Some More Photos From Morro Bay 6/5 and 6/6

I hope you guys never get tired of these.

Red corynactis anemones:



Tube worm:



Nudibranch on clam siphon:



One-spot fringehead:



Anemone:



Metridium anemones:



Fairbanks point:



Iceplant flower:

Pics

Oh Ken, I love that tube worm! And the Metridium anemones look like the good lung at the anit-smoking display downtown - honest.
Thanks for sharin' with us one mo' time. Don't stop.

Nena

Ken Bondy, Really appreciate your pictures. Thanks.

Tom:

Here's one. There are a lot of them in a field of old turban snail shells in about 70fsw just off of Cat Rock at Anacapa:

Tom

The onespot fringehead (Neoclinus uninotatus) has a bright yellow and blue spot at the front of the dorsal fin. I don't think that is present in the sarcastic fringehead (Neoclinus blanchardi). Here's a mantis shrimp from Indonesia, I've never seen one here in California:

!!! Awesome Shrimp !!!

Ken , Breathtaking photos, the shrimp was awesome !! Keep them coming please. CaboRon

Quote:

Originally posted by CaboRon Ken , Breathtaking photos, the shrimp was awesome !! Keep them coming please. CaboRon

Thanks CaboRon. They are strange animals, potentially dangerous:

ok, Ken, I'll bite... why are they potentially dangerous?

High Colesteral ?

Nena and Sally, they have a hammer-like claw that they use to stun/kill prey, and for defense. They are big, often a foot long, and the impact from the hammer claw has been known to break fingers and dome ports on cameras. And they probably have high cholesterol, but I can't confirm that CaboRon .

++Ken++

Beautiful and Dangerous

Does anyone know what that trumpet-like structure may be?

@CaboRon - I used a Fuji S2 Pro DSLR camera with a Nikon 60mm Micro lens in a Subal housing, two Nikon SB105 strobes.

Igor, the trumpet must be pretty fundamental because they all have one:

Igor
This is possibly more than anyone needs to know about tube worms, but that trumpet-shaped thing is called an operculum. It is used to seal the top of the tube when the worm retracts the crown back inside the tube. They can do that instantly when they are approached too closely, just a "poof" and the are gone. What did I do before they invented google?

Ya got me! l should have realized it was rhetorical. Of all people you would know what the operculum was Anyway at least I learned what it was. I have seen them a few thousand times and, until you asked the question, I didn't know what that wooger was!

++Ken++

Ken and Natalie,

I don't know if people are interested about what these animals are but I think some might be. So I thought it might be helpful to see what's inside of the tubes.

This is a drawing of the external morphology of the animal. A problem with living in a tube is going potty. These animals collect their poop and pass it outward from cilia to cilia along the body until it's at the crown. A lot is done with currents. They have dedicated cilia at the front that create a current that finally rids the matter

When you look at the crown of the worm you may get the impression that they are passively filtering water as it flows past their tentacles. Actually, it's more interesting than that. They have small hair like projections in the crown that 'beat' or 'row' in unison creating small currents that funnel water into their mouths. As the diatoms adhere to the tentacles the food is transported into the center. You can see this happening well by adding dye in small amounts near the crown and looking through a dissecting scope.

This last drawing shows the rejection path on both sides of the body leading to the central outward current that finally disposes the matter.

Those hairs rowing in unison... what an image that brings. Do ya 'spose there's one little hair on each tentacle which beats a drum and calls "yo ho heave ho"?!

Seriously... thank you Igor for that marvelous explanation with drawing of the most personal dynamics of a tube worm. And here all this time I thought they were just pretty.