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Blue-ringed octopus - only the size of a plum, this little fellow's beak packs a deadly poison that'll kill a human in about 15 minutes. Don't touch!
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Blue-ringed Octopus camouflage. Note that not only has he made his skin COLOR whitish, but has changed the TEXTURE to look gritty/"sandy".
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Dumpling or bob-tailed squid - found on a wreck during a night dive, this little fellow (the size of a large grape) was an irridescent delight!
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Pygmy seahorse with finger for scale
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Pygmy seahorse - pregnant male
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Pygmy Seahorse close-up
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2 Pygmy Seahorses - pregnant male with non-pregnant partner (gender unknown)
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Blue Ribbon Eel - another "little critter" - about the size of a pencil, these little guys act outraged that you disturbed their peace!
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Anthias family
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Semicircle Angelfish
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Emperor Angelfish
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Three-spot Angelfish
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Longfin Bannerfish
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Schooling Bannerfish
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Humphead Bannerfish
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Circular Batfish - juvenile
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Circular Batfish
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They went thataway! This assortment of fish - a jack, Napoleon wrasse, yellow goatfish and a few others -- were all in a hurry to get over this reef!
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Bulbous anemone
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Green Anemone
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Tunicates
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Eclipse Butterflyfish
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Longnosed Butterflyfish
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Clark's Anemonefish - juvenile
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Clark's Anemonefish
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Spinecheek Anemonefish (also called Maroon)
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Pink Anemonefish above anemone nearly closed
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Clown Anemonefish
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Clown Anemonefish
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Clown Anemonefish
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Coral Grouper in barrel sponge
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Coronetfish
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Coronetfish head
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Decorator Crab - he has attached several LIVE anemones to his shell for camouflage, and hauls the whole community around with him!
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Porcelain Crabs in anemone
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Porcelain crab - note the "nets" he uses to sweep food out of the water
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Porcelain crab with "nets" completely in his mouth.
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Flathead or crocodile fish
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Crinoid atop sponge
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Cuttlefish trying to look fierce
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Cuttlefish trying to look dangerous
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Notice how spiky he's made his skin
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Cuttlefish now with smooth skin makes his getaway
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Arrow dartfish
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Yellowmargin Moray Eel with cleaner wrasse
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Barred-fin Moray Eel
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Illegal fish trap -- we hauled this trap off the reef onto the sand, cut it open to free the fish, and then notified authorities where it was located. |
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Blue-streak Gobies
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Spotted Shrimp Goby
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Orange-dashed Gobies
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Volitan lionfish
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Volitan lionfish closeup
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Zebra lionfish
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Manta Rays at Manta Alley
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Juvenile Napoleon wrasse
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Nudibranch
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Nudibranch with lizardfish
This nudi crawled right up to the lizardfish, "felt" his cheek, and moved on. The lizardfish never moved, obviously not wanting to blow his camouflage. |
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This delicate looking nudibranch was one none of us (nor the dive master) had ever seen before.
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Nudibranch
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Nudibranch
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Nudibranch
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Nudibranch
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Nudibranch
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Nudibranch
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Nudibranch
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Octopus - fairly large (by non-Puget Sound standards), probably due to the abundance of food, most of the ones we saw were roughly basketball sized.
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Octopus can change color and skin texture in a matter of seconds. This is the same one as in the previous photo who was white a few minutes earlier.
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Same Octopus only about 10 seconds later - note color and texture change again...
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And this is the same octopus a few seconds later, when he got annoyed at me and decided to try to look spiny and dangerous.
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Parrotfish sleeping
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Bumphead parrotfish - usually traveling in groups of 5-10, these 3-foot long giants consume a lot of coral with their beaklike mouths.
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Blackspotted Puffer - like many other puffers, these fellows take refuge in barrel sponges at night.
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Pygmy cuttlefish - full grown, these little fellows (approx. 2 inches long) moved very slowly, apparently hoping to blended in enough to be safe...
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Masked Rabbitfish
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Crinoids
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Schooling surgeonfish
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Scorpionfish
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Scorpionfish
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Leaf scorpionfish
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Leaf Scorpionfish head
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Leaf Scorpionfish
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After photographing two of these pink leaf scorpionfish on the ground for awhile, I noticed a THIRD one atop the reef a few feet away!
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Sea apple - found nowhere else in the world, these creatures were unexciting when closed, but...
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Sea Apple feeding...when feeding, they can be quite beautiful!
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Sea Apple feeding
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Sea Apple feeding
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Small sea snake with damselfish
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White-tip shark with remora - note how "well-fed" he looks; the entire food chain was amazingly healthy.
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Bigeye Soldierfish
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Spanish dancer
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Spanish dancer gills
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Spanish dancer swimming
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Sea Star
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Sea Star
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Red-toothed Triggerfish
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Orange-lined Triggerfish
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Pink-tail Triggerfish
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Titan Triggerfish
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Spotted Boxfish - male
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Yellow Boxfish - juvenile
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Dogtooth tuna
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Turtle
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Turtle
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Unicornfish being cleaned
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Whip goby
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Zebra crab in urchin
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Proper technique for picking up a Komodo dragon by the tail
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BMW K1200LT being envied by a hogfish (motorcyclists will catch the irony in that). Note: not done in Photoshop; it's an actual laminated photo.
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