Pics of the tough-to-spot, tough to find and the rare.

[deepsea21]

An idea for a thread. It would be cool to see pics of critters that are tough to find, rare, or freaks of nature. I've found that until I see something or someone points something out to me I don't know what to look for.

Here's a Splendid. Nothing special about the Splendid but the tiny juvenile being watched over is tough to spot. I never knew it was there until I posted a photo of a Splendid once and someone pointed out the juveniles in to me. I've since reviewed numerous photos taken of Splendid's and found juveniles in some them that I never knew were there.

Here's a splendid I posted on the Dec 2017 Roll Call thread we named "Spot". The only Splendid I've ever seen with a color variation (that's not a shadow on 1/2 its face).

Frogfish of course is rare and very tough to spot. This one was about 2" long.

Clown Crab about 1/2" wide

Spotted Cleaner Shrimp I believe...

 

[deepsea21]

A few more since I am bored...

About 8" in length a Caribbean Chestnut Moray?

Giant Squid egg mass (posted video on you tube)

The freakish "Love Sponge"

The freakish "Cow Head Sponge"

And this freakish seahorse looking growth of something or other...

 

[Guitarcrazy]

Great photos. Keep them coming!

 

[Trailboss123]

Not sure what either of these are called, but I took the fotos in Cozumel and have only ever seen either of them this once:

 

[kmarks]

Not sure what either of these are called, but I took the fotos in Cozumel and have only ever seen either of them this once:
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The first one is a bearded fireworm. Maxbottomtime posted a couple of great shots of one a few years ago. The second is a painted elysia.

 

[sharky60]

both are actually fairly common. not always easy to find.

Fireworms are found all over, deep and shallow.

Painted Elysia's are easy to find if you know where to look, but they are soooo tiny!!!

 

[flyboy08]

Very cool! I have to stop paying attention to my wife and daughter

 

[deepsea21]

The bearded fireworms are actually coral eaters/predators you'll see crawling about and once you know what they look like and how they move you'll start to see them everywhere. Whatever you see them crawling on they are NOT that coral's friend but hey, they have to eat too. The Painted Elycia's are very tough to spot because they are so small. They tend to most commonly be seen by those who are looking for them on the tiny clumps of bottom green algae that looks like a little furry putting greens that reside in little areas protected from the current/drift behind some structure or a little ledge yet still gets is exposed to full sunlight. I only know this because years ago I bet a DM I could find more of them than he could. Well, I spotted 2 and by the time he was up to 8 on the same dive and I waved him off as enough was enough. I took a beating on that bet but I sure learned where they are to be found.

 

[deepsea21]

A sea slug and a small crab I haven't had time to identify yet. Size wise regarding the crab you can see the arrow crab on the left. This crab seems to have built his own hardened home that he lives in on the side of the sponge.

 

[cobra269]