Scuba diving in Hawaii will allow you a chance to see some pretty amazing underwater creatures. Scuba diving at night in Hawaii brings out such creatures that you would never have imagined. Long snake-like fish with razor sharp teeth haunt the cracks and crevices (moray eels), armored arthropods climb the reef carrying brightly colored sponges on their back (sponge crabs), voracious many-armed creatures emerge from the sand to walk about on tiny tube feet (sea stars), masters of camouflage ninja vanish in a dark cloud (octopus), and huge sea slugs fly above the reef undulating like a flowing shawl in a Spanish dance. Fish of the reef hunker down in hiding places for the night while the night denizens have their time.
On this night dive at White Rock, Maui we saw all of this and more happening. We finally had to turn back as we got low on air but it still amazes me how the reef and the sand comes alive at night. We saw octopus jetting away from moray eels on the hunt. A new kind of nudibranch I had never seen before,
Platydoris formosa, and more crabs and shrimp than we could count. So few people get to experience the underwater world at night. But if you are adventurous enough there is a world of wonders to be seen.
One of the biggest shocks was finding commensal shrimp living on a nudibranch. These two imperial shrimp were about the size of my pinky finger. They would scurry around the body of the spanish dancer nudibranch and even hunker down in the frilly gills on its back. Even when the nudibranch takes flight the shrimp hold on tight and enjoy the ride.
Scuba diving in Hawaii will allow you a chance to see some pretty amazing underwater creatures. Scuba diving at night in Hawaii brings out such creatures that you would never have imagined. Long snake-like fish with razor sharp teeth haunt the cracks and crevices (moray eels), armored arthropods climb the reef carrying brightly colored sponges on their back (sponge crabs), voracious many-armed creatures emerge from the sand to walk about on tiny tube feet (sea stars), masters of camouflage ninja vanish in a dark cloud (octopus), and huge sea slugs fly above the reef undulating like a flowing shawl in a Spanish dance. Fish of the reef hunker down in hiding places for the night while the night denizens have their time.
On this night dive at White Rock, Maui we saw all of this and more happening. We finally had to turn back as we got low on air but it still amazes me how the reef and the sand comes alive at night. We saw octopus jetting away from moray eels on the hunt. A new kind of nudibranch I had never seen before, Platydoris formosa, and more crabs and shrimp than we could count. So few people get to experience the underwater world at night. But if you are adventurous enough there is a world of wonders to be seen.
One of the biggest shocks was finding commensal shrimp living on a nudibranch. These two imperial shrimp were about the size of my pinky finger. They would scurry around the body of the spanish dancer nudibranch and even hunker down in the frilly gills on its back. Even when the nudibranch takes flight the shrimp hold on tight and enjoy the ride.
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