Sea creature Photos

Thursday, December 12, 2019
Threadfin Butterfly
Beneth the beautiful blue waters of Sharks Cove on the North Shore of Oahu. This beauty is one of the many kinds of Butterfly fish that endlessly flutter around the rocks looking for snacks and the odd snorkeler to entertain. This guy was paricularly cooperative and curious and I very much enjoyed following him and sharing a few moments of his day.

Saturday, October 19, 2013
Swim Class
A young Sea Lion taking a tentative swim not far from his mom in the beautiful waters off the Monterey Peninsula.

Monday, September 2, 2013
Starfish
Another beautiful creature from the Aquarium of the Pacific.

Saturday, October 31, 2009
Leafy Sea Dragon
This guy is one of my favorite sea creatures. He's called a Leafy Sea
Dragon. He's related to seahorses and pipe fish, and is from the waters
of Australia. This one is living at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in their
cool Seahorse exhibit. As I'm sure you can guess he is less of a
sea monster than his name suggests. His beautiful fins camouflage
him in the sea weed as he floats with the ocean surge like a plant.
This was the second time we tried to get to the
exhibit, right after it opened in April it was almost too crowded to see
anything, but this weekend was much less crowded.

Thursday, September 25, 2008
Mediterranean Jelly
This is another critter from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Ahh, vacations are so short and so many days between! The light was very blue, he is actually more brown from what I read about him.

Thursday, September 11, 2008
Moon Jellies
Today was a great day, saw some jellies ate some good food and found
out that Monterey was close enough to make a good day trip. in the past
we have always stayed a lot longer.
These guys were amazing and the display was fantastic. They are in
a small hallway with mirrors on the ends and both walls of the
hall are floor to ceiling aquariums. It makes you feel like you are
completely submerged in a school of graceful jellyfish.
Oh, one more thing, if you do go to Monterey and stay in a hotel.
Be sure to purchase your aquarium tickets at the hotel. You will
get a two day pass for the same price as one day at the Aquarium
and you wont have to wait in the long ticket line at the door.
You can go right in the side entrance.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Shimmering Jelly
Well we raced off to Monterey to see the Jellyfish before they went
away. And they were well worth the four and a half hour drive.
If you are going to be there before the end of this weekend
I highly recommend you check them out. The show is "Jellies: Living Art"
and in addition to the jellies they have some beautiful art that was
inspired by the gracefulness of the jellyfish.
Of course if you can't get there by Sunday, they still have plenty
of other amazing things to see. And I'm pretty sure they will still
have some jellies, just not the big display. But I would imagine
they are planning something interesting for the spot that they
will be vacating.

Monday, September 8, 2008
Creatures from the deep
Actually, I guess they are "creatures from the shallow".
Or even creatures from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
But you get the point.
This is from our last trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
On my way to their Online Field Guide to identify these critters
I found out that their Jelly fish exhibit is going to end
on Sunday. If you find yourself anywhere near Monterey this
week you should stop in and see it. They are really beautiful.
I am sure going to try to get there.
I think they will still have jellies after Sunday, it's
just the bigger collection of rare ones that is over... "Jellies: Living Art"
I did find the details on these guys too:
Tube Anemone
an interesting adaptation of an Anemone that can retreat into that
long tube. And the crazy thing on the left is a
Sea Pen,
but he is not at a good angle to appreciate why he got his name.
When they are standing up they look like a big fancy feather quill.
I'll try to get a better picture when we go to see the jellies.

Saturday, August 18, 2007
Wispy Jelly
I was in the mood for something a little different today
when I was looking through some older images. I realized
that none of my jelly photos from our last trip to the
Monterey Bay Aquarium made it to the Photo of the Day
so it is time to fix that.
Of course, as with most
photos, the lighting makes all the difference.
Without it this guy would be virtually invisible.
However unlike
most of the photos on my site that are artificially
lit I can't take credit for the lighting on this one.
The Aquarium has a wonderful display that is designed
to perfectly light the critters so you can appreciate
their delicate beauty.

Friday, January 26, 2007
On The Ocean Floor
This is another shot from our recent visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was a fun trip, but it is quite a crowded place. If you don't like pushy people you should probably prepare yourself for a rough day. Personally, I think it is time to take my camera SCUBA diving and leave the crowds behind!

Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Sea Flower
The beaches in Santa Barbara are beautiful. And, if you
time things just right when there is a really low tide
you can see amazing things in the tide pools.
This is a Starburst Sea Anemone. And, contrary to the title
of the image it is not a plant. It is actually a meat eating
animal, a cousin of the Jellyfish.
The color however, is all plant (or mostly anyway). It comes from a symbiotic algae living in
the translucent tissue of the animal and can range from blue-green,
like this, to a much deeper green, or even near white if the animal lives in shade.
The rocks in the low tide around here can be covered with
these. When they are in the air they fold their tentacles
in and you can only see the outside which is covered with
broken pieces of shell and rocks. So, if you are walking on the
beach, and see a rock that seems to be covered with
a bunch of broken shells, it is probably covered with Anemones
just under the shells.
This picture is for my Mom. She has always loved tide pools
and I have many great memories of wandering on the beach
looking for exciting things at the edge of the water with her.
Unfortunately, when she visited Santa Barbara, the tide
was a little too high. Next time, we will check the tide charts
first!