I was on a liveaboard dive board off the coast of Catalina Island This was my first “west coast” sunrise photo. This photo was taken from the top deck of the boat I was on. I was on a liveaboard dive boat out in the Channel Islands National Park, off the coast of southern California. […]
Notice the school of juvenile fish in the mantle of the moon jelly This month our theme is “light”. What you are looking at is a moon jellyfish, with the sun in the background. These jellyfish are common throughout the Caribbean and South Florida. If you look closely, you will notice a school of juvenile […]
The northern stargazer buries itself and then ambushes its prey! You are looking at a northern stargazer partially buried in sand. Seldom seen by divers, this fish is a master of stealth. Sometimes the only thing exposed above the sand are its eyeballs. If you look closely, even the skin around the eyeball is dotted […]
I was out on a “blackwater night dive” Capturing a flash of lightning in a photo can be pretty challenging, even in Florida (the state with the most lightning strikes every year, ~1.45 million strikes). This photo was taken about 5 miles offshore of West Palm Beach, Florida. I was out on a “blackwater night […]
Arrow crabs don’t seem to mind divers This is a photo of two arrow crabs fighting. During this dive, I remember watching the arrow crabs battle, presumably over territory. When the one arrow crab grabbed the other arrow crab’s blue claws, I took the shot. Arrow crabs don’t seem to mind divers, which makes them […]
This shrimp can be found among anemone. Believe it or not, this beautiful shrimp is less than one inch long. Spotted cleaner shrimp are found among certain species of anemone, in this case a corkscrew anemone. As the name implies, this shrimp actually “cleans” the parasites, dead tissue, and algae off of fish. If you […]
To say the turtle was wrapped in fishing line would be an understatement Diving on a patch reef in the Florida Keys about a month ago, I came across this turtle. It swam right up to me and my dive buddy. To say he was wrapped up in fishing line would be an understatement. The turtle had fishing […]
There is a flurry of activity… This photo comes from a coral spawn dive off the Upper Keys in Florida. Once a year staghorn coral reproduces by broadcast spawning, generally after the full moon in the late summer months. This simultaneous release of eggs provides a feasting opportunity other reef species. This Acropora coral crab […]
You can go your whole dive career without seeing [one of these spiders] If you thought spiders only lived on land, you’re wrong. This is a photo of a Caribbean Sea Spider taken near Blue Heron Bridge in West Palm Beach, Florida. This is a great dive location because no matter how much you dive it, every […]
Like with most things in life, timing is critical. This is a photo of a juvenile American Lobster riding on the back of a nudibranch. To provide some scale, this white “shag-rug” looking nudibranch is only about one centimeter long. The lobster is about the size of a grain of rice. I took this photo […]