Merry
Contributor
One thing we've observed is that some species of invertebrate life, notably nudibranchs, their relatives, and gelatinous inverts like jellies, are not present locally in the same numbers every year. It's been several years since we've seen the bounty of jellies, salps, siphonophores, larvaceans and other mid-water animals that we previously enjoyed.
In the Palos Verdes area, some nudibranch species have made an appearance only once or twice in nearly 10 years. The converse is also true. For the past 2 years, we've been accustomed to seeing Polycera, Felimare, and Felimida species that were previously pretty sparse. The delicate, almost transparent Ancula gibbosa is one of those. We used to see them only on the barge, but now there's a bumper crop of them reproducing near the Crane at Haggerty's.
As Phil said, it was a strange weekend of diving off Redondo. Either the vis was fair at the Crane, but wind drove us home, or conditions were great at the surface at Golf Ball Reef, but was the pits below.
Kelp rockfish
A polyclad flatworm, Pseudoceros mexicanus that I found on the side of a dock float.
The black dots on the head behind the pseudotentacles represent the cerebral eyespot.
Juvenile treefish
Ancula gibbosa mating. Get 'em while they last!
Polycera hedgpethi at Golf Ball Reef. If you find a clump of Bugula containing Polycera atra, P. hedgpethi might be there, too.
Juvenile (less than quarter-inch) Polycera tricolor.
In the Palos Verdes area, some nudibranch species have made an appearance only once or twice in nearly 10 years. The converse is also true. For the past 2 years, we've been accustomed to seeing Polycera, Felimare, and Felimida species that were previously pretty sparse. The delicate, almost transparent Ancula gibbosa is one of those. We used to see them only on the barge, but now there's a bumper crop of them reproducing near the Crane at Haggerty's.
As Phil said, it was a strange weekend of diving off Redondo. Either the vis was fair at the Crane, but wind drove us home, or conditions were great at the surface at Golf Ball Reef, but was the pits below.
Kelp rockfish
A polyclad flatworm, Pseudoceros mexicanus that I found on the side of a dock float.
The black dots on the head behind the pseudotentacles represent the cerebral eyespot.
Juvenile treefish
Ancula gibbosa mating. Get 'em while they last!
Polycera hedgpethi at Golf Ball Reef. If you find a clump of Bugula containing Polycera atra, P. hedgpethi might be there, too.
Juvenile (less than quarter-inch) Polycera tricolor.
