Capturing the Moment

Tiny free swimming bobtail squid   While searching for nudibranchs in the waters off Tulamben, we found a lot of other wondrous creatures to keep the camera firing. Our local dive guide Tisnu spotted a tiny swimming speck which turned out to be a baby bobtail squid. I fought for a few minutes trying to focus on and snap a picture. I will say it was a hundred times easier when the squid landed on a nearby hydroid. Pipefish Camouflage Crabs blended in with their surroundings and shrimp found interesting homes on the underside of sea stars and on a single piece of wire coral. While most of these methods of camouflage are for defense, the giant mantis shrimp needs no such thing. Sea Star Shrimp   The giant mantis shrimp looks like a medium size lobster when totally out of its hole. But usually prey won't get that chance to see that. This giant shrimp sits deep within its burrow, with only its two complex eyes poking up, stalking the possible prey nearby. G...

It was a beautiful day on the South shore of Maui and the visibility reports were coming in positive all day so Heidi and I came up with the plan for a night dive at Makena Landing. It turned out to be more than we could imagine, with photo opportunities around every turn.    Our first big find was my first adult Spanish dancer nudibranch. Our underwater lights lit up so many shades of red, orange, and pink along its sinuous body. I had seen juvenile spanish dancers in shallow tidepools at night before but never this giant. Spanish dancers can grow to a foot in length, making it the largest nudibranch in the world. Usually I have to strain my eyes to focus on tiny nudibranchs much smaller than a finger. Often we come across spanish dancer egg cases which look like velvet roses attached to the rock.    These nudibranchs have something in common with spanish shawl nudibranchs which I often found in the waters off California. They are able to swim and cover vast...