Gone fishin'

[Merry]

In spite of finding beleaguered invertebrate life on the reefs, we've been seeing a few schools of fish here and there:
Part I...Fish - Merry Passage

 

[Agamemnon]

Wow, beautiful fish!! I was curious if you knew why the bright orange/bright blue color combination on California fish was so prevalent? For example, I’ve noticed juvenile Garibaldi and able Banded Goby both share bright orange and bright blue. Then the juvenile Sheepshead has bright orange. Now I just saw from your photos that the Rainbow Seaperch also has a little bit of both that same bright neon blue and orange! I wonder, is there some evolutionary reason for this color pattern in California?

Great shots again!
Cheers!
Alex

 

[Agamemnon]

Sorry, I meant to say Blue Banded Goby, not “able Banded Goby “!

 

[Merry]

Actually, I've wondered the same thing in general about marine life in this area. There seems to be quite a bit of orange across the board - for example, in tunicates and other inverts.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Orange is the new black!

Salmacina tribranchiata

Spirobranchus spinosus, Christmas Tree Worm

Serpula columbiana

Pelia tumida, Dwarf Teardrop Crab, male

Pleuroncodes planipes, Tuna crab

Phidolopora pacifica, Lacy bryozoan

Distaplia sp.

Boltenia villosa, Spiny-headed Tunicate

Astrangia lajollaensis, Colonial cup coral

Coenocyathus bowersi, Colonial cup coral

Pachycerianthus plicatus

Corynactis californica

Henricia aspera, ridged blood star

Patiria miniata, Bat star

Calliostoma annulatum

Crassedoma giganteum, Rock scallop

Norrisia norrisii, Norris' Top Snail

Acanthodoris lutea

Aldisa sanguinea, Red Aldisa

Anteaeolidiella oliviae

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Flabellinopsis iodinea, Spanish Shawl

Limacia mcdonaldi

Noumeaella rubrofasciata, Red-headed aeolid

Orienthella trilineata

Rostanga pulchra

Thordisa rubescens

Triopha catalinae

Triopha maculata

Phoronipisis californica, California Phoronid

Hypsypops rubicundus, Garibaldi color variation

Neoclinus stephensae, Yellowfin fringehead

Sebastes rosaceus, Rosy rockfish

Semicossyphus pulcher, California Sheephead Intermediate phase

Cyamon argon

Tethya californiana, Orange puffball sponge

Clathria Parthena, Red Beard sponge

Parastichopus parvimensis, Warty sea cucumber

 

[Agamemnon]

Wow, again!! Amazing photos! The Purple Ringtop Snail and Spanish Shawl both also have the combination of orange and blue. I wonder if these are just common colors for marine life in general or if it’s related to the California environment in particular? I suppose some of the species extend beyond California but the orange/blue and orange do seem quite common. Perhaps there is something to do with selection based on the wavelength of light in that area and some kind of favourable effect on the animals? ... I recall there are a bright blue nudibranchs and fish in that area also, perhaps more evidence that there is something favoriting those colors?

Such awesome photos- I hope you make some photo books from your collections!

Cheers!
Alex

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Lots of orange from your neck of the woods as well.

Tochuina gigantea, Orange Peel nudibranch

Ptilosarcus gurneyi, Fleshy Sea Pen

Hippasteria phrygiana, Spiny Red Sea Star

Entodesma navicula, Northwest Ugly Clam

Pycnopodia helianthoides, Sunflower Star

Crossaster papposus, Rose star

Hermissenda crassicornis

Epiactis prolifera, Proliferating anemone

Dendronotus albus

Serpula columbiana

Pollicipes polymerus, Gooseneck barnacles

 

[Agamemnon]

I was hoping you’d send more photos but you didn’t take the bait on the blue fish/nudi comment! I thought there might be a “blue is the new black” photo spree, Haha! Beautiful again and I always like seeing sunflower stars these days!

So it seems it’s the orange/blue combo that’s somewhat unique to California. I asked a friend about this once and he had a good theory but I forgot, unfortunately.

Cheers!

 

[RyanT]

The answer for why so much orange in this environment is complex and...spoiler alert, I don't have all the answers! In particular, I can't speak for the inverts where vision is not an important part of the sensory systems. For the fish, however, the colors are signals to other members of their species, usually for territorial or reproductive purposes. Animal nervous systems (including eyes) are tuned to allow them to do all the important tasks they need to do in a particular enviroment, which is: 1) find food, 2) avoid predators, and 3) find mates. In order for signals to work effectively, they must first be detected by the receivers (other members of their species who need to make behavioral decisions). Signals such as colors, will evolve in response to the tuning of the species's nervous system. For example, if the eyes of a particular individual species evolved sensitivity to orange, allowing them to find food, then color signals used for mating are likely to also be orange. If that species doesn't see green very well, for example, then that color will be unable to evolve as a signal. A lot more work has been done in terrestrial systems on this topic, but it has been nicely demonstrated that the environmental conditions where an animal lives will strongly shape the colors that can be used for signals.