Went to the bridge for diving on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. To avoid the crowd, I went to LBTS Saturday and today, but that will be in a different report. Wednesday, and Thursday were not too crowded Friday a lot of people were there. For whatever reason I still managed to only encounter a few individual divers underwater. All three days viz was in 25ft-35ft range, with sea temp the same at 79F.
The rest of the week progressed much like Monday and Tuesday, with very unusual observations each and every day. The Magnificent Sea Urchin was still around on Wednesday but was not to be seen again Thursday, and Friday. On Wednesday the unusual find was the Sea Cucumber pictured below. I have no idea what species it might be, and cannot find images that match it on Inaturalist or any of the field guides I own.
Funny that @Scuba_Jenny should mention Atlantic Guitarfish in regards to them being more common than Magnificent Sea Urchins. I have seen Magnificent Sea Urchins 3 times in thirty years. I have seen Atlantic Guitarfish 18 times in 4600 surveys over thirty years. So yeah Atlantic Guitarfish are more common, than Magnificent Sea Urchins, but still rarely seen (At least by me). I observed an Atlantic Guitarfish on Wednesday. First one at BHB. Image below.
On Thursday observed a large specimen of a Queens Helmet aka Empreror Helmet. The REEF Survey slate is 9x6 inches, it gives a good indication of the size of the Queen's Helmet, image below. These are more common than both Magnificent Sea Urchins, and Guitarfish, image below.
On Friday observed a large specimen of a King Helmet, being inspected by a prospective Hermit Crab home hunter. I could not see the mantle of the King Helmet, so there is a possibly if was just retracted deep within the shell. An intact King Helmet even though it is a large shell does not work well for Hermit Crabs, because the aperture is vary narrow relative to the shell size. Ironically, the shell that the Hermit Crab had on its back looked to be a very old and beaten up King or Queen Helmet, so much so that the crab had no problem occupying it. Image below,
Lastly, as if after finding the Magnificent Sea Urchin, the Box Crab I could not identify, the Squat Lobster I could not identify, the tunicates I could not identify, the beautiful Pink and White Dwarf Frogfish, half a dozen Striated Frogfish during the week, half a dozen Seahorses during the week, a couple dozen nudibranchs, the Atlantic Guitarfish, the Helmet snails, the Sea Cucumber I could not identify, were not enough BHB had one more last delightful treasure of an Arthropod species to give up. Pictured below is a Lentil Sea Spider. Oriented with the head up, the image does not do it justice so I have attached a video as well. I was shooting video through a super macro lens, so difficult to keep focus, but you can still get a good idea of this amazing animal. Peace out.
The rest of the week progressed much like Monday and Tuesday, with very unusual observations each and every day. The Magnificent Sea Urchin was still around on Wednesday but was not to be seen again Thursday, and Friday. On Wednesday the unusual find was the Sea Cucumber pictured below. I have no idea what species it might be, and cannot find images that match it on Inaturalist or any of the field guides I own.
Funny that @Scuba_Jenny should mention Atlantic Guitarfish in regards to them being more common than Magnificent Sea Urchins. I have seen Magnificent Sea Urchins 3 times in thirty years. I have seen Atlantic Guitarfish 18 times in 4600 surveys over thirty years. So yeah Atlantic Guitarfish are more common, than Magnificent Sea Urchins, but still rarely seen (At least by me). I observed an Atlantic Guitarfish on Wednesday. First one at BHB. Image below.
On Thursday observed a large specimen of a Queens Helmet aka Empreror Helmet. The REEF Survey slate is 9x6 inches, it gives a good indication of the size of the Queen's Helmet, image below. These are more common than both Magnificent Sea Urchins, and Guitarfish, image below.
On Friday observed a large specimen of a King Helmet, being inspected by a prospective Hermit Crab home hunter. I could not see the mantle of the King Helmet, so there is a possibly if was just retracted deep within the shell. An intact King Helmet even though it is a large shell does not work well for Hermit Crabs, because the aperture is vary narrow relative to the shell size. Ironically, the shell that the Hermit Crab had on its back looked to be a very old and beaten up King or Queen Helmet, so much so that the crab had no problem occupying it. Image below,
Lastly, as if after finding the Magnificent Sea Urchin, the Box Crab I could not identify, the Squat Lobster I could not identify, the tunicates I could not identify, the beautiful Pink and White Dwarf Frogfish, half a dozen Striated Frogfish during the week, half a dozen Seahorses during the week, a couple dozen nudibranchs, the Atlantic Guitarfish, the Helmet snails, the Sea Cucumber I could not identify, were not enough BHB had one more last delightful treasure of an Arthropod species to give up. Pictured below is a Lentil Sea Spider. Oriented with the head up, the image does not do it justice so I have attached a video as well. I was shooting video through a super macro lens, so difficult to keep focus, but you can still get a good idea of this amazing animal. Peace out.
