Unidentified Anacapa inverts

[Reeveseye]

My wife and I were diving the "Underwater Island" dive site off West Anacapa, CA yesterday. We saw a large amount of the reef covered with the inverts seen in the attachment. I included the starfish in the picture to give a sense of scale, but it's all the yellow, orange, and purple feathery tentacles that I couldn't identify. They look like the arms of a brittle starfish, but weren't attached to any body I could see. I checked my Audubon guide, but didn't see anything similar. What are those things?

 

[archman]

pipe cleaners... duh!

 

[jlyle]

They're all brittle stars. At times and in some dive sites in the N. Channel Islands, they are a foot deep on the bottom. Colorful shot.

 

[SubMariner]

They're all brittle stars. At times and in some dive sites in the N. Channel Islands, they are a foot deep on the bottom. Colorful shot.

I know it looks like a bunch of furry spaghetti, but that's what is it... a whole lot of 'em.

I also agree that it's a neat shot.

 

[drbill]

Yep, not uncommon in the northern Channel Islands to have this happen. I've seen it a few times. We don't seem to get them down here. I think it's the high number of sheephead off Catalina (at least in the Avalon area) as they love brittle stars. They'd never survive in the open here (like many other species including urchins, bat stars, etc.).

Dr. Bill

 

[lragsac]

Yep, not uncommon in the northern Channel Islands to have this happen. I've seen it a few times. We don't seem to get them down here. I think it's the high number of sheephead off Catalina (at least in the Avalon area) as they love brittle stars. They'd never survive in the open here (like many other species including urchins, bat stars, etc.).

Dr. Bill

in La Jolla area, in the canyon. In fact, I ran across some on my dive today. And we do have Sheephead around, just not in abundance. Hmm, Dr. Bill, I'm still waiting for you to come down to San Diego to do some diving

 

[Allison Finch]

EWWWW!!! Great shot of a brittle star orgy!!