Blue Neon Goby – IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern This species of coral looks alien, with the orange, red, and green coloration and texture. This species of coral looks alien, with the orange, red, and green coloration and texture. I’ve always enjoyed this species coral, which can grow to be quite large and live hundreds of […]
Saddled Blenny – IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern A sea rod is a soft coral that is affixed to the seafloor like a tree, with a central trunk. Corals can be separated into two categories, hard corals and soft corals. Hard corals generate a calcium carbonate skeleton and tend to be known as reef building corals. Soft […]
Rough Cactus Coral – IUCN Conservation Status: Critically Endangered Although we are too zoomed-in to tell, the rough cactus coral colony is roundish in shape. Stony coral, like this rough cactus coral, have a limestone skeleton with a fleshy, colorful, textured, outer skin. As a scuba diver, if you spend time looking closely at coral, you […]
Common Loon – IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern Loons are often confused with ducks because they are about the same size and also swim like a duck. In the remote northwestern corner of Maine is a large lake with a large name, “Mooselookmeguntic”. The word comes from the Abnaki and means “moose feeding place”. It is technically […]
Big Bend National Park The highest peak in the Chisos Mountains is Emory Peak at 7,825 feet This photo comes from a 2021 trip Ben, Nick, and I took to Big Bend National Park in west Texas. The photo shows the Chisos Mountains about an hour before sunset, commonly referred to as the golden hour of […]
Acadia National Park From the summit of Beech Mountain, you can see Echo Lake Located along Maine’s picturesque coastline, Mount Desert Island is the home of Acadia National Park. There are many trails to explore in this 49,075-acre park. There are also summits providing beautiful landscape views. The tallest mountain along the Atlantic Coast of the United States […]
Snowy Owl – IUCN Conservation Status: Vulnerable Snowy owls only head south once every 4 years or so In this photo, a snowy owl takes off from a tree at sunset. I had been watching it for over an hour. The moment is exciting. As the zoomed-in photo shows, these are heavy birds with big wingspans. Their abundance of […]
Big Bend National Park This photo was taken far from light pollution in west Texas This photo was taken far from light pollution, out in west Texas. I took this photo in Big Bend National Park, which sits right on the border of Mexico and the United States. This area is remote. We camped in the desert a […]
IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern They have an anguilliform body plan This creature may appear menacing; however, it is only opening its mouth to breathe. Goldentail moray eels will continuously open and close their mouths as a requirement of their respiration process. These eels don’t have bony gill covers like a fish would have. Instead, goldentail eels […]
IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern Their bodies have horizontal blue and yellow stripes This is the head of a snakefish, otherwise known as a blunt-nose lizardfish. This species is found in the Atlantic Ocean, and more specifically this photo was taken off of West Palm Beach, Florida. These fish live on the bottom (benthic) and tend to […]