Dive Report: Panama City Jetties 05-16-2009

[MRXRAY]

That "Christmas" variety Molly Miller is by far my favorite blenny. Nice Shots Hetland!

I have an Oly 560UZ with an Oly Strobe, but am in the market for an Inon Strobe. I'm trying to decide if I want that new strobe or a Flower garden trip..... Hmmmmm?

 

[Hetland]

That "Christmas" variety Molly Miller is by far my favorite blenny. Nice Shots Hetland!

I have an Oly 560UZ with an Oly Strobe, but am in the market for an Inon Strobe. I'm trying to decide if I want that new strobe or a Flower garden trip..... Hmmmmm?

Damn It! If you get a new strobe I'm going to have to rob banks to get a new camera :cussing:

 

[MRXRAY]

LOL! It may have to wait as that Flower Garden trip at about $500 is looking mighty fine!

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

Great pics and report guys..

 

[Dave C]

Xray, another great trip report and bunch of photos. The photo of the big hermit was especially good - excellent focus. The frogfish was a great find; I have yet to see one in hundreds of hours of snorkeling in various localities. A couple of comments: first, what you call a pigfish is actually a white grunt (the stripes around the eye are characteristic). White grunts are very much a tropical species common in the Caribbean and not so common in the northern Gulf. This makes the photo more interesting than if it was just a pigfish. Pigfish (a member of the grunt family but more temperate in the their distribution) are common in the FL Panhandle, and I have often seen big schools of them when I snorkeled at the Destin jetties. I've seen solitary white grunts just a few times at the jetties. Second, in your burrfish photo, you can see a parasitic copepod attached to lower part of the eye. This is the small v-shaped thingy coming off the eye. These things often attach to fish eyes (poor fish!). Gross, but also pretty cool.

Hetland, you also have some very good photos. I like the shots where you can see some coral off to the side. I've never seen any coral at the Destin jetties. What kind of shell is that? It's very colorful and looks big.

 

[MRXRAY]

I was just looking at both photos in my ID guide and I think you're right about it being a white grunt....Good call! I had seen the copepod below the eye but had no idea what it was, again thanks for the input!

Xray, another great trip report and bunch of photos. The photo of the big hermit was especially good - excellent focus. The frogfish was a great find; I have yet to see one in hundreds of hours of snorkeling in various localities. A couple of comments: first, what you call a pigfish is actually a white grunt (the stripes around the eye are characteristic). White grunts are very much a tropical species common in the Caribbean and not so common in the northern Gulf. This makes the photo more interesting than if it was just a pigfish. Pigfish (a member of the grunt family but more temperate in the their distribution) are common in the FL Panhandle, and I have often seen big schools of them when I snorkeled at the Destin jetties. I've seen solitary white grunts just a few times at the jetties. Second, in your burrfish photo, you can see a parasitic copepod attached to lower part of the eye. This is the small v-shaped thingy coming off the eye. These things often attach to fish eyes (poor fish!). Gross, but also pretty cool.

Hetland, you also have some very good photos. I like the shots where you can see some coral off to the side. I've never seen any coral at the Destin jetties. What kind of shell is that? It's very colorful and looks big.

 

[Hetland]

Hetland, you also have some very good photos. I like the shots where you can see some coral off to the side. I've never seen any coral at the Destin jetties. What kind of shell is that? It's very colorful and looks big.

Thanks Dave. It was a challenge to get any photos because conditions were so good (not what we're used to). I'm always glad to see when you post, because I always learn something new.

The hard coral you are seeing is scattered about the PCB Jetties pretty liberally. I seem to notice more this year than last, but I don't know if that's an actual increase, or just my perception. I can usually get a shot of some polyps out in the day time, but only when the viz is terrible. I'm looking forward to diving it at night soon so I can catch some polyps and hopefully octopuses out to get their portraits taken.

The shell looked like a cross between a horse and a crown conch, but probably is a rarer variety, as that doesn't seem to fit 100%. As you can see, it's a live shell, so I didn't want to molest it, but it looked to be about 10" from tip to tip. It was an exciting find, as was the frogfish.

More coral photos:

 

[Rick Murchison]

Coral on the jetties is a hurricane-to-hurricane thing. A big storm will sort of scrub things clean, then they'll start all over. I reckon if one wanted to do the research you could date how long since the last really big storm by the size and abundance of the coral.
Rick

 

[Dave C]

O.K., I did some research last night and the hard coral in Hetland's photos is called northern star coral, scientific name Astrangia poculata. It is the only hard coral found inshore in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Although you usually think of hard corals as occurring in the tropics, this one is actually temperate in its distribution and can be found growing on hard substrates up the east coast to Cape Cod.

Rick, your theory about the hurricanes scrubbing everything clean and removing this coral is probably correct. I know that Hurricane Wilma sandblasted everything in Cozumel down to about 30 feet. I haven't bothered to go back to Cozumel because of this.

You guys might be interested in some photos I took last month on a vacation to Baja California, Mexico: Baja California Mexico underwater 2009 Photo Gallery by Dave_Clausen at pbase.com
I'm still somewhat basking in the post-vacation glow. That's the thing about underwater photography; it takes so long to go through, cull, and process your photos after you get back that the vacation seems to extend forever.

By the way, the reason I am always interested in you guys and your posts is that I own a vacation condo near the Destin jetties and I have spent many an enjoyable hour snorkeling there. I actually live in Alaska, but my sister's family lives in Tallahassee so I am always going to FL. I had a seizure one time so I am not supposed to scuba dive - anyway, I like the freedom and unlimited time in the water that snorkeling gives you. Surprisingly, I've never been to the St. Andrews jetties, but I am planning to head over there for a day when I go to Destin next month.

 

[Hetland]

Dave, I'm not much for snorkeling generally, but I had a great time snorkeling St. Andrews last weekend. I stayed mostly in the kiddie pool area while XRay, Brandon and Corey free dove the outside area (where we scuba). Both sides had lots of small stuff to look at, and the only thing you would miss by staying in the first 15ft or so would be the larger fish, and some of the larger snails (cowrie, conch, sea slugs) who seem to stay closer to the sand.

Let us know when it gets close to time for you to come down, and we'll make an effort to meet you down there for some snorkeling (as long as you let us scuba some too )

O.K., I did some research last night and the hard coral in Hetland's photos is called northern star coral, scientific name Astrangia poculata. It is the only hard coral found inshore in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Although you usually think of hard corals as occurring in the tropics, this one is actually temperate in its distribution and can be found growing on hard substrates up the east coast to Cape Cod.

Rick, your theory about the hurricanes scrubbing everything clean and removing this coral is probably correct. I know that Hurricane Wilma sandblasted everything in Cozumel down to about 30 feet. I haven't bothered to go back to Cozumel because of this.

You guys might be interested in some photos I took last month on a vacation to Baja California, Mexico: Baja California Mexico underwater 2009 Photo Gallery by Dave_Clausen at pbase.com
I'm still somewhat basking in the post-vacation glow. That's the thing about underwater photography; it takes so long to go through, cull, and process your photos after you get back that the vacation seems to extend forever.

By the way, the reason I am always interested in you guys and your posts is that I own a vacation condo near the Destin jetties and I have spent many an enjoyable hour snorkeling there. I actually live in Alaska, but my sister's family lives in Tallahassee so I am always going to FL. I had a seizure one time so I am not supposed to scuba dive - anyway, I like the freedom and unlimited time in the water that snorkeling gives you. Surprisingly, I've never been to the St. Andrews jetties, but I am planning to head over there for a day when I go to Destin next month.