Maui Night Muck Dive

An Ornate Octopus on the hunt
 Wow. Check out the reef at night and have a totally different experience. Tonight we saw a squid that can fit in your pocket, a poisonous octopus with 2ft long arms on the hunt, and the holy grail of nudibranchs all in one dive.
  Checking out one of our favorite muck diving areas at night provided a treasure trove of picture opportunities. This ornate octopus to the left hunted for small fish and crustaceans by spreading out its arms into all the nooks and crannies of the rocks. After about ten minutes of following him he stopped, brought all his arms under him, quickly dug a hole by shooting water straight down in the sand, then totally disappeared under the sand. Incredible.
a tiny  Hawaiian bobtail squid
about the cutest creature ever, bobtail squid

Juvenile Milletseed Butterflyfish
watch where you put your hand!
The next big find was actually a tiny one, this Hawaiian bobtail squid. It is hard not to put this little guy in your pocket and take him home with you. Beautiful colors and glowing phosphorescent light provided by some very cool symbiotic bacteria that lives in the squid make for a wild nighttime show. He lives in the sand by day and emerges at night to search for shrimp to eat.
   Small fish like this milletseed butterflyfish emerge during the day and hide in little holes in the reef at night. This little guy was not quite sure how to deal with my light shining at him so he froze...perfect for a picture. However when you steady yourself for the shot you must be aware of your surroundings. This like moray eels could be right nearby, hiding in a crack, looking to protect its nighttime lair.

Heidi's big find- Jolly Green Giant!
Jolly Green Giant on Heidi's pinky finger
Another huge find on this dive was the holy grail of nudibranchs, a jolly green giant. Heidi somehow spotted this tiny little 'giant' and very excitedly called me over. You can see how small it really is in the picture of it crawling down Heidi's pinky finger. The green is very striking but I really like the light blue spots you can see when you zoom way in on it. Crystal-like frilly gills and rhinophores add to the fact that this is one of the rarest finds in Hawaii. Now Heidi and I have seen two!
similar to the Melibes in California
Bonefish reminds me of Deep Water Caye
 I have had the privilege of scuba diving all over the world. Sometimes when I see an animal it will remind me of another place far far away. This happened twice tonight. Once with a couple of bonefish skimming over the sand. My first job out of college was working at a fly-fishing resort in the Bahamas where people would flock to try and land these bonefish. Another was finding a large melibe nudibranch. Once at the outermost island of the Channel Islands, San Miguel, Snark and I happened upon a breeding bloom of melibes with thousands clinging to the kelp in the frigid 50 degree water.

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