Turtle Town isn't just for turtles anymore. Today Heidi and I went to a well known turtle hotspot for a scuba dive. Knowing us we weren't there for turtle watching, we were looking for the small things like this iridescent blue striped Ewa Fang Blenny mimmicking the coloration of a juvenile cleaner wrasse in order to get in close to bite bigger fish. This frog fish on the other hand would not fit into the 'small' category. It was massive and very green. It was stationed just off the reef not moving, just waving its lure out to draw in unsuspecting prey. These frogfish are related to deep sea angler fish and have a very similar lure on their foreheads.
As we were taking in the full size of this frogfish Heidi notice a small, brownish nudibranch crawling along the reef. It turned out to be a rare red spotted nudibranch. The color red is the first to go when you get deep in water but when I took a flash
photo the red color really popped. Also showing off a beautiful red were 3 different Hawaiian red lionfish that we saw. While they are hunted as invasive pest in many parts of the world these beautiful and venomous fish are native species out here in Hawaii.
Many more nudibranchs can be found here at Turtle Town for those looking close enough. Tom Smith nudibranchs, varicose phyllidia, rosy phyllidia, trembling, white margin, and locust are just a few that we saw today. This site is also well known for some very cool caves that you can swim back into and explore if you have a light. The turtles like to hang out and rest in the caves if they aren't already being used by some friendly sharks.
Turtle Town isn't just for turtles anymore. Today Heidi and I went to a well known turtle hotspot for a scuba dive. Knowing us we weren't there for turtle watching, we were looking for the small things like this iridescent blue striped Ewa Fang Blenny mimmicking the coloration of a juvenile cleaner wrasse in order to get in close to bite bigger fish. This frog fish on the other hand would not fit into the 'small' category. It was massive and very green. It was stationed just off the reef not moving, just waving its lure out to draw in unsuspecting prey. These frogfish are related to deep sea angler fish and have a very similar lure on their foreheads.
As we were taking in the full size of this frogfish Heidi notice a small, brownish nudibranch crawling along the reef. It turned out to be a rare red spotted nudibranch. The color red is the first to go when you get deep in water but when I took a flash 
photo the red color really popped. Also showing off a beautiful red were 3 different Hawaiian red lionfish that we saw. While they are hunted as invasive pest in many parts of the world these beautiful and venomous fish are native species out here in Hawaii.
Many more nudibranchs can be found here at Turtle Town for those looking close enough. Tom Smith nudibranchs, varicose phyllidia, rosy phyllidia, trembling, white margin, and locust are just a few that we saw today. This site is also well known for some very cool caves that you can swim back into and explore if you have a light. The turtles like to hang out and rest in the caves if they aren't already being used by some friendly sharks.
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