BajaNomad

Morro Bay 3/19, 20

Ken Bondy - 3-20-2007 at 10:07 PM

Here are some photos from two exceptional dives in Morro Bay Monday and Tuesday. This was a special trip for us, we got to spend some time with Nomads Paulina and Dern, they are really delightful people and we thoroughly enjoyed talking with them.

This is a fairly unusual nudibranch, Flabellina trilineata:



Hermissenda nudibranch laying eggs:



Fringehead:



Orange fringehead:



Hermit crab with barnacles on its shell:



Tube worms:



Gold metridium anemone:

jerry - 3-20-2007 at 10:29 PM

thanks ken your photos just get better and better allways exciting to see your posts

Skipjack Joe - 3-20-2007 at 10:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Ken Bondy
This is a fairly unusual nudibranch, Flabellina trilineata:



Ken,

I tried to figure out what that red mass was underneath the nude. At first I thought it might be some gelatinous sponge. But now I'm pretty sure it's a colony of tubeworms. Those black circles must be the openings.

Do you think it was harvesting these worms?

Ken Bondy - 3-21-2007 at 06:53 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Skipjack Joe
Quote:
Originally posted by Ken Bondy

Ken,

I tried to figure out what that red mass was underneath the nude. At first I thought it might be some gelatinous sponge. But now I'm pretty sure it's a colony of tubeworms. Those black circles must be the openings.

Do you think it was harvesting these worms?


Joe I am not completely sure what the nudibranch is on. At first glance I thought it was the red bryozoan which is everywhere now under that pier, but on closer inspection I am not sure. I am pretty sure the nudibranch was feeding on it. Anyway I will get one of my marine biologist friends to id that for me.

aquaholic - 3-21-2007 at 07:07 AM

WOW!!! Exceptional photos...Ken's posts are the ones I look for and open with great expectation...

Ken Bondy - 3-21-2007 at 08:20 AM

Joe, I think you are right about the red thing that nudibranch is on. Look at the bottom of the frame, you can see a cluster of little "feather duster" tube worms in profile. I've never seen a colony with that many or that small.

bajamigo - 3-21-2007 at 08:34 AM

Stunning, as ever.

Natalie Ann - 3-21-2007 at 09:02 AM

Oh Ken - what a wonderful vision to wake up to your photos!

Let's see, let's see... do I have a favorite today? That nudi laying eggs is just soooo amazing... and the peek-a-boo fringehead - I love him! But those tube worms - the white and golden ones... they remind me of an ethereal band of angels, and win the Nena award of the moment.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for creating so much sunshine on this rainy day.

Nena

Skipjack Joe - 3-21-2007 at 09:55 AM

Bryozoans?

I think those may be bryozoans as you suggested. Bryozoan tentacles look a lot like the 'crowns' on filter feeding worms. This image is a bryozoan extended from it's tube.




I went back to my old 'Between Pacific Tides' and discovered that there are nudibranchs that specifically feed on bryozoans in the intertidal area. And if they're some in the intertidal, why not subtidal.

There's an intertidal polychaete that forms large colonies like the ones in your picture out of sand. It came to mind when I saw your image.

P.S. My name isn't Joe, it's Igor. I know it's confusing and I am starting to get tired of being called Joe. I realize that I created the confusion by creating that smart-alec login.

[Edited on 3-21-2007 by Skipjack Joe]

Ken Bondy - 3-21-2007 at 10:09 AM

Igor
I think you've made a positive id!! That red bryozoan covers almost all the piles now. It makes a great background, but I've never looked at the surface that closely. Where did your photo come from? ++Ken++

Skipjack Joe - 3-21-2007 at 10:41 AM

I just googled up bryozoan images and picked out the first one that clearly showed the beastie from inside the skeleton.

Bryozoans are really cool critters. At human level their colonies look like frost but under a dissecting scope they look astounding. That's true of most inverts as your wonderful photos show, Ken.

Most marine biologist enter the program wanting to study fish or cetaceans or some such thing because few of us really looked at things closely until school. But the scopes reveal a fascinating world that's far more complex and evolutionary diverse and the switch is soon made to some other life form (when selecting a thesis).

Ken Bondy - 3-21-2007 at 10:55 AM

Igor I have learned much about you today, first your name, next that you are a marine biologist. Very impressed. I hope you don't mind if I occasionally ask you to ID a marine critter for me. Regards, ++Ken++

oxxo - 3-21-2007 at 11:10 AM

Ken, your pictures bring tears to my eyes. I am a former, 35 year resident of SLO/Avila Beach. I learned to SCUBA in Morro Bay. Your pictures bring back so many memories!

Keep 'um coming!

marine biology

Skipjack Joe - 3-21-2007 at 12:37 PM

Ten years in college and I hardly made a dime in that profession. I guess I was one of those square pegs that just wouldn't fit into those round holes that life expected. I have never regretted any of it and would not have traded those years for anything in my life.

I just remembered an episode you may enjoy. I never had health or dental insurance back then. My studies eventually took me to New Hampshire where the cold weather quickly inflamed a tooth resulting in a painful abcess. My wife was a nurse and through friends got me in touch with a dentist who agreed to work on it.

So here I'm sitting in the chair, mouth agape (picture Bill Murray in Little Shop of Horrors). The dentist taps on my tooth with that little mirror thingie and says:

"Let me tell you Igor. If you want to graduate and have a good salary some day you need to study large animals (I was doing my work on beach amphipods). Large animals - big salary. Small animals - little salary"

How could you argue with that logic? The man was a prophet.

Bajagypsy - 3-21-2007 at 01:48 PM

Those are amazing pictures once again. Thank you

Iflyfish - 3-21-2007 at 01:59 PM

Stunning Ken, just stunning.

Will you be publishing? These are amazing photos. My days of diving are over and it brings me great joy to see your photos. Thanks for your generosity.

Iflyfish

photos

tehag - 3-21-2007 at 03:14 PM

Again, Ken, just simply WOW.

Paulina - 3-21-2007 at 04:19 PM

Thanks for sharing Ken, and it was great meeting up with you again, and your friend Gary as well. We drove on out to the Rock after our coffee and looked for you on the pier on our way back. You must have still been down swimmin' with the fishes. Give us a call anytime, we'd love to do it all over again!

Love those Fringeheads!

Saludos!
Paulina y Dern

oladulce - 3-21-2007 at 04:25 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Skipjack Joe

P.S. My name isn't Joe, it's Igor. I know it's confusing and I am starting to get tired of being called Joe. I realize that I created the confusion by creating that smart-alec login.


I've always thought of you as SKIPPY.

Ken Bondy - 3-21-2007 at 05:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Paulina
Thanks for sharing Ken, and it was great meeting up with you again, and your friend Gary as well. We drove on out to the Rock after our coffee and looked for you on the pier on our way back. You must have still been down swimmin' with the fishes. Give us a call anytime, we'd love to do it all over again!

Love those Fringeheads!

Saludos!
Paulina y Dern


Thanks Paulina and Dern. Actually Gary is my brother-in-law, or technically my ex brother-in-law. In another life we both married sisters. Those marriages ended, our friendship did not. Of all the combinations of relationships involving those four people (let's see, 4x3x2=24 relationships), Gary's and mine was the best :). We didn't actually get in the water Tuesday until about 11:45am, had some camera work to do before the dive. Best regards, ++Ken++

Cypress - 3-22-2007 at 08:31 AM

Talk about getting "eyeball to eyeball":D Thanks.:bounce:

windgrrl - 3-22-2007 at 07:29 PM

:O ...another set of wonders! Thank you so much!