Pics I took today in Pennekamp park. Need to ID a very weird animal

[dumpsterDiver]

Wow that is very cool. I've never seen anything like that round these parts. They must be pretty rare.

 

[The Chairman]

What a cool octopus. thanks for sharing.

 

[deeper thoughts]

very nice

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

I, too, spent quite awhile looking online last night (to no avail) before sending this out to a couple of marine biologists (yet to respond). Thought it looked like some mutant cross as the head was octopus and the one tentacle seemed so deformed. Blanket octopus...nice. Thanks for sharing.

With a name, found this video clip.

 

[deeper thoughts]

What reef?

 

[streetjudge79]

Molasses Reef in Key Largo

 

[Puffer Fish]

Blanket Octopus huh, interesting. So did I make a really rare find? I've never even heard of one before.

Rare, heck, everyone has pictures of them....on every reef....

Actually, a pretty amazing find.. thanks for sharing.

 

[mselenaous]

Awesome photos and interesting find. Gotta love Molasses Reef, never ceases to amaze me and always something cool to photograph there. I wonder if they followed the recent influx of Man O Wars (I read they are immune to them) that have been hanging around here the past few days. I hear the turtles are having an all day smorgasbord of Man O War. :eat:

 

[trigfunctions]

Amazing find! Do you think it was this:
Tremoctopus
The Bizarre Blanket Octopus - Amazing Incredible!

You ought to send those pics to the folks at REEF:
Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) | Diving That Counts

 

[scuba e]

That was the dive master on board the charter boat. Nothing wrong with laying in the sand is there? He's not hurting anything, it's only sand. The rest of the time he maintained boyancy control. His inflator wasn't working .

I am probably just hyper sensitive. As a U/W photog I try to be the exception, not the rule.
When I was still training here in Southern California we used to put people in the sand to try to get thru the skills (mask flood, reg recovery, etc.) just to deal with the surge. So I am guilty as well.
As far as the sand goes, I cant tell you how many people I have seen settle down in the sand right on top of a bunch of Yellowheaded Jawfish. There are a ton of critters that live there.

Back to your photo though, really, freaking cool. I spend alot of time searching the wierd and rare. You have really had a special experience there. Congrats!!