My first...

[orangelion03]

During my dive at Smugglers Cove, Santa Cruz, this past weekend, I spotted my first Zebra Goby! What a lil' cutie!

Of course, I decided not to carry my camera on that dive...

http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/zoo/fish/gobies/lythrypnus/Lzebra.htm

 

[Mo2vation]

During my dive at Smugglers Cove, Santa Cruz, this past weekend, I spotted my first Zebra Goby! What a lil' cutie!

Of course, I decided not to carry my camera on that dive...

http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/zoo/fish/gobies/lythrypnus/Lzebra.htm

I see zillions of them in the Cat dive park when I dive there. They're very skittish. I have a bunch of terrible pictures of them. I'm hoping to get some better shots now that I can shoot them from a little further away with my new 105.

We'll see. 105 heading out this weekend for its first dives.

Congrats. You'll start seeing more and more of them now.

---
Ken

 

[scottfiji]

I see zillions of them in the Cat dive park when I dive there. Ken

zillions? I think you mean zillions of blue-banded gobies, right? zebra gobies look similar, and live in the same habitat along with the blue-banded gobies, but zebra gobies are rare. Maybe 1 in 100 blue colored gobies are zebra gobies.

Scott

 

[shoupart]

You know, Scott, I am always impressed your knowledge of marine life and ability to identify everything.
What books/websites/other resources do you use as a reference for this? Any favorites you'd like to share?

 

[scottfiji]

here's a couple photos I thought I'd put up just for fun.

first photo shows about 40 blue-banded gobies at blue cavern point at catalina. but actually, 3-4 of them are zebra gobies. I didn't notice until I viewed the photo at full size.

Second photo is a cropped section of the first photo, showing a zebra goby. Its a little blurry, but you can still tell which is the zebra.

Scott

ps - thanks Jason.. Its just tons of reading, lots of diving.. many different books/articles, not really any one in particular. and we shouldn't hijack orangelion's thread too much!

 

[divekim]

Nice Scott, I can pick out 2 of them. They are actually pretty easy to distinguish when you put the two types of gobies together. The Zebra just isn't quite as vibrant as the Blue Banded one.

Congratulations Orangelion, it took me many dives in La Jolla before I finally caught sight of one.

Kim

 

[Mo2vation]

zillions? I think you mean zillions of blue-banded gobies, right? zebra gobies look similar, and live in the same habitat along with the blue-banded gobies, but zebra gobies are rare. Maybe 1 in 100 blue colored gobies are zebra gobies.

Scott

I'm quite familiar with them. In the Cat dive park, I see many, many on every dive in the park. They're very easy to spot (just very hard to photograph) if you know where to look. They hang out by the deep cracks and overhangs. They're very rarely out in the open. Just like in your pic - most of them are near cover.

But then again, I'm also the guy that sees octo on every dive there, too.

---
Ken



This is about the best shot I've taken. It sux, but its the best I've been able to get of these guys. Funny though, it was taken with Jaye's Sony P&S.

 

[orangelion03]

You know, Scott, I am always impressed your knowledge of marine life and ability to identify everything.
What books/websites/other resources do you use as a reference for this? Any favorites you'd like to share?

Jason;

A lot of us use Daniel Gotshall's "Pacific Coast Inshore Fishes", currently in it's fourth edition. I picked mine up at Sport Chalet, but you can buy it at most dive shops and Amazon for about $20. His companion Guide To Marine Invertabrates" is a "must have" as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Pacific-Insho...ef=sr_1_2/103-9947689-4275800?ie=UTF8&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Marine-...=pd_bbs_1/103-9947689-4275800?ie=UTF8&s=books

Thanks for posting the pics to Scott and Ken!

 

[Empty V]

Congrats on the sighting Robert! Now I'm on the lookout!

Billy

 

[Robert Phillips]

I usually spot 2 to 4 of them every time I dive Deadmans Reef in Laguna. I have tried to get pics, but they split every time I get the camera ready!