY SQUID!!!
Spot the octopus…
There he is!
Scorpionfish:
A cute little crab:
This Pseudobiceros bedfordi had been swimming- cool to see its underside:
Puffy sea star:
Another tiny lionfish:
Leafy pipefish!! (not his actual name)
This is a sea snake- they are quite venemous, but apparently timid?
I wasn’t gonna get close enough to find out!
Another ornate pipefish!
Ornate pipefish #3:
Ornate pipefish #4 (it was a good night for pipefish!)
Chromodoris annae:
Juvenlie Pinnate spadefish!
Another rare find!
It was hard to capture in pictures, but this crab had a giant piece of sponge on his head and, rather than give up his hat, crashed through these corals!
Blue sea star!
