More things we used to shoot. I really like dartfish, here is a nice pair from North Sulawesi. These guys (Nemateleotris magnifica) have a parasite named after them (Serpentisaccus magnificae). The descriptions of the parasite are all a bit sketchy since the head of the copepod was buried so far in the tissue they only could look at them from the neck down. In any case, enjoy.

Hairy Froggy—here is a dirty dirty guy, a frogfish that looks like he was rolling along in the dirt. In any case enjoy.

On our recent trip to North Sulawesi on the Sunshine, the guide found this tiny flatfish (maybe 1/2 inch or 12 mm long). He seemed very happy to sit on the dichroic glass stage. 

Here is a nice little Feather Duster Worm (Sabellidae) from our recent adventure with friends on the Sunshine. These are amazing creatures who can generate superoxide dismutase efficiently to counteract some of the oxidative stress encountered as temperatures of the ocean rise and as the water quality deteriorates. Interestingly, the anti-oxidative content was much higher in the crown (the pretty bit) compared to the tube which makes sense since the crown is out there all the time. In any case, enjoy.

We went diving Friday here in LA. Quite a difference between the land and the sea. At home around 5PM it was 110F (43C) while in the water it was 50F(10C). Conditions for our Giant Stride group were quite good in spite of the cold. Here is a nice little Coryphella (thanks to Dana) sitting on the telescope felt. Normally these guys have very long slender oral tentacles, this guy must have been in a fight.

Here is a nice little Tritonia festiva (diamondback tritonia) on the felt stage from our dive last Friday with friends. Tritonia are well known swimmers and it was thought that they swam away from trouble in response to an external signal. This is apparently not entirely true. If you isolate the brain of a tritonia (don't ask) and give it a single electrical pulse the brain generates all of the neural events that occur in the whole animal while swimming. This means that brain must have independent central mechanism as the determinant of swimming behavior which is quite astounding. (Dorsett and colleagues, J Neurobiology, 1973, p 287, ping me if you want a copy).

Here is a nice little Flabellinopsis iodinea (Spanish Shawl) from our dive last Friday. He is sitting on the felt stage. As we have said before the orange, blue, red and yellow are all esters of astaxanthin (probably from his food). But the white sparkly bits on some cerata and the middle of the rhinophores are in fact reflective crystals, mostly 2 crystals of guanine (part of DNA) that are stacked together just right to be reflective. A group at UCSB has done a tremendous amount of work to sort this out. In any case, enjoy.

Here is one of our (I think) prettiest local nudibranchs, the Felimida macfarlandi. It has long been thought that body color patterns are a stable taxonomic identifier of a species of nudibranch. As the young kid supposedly said to Shoeless Joe Jackson, "say it ain't so Joe". It in fact ain't so. In a recent (2016) paper a group from Munich has shown that color patterns are not necessarily indicative of speciation. In any case enjoy.

Here is a nice little Cyerce bourbonica from Indonesia on our dive trip on the Sunshine. Sitting on the dichroic black glass.  Why bourbonica? Something to do with whiskey? Sorry, no whiskey involved. Nathalie Yonow from the UK named him after the original name of the Island now call Le Reunion (where she found a bunch of them). Le Reunion’s original name was Bourbon after the house of Bourbon, not after the American Whiskey. In any case enjoy (perhaps with a sip of Woodford (or Angel's Envy).

Here is a nice little Beroe from our dives last weekend with friends on the Giant Stride. Water was cold (49F, 9.5C) but clear and tons of jellies. Beroe are well known to eat things larger than themselves but you might guess it would be tough on your skeleton especially if it is soft. It turns out that Beroe can synchronize their cilia (Tamm, Nature 1988) which greatly increases stiffness and as the author says, "this synchronization serves to prevent the organism from fraying apart from stress involved with prey ingestion”. In any case enjoy.

Here is a nice little Favorinus (sp2) from our Sunshine trip. Sitting on black dichroic stage.

Here is a nice little soft coral cowrie sitting on the blue and white stage with his siphon looking around. It had  long been thought that mantle pattern and colors were species specific but recent DNA analysis of some Ovulidae suggest otherwise. In any case, enjoy.

Here is a nice little frog fish (little not tiny) from our recent trip to NAD. Enjoy.

Our guide in Lembeh (Risman) wanted me to snoot everything. He took the strobe/snoot off the camera and aimed it where he thought was nice. Here is last night's froggy with a bit of snooting. Enjoy.

First picture from this Komodo trip. Here is a nice little Trapania (sp unknown to me). Enjoy.

Here is a nice little jelly from our first bw dive last night.

Here is a nice little megalops from last night's black water dive. Enjoy.

Bring in the clowns

Here is a nice little Stiliger/Costasiella (no one knows) from a dive in Bontoh. Enjoy.

Here is a nice little Hyselodoris (maybe maculosa) from Sangeang today. Enjoy.

Here is a nice little Eubranchus. My nudibranch wizards (Christiane and Martha) say it is an sp. Enjoy.

Last night on a blackwater dive we found this squid (not sure what species) different from other squid we have seen. Enjoy.

Here is a nice little larval tube anemone from our blackwater dive last night.

Here is a nice little Caulerpa mimic stiliger from our trip to Komodo. He looks exactly like the Caulerpa he lives on.

Here is a nice little snail sitting on the telescope felt stage. You can see part of his shell and the mantle (muscle type tissue) that covers the shell. It is the mantle that actually converts calcium in sea water to calcium carbonate to make the shell. The siphon and eye stalks (you can see the tiny eye) are actually part of the mantle. In any case enjoy.

Neville Coleman was a pioneering underwater photographer and writer. There are a lot of different species named after him. Here is a nice little Phyllodesmium colemani having a bad hair day sitting on a black felt stage. These guys are another species that mimics the soft coral they live in. Enjoy.

Mr. Covid. Here is a nice little snail with a cool mantle. Reminds me of a virus.

Here is a nice little crinoid from a dive today at a site called crinoid canyon (it was appropriately named). Crinoids are weird; they spread their arms perpendicular to the current with the feeding side down stream (counter intuitive to me at least). This behavior has allowed folks to discern the flow of current in the antarctic, just watch the crinoids and you know where the current is. Enjoy.

Here is a nice pair of fire dart fish from a dive this morning in Komodo at Cannibal Rock.

Here is a nice little juvenile reef basslet from our black water dive last night. Enjoy.

Here is a nice little Cabangus regius (once upon a time it was a dendronotus). Interestingly these guys egg development is highly temperature controlled, a 3C increase in temp means about half the development time. Don't have any idea on what that might mean WRT global warming but in places like Komodo where the temp might range from 20 to 30C, it seems like these guys might prefer to lay eggs when it is warm. In any case enjoy.

Black water squid from a dive two night ago in Komodo with friends. Enjoy.

A nice little Costasiella a.k.a. shaun the sheep from a dive in Komodo yesterday. Enjoy.

Here is a nice little brain jelly from our black water dive last night in Komodo. You can tell this is a male since what looks a lot like a brain is actually gonads. In any case enjoy.

Megalops is the second larval stage of crabs, (zoe is first I think). Here is a nice little megalops from a black water dive last night. Enjoy.

Here is a nice little rough snout ghost pipefish. These guys make a pouch from the skin to keep the eggs from flying away. Enjoy.

Here is a nice little Stylocheilus (longicauda?) from Komodo. These are interesting sea hares that apparently eat only a single organism. These guys eat only a filamentous green algae Micorceleus. Feeding them other very similar algae caused them to not gain weight (how do you weigh a wet live nudibranch?) or even lose weight. In any case enjoy especially the blue spots.

Here is a nice little Miamira magnifica from Komodo on our recent trip. These guys have been shown to contain some polybrominated compounds (where does the Br come from?) that are well known fire retardants leading to speculation that the compounds are of human origin. In a recent paper a group from the U of Queensland have shown that the likely source of these compounds is likely from cyanobacteria living in sponges that the Miamira eats, but pollution as an origin can not be totally ruled out. In any case enjoy (you can see why they are called magnifica).

Yet another soft coral cowrie. Here is a nice little Prionovolva sitting on the blue sky stage in Komodo. The mantle of the cowrie (the epidermis) is what makes the hard shell (calcium carbonate) and what allows the cowrie to be very very well camouflaged. In any case, enjoy.

Here is a nice little Marionia (sp?) from Komodo. Enjoy.