Here's a phylum that was new to me

[Frank O]

Thanks FrankO for the initial excellent photo and thread-start

Well, while we're giving our Oscar-style thank-you's , thanks for the squid tip! That led to a memorable, if vis-challenged, dive Monday evening.

 

[HBDiveGirl]

Well, while we're giving our Oscar-style thank-you's , thanks for the squid tip! That led to a memorable, if vis-challenged, dive Monday evening.

The heck with the academy...it's diving and cool divers that make life great!! I'm glad to hear it was a memorable dive...On Friday and Saturday I was wishing every diver I know (..and like ...) could have been right there in the cephalopod cyclone with Carlos and me. It was frustrating to see the viz go bad on Sunday, but I loved meeting and diving with Aaron and Kevin, watching Paul's rockin' video from Monday, and hearing that you did get close to alot of squid...many that you could even see. The Redondo canyon is my diving sanctuary...when coastal viz goes bad I can usually get in a 10-15 foot viz night-dive and feel recharged again. WHENEVER I see cool stuff happening I will always post it, hoping that others can come and play asap, so stay tuned.
Claudette

 

[lragsac]

While doing a series of dives Sunday at a place on frontside Catalina that the capt. called Red Bluffs (midway between Seal Point and Little Gibraltar), I came across some interesting little coral-colored inverts that looked kind of like tube worms, except that their tufts were unusually diaphonous/gauzy looking:

http://www.inkbox.net/catalina/phoronid.jpg

I know that it looks like I got carried away with Photoshop's blur tool, but the tufts are in focus and unretouched -- they look that gauzy in the water.

When I got home and consulted Gotshall, it seems that these aren't polychaete worms but rather a phylum unto themselves -- phoronids -- and this species looks to be Phoronopsis californica.

Does anyone else run across these regularly? I gather they're not particularly rare.

Indeed, I see them all the time. They can be found at Casino Pt. as well, in the sandy areas. I also see them at La Jolla Shores. Once your brain registers these little guys, you'll find, as with so many other small critters under water, that you see them all the time and wonder why you never noticed them before.

 

[drbill]

Lauren... how right you are! Hopefully everyone on SB will buy my new DVD which emphasizes the need for all you frenetic mainlanders to slow down and really look when you're out diving... especially when you're on "island time" on Catalina!

When are you and Frank coming out to dive again?

Dr. Bill

 

[scottfiji]

Here is another species of phoronid that I found at Old Marineland / Long point in Palos Verdes. These phoronids seem to popping up everywhere now (literally and figuratively). This phoronid lives in a rocky substrate.

 

[SoCalAngel]

Here is another species of phoronid that I found at Old Marineland / Long point in Palos Verdes. These phoronids seem to popping up everywhere now (literally and figuratively). This phoronid lives in a rocky substrate.

How cool. I beleive that there is only one species that bores into rocks! Very cool....and great picture!