Cozumel Underwater 2

Cozumel - Threespot Damselfish
Threespot Damselfish Pomacentrus planifrons

Ferocious, territorial, extremely pugnacious, and fortunately only four inches long. In the background is the tentacle of a Giant Anemone Condylactus gigantea .

Cozumel - French Angelfish
French Angelfish Pomacanthus paru. Now my collection is complete.
Cozumel - Smooth Trunkfish
Smooth Trunkfish Lactophrys triquiter. These are not very trusting - this is the best shot I was able to get all week.
Cozumel - Yellowtail Damselfish
Yellowtail Damselfish Microspathadon chrysurus

Unfortunately, the shot is clouded by condensation on the camera lens. The blue spots are incredibly intense, like LEDs. Lettuce Coral at upper-left, Common Brain Coral Diploria strigosa at lower-left.

Cozumel - Giant Anemone
Another Giant Anemone close-up. This and the next picture seem to suffer from some sort of bad camera or strobe setting.
Cozumel - Flamingo Tongue
Flamingo Tongue Cyphoma gibbosum. A snail that feeds on Sea Fans Gorgonia and Sea Rods Plexaurella ( as it's doing in this picture. ) Pity the colors didn't come out.
Cozumel - gunboat wreck
Looking over the bow of the gunboat wreck.
Cozumel - gunboat wreck
Looking back over the stern of the wreck, with a school of Bar Jacks Caranx ruber.
Cozumel - gunboat wreck
The propellers and rudders ( one lying in the sand ).
Cozumel - gunboat wreck
A big diesel inside the engine room.
Cozumel - gunboat wreck
Blue
Cozumel - gunboat wreck
More blue
Cozumel - Red Finger Sponge
Wow, that red really hits you after all that blue. Alright, I admit I diddled with the colors a bit. Red Finger Sponge?
Cozumel - Blue Chromis
Blue Chromis Chromis cyaneus. The little guys are often the hardest to get - by the time you line up the shot, they're gone!
Cozumel - lobsters
A cave full of "lobsters". These aren't real lobsters though - lobsters have claws! These are some kind of insect I think. Yellow Boring Sponge Siphonodictyon corraliphagum above.
Cozumel - Chromis
Close up - more Chromis.
Cozumel - Rock Beauty
Another close-up. The yellow tail in the center of the picture belongs to a Rock Beauty Holacanthus tricolor - a small and very evasive type of angelfish.
Cozumel - Ocean Surgeon Fish
Ocean Surgeon Fish Acanthurus bahianus
Cozumel - Deepwater Lace Coral
Deepwater Lace Coral or Sea Fan Iciligorgia schrammi


Common Tern

Terns are smaller and more graceful in flight than gulls. The Common Tern Sterna hirundo (right) grows to 14", wingspan 31". Their forked tails make it easy to differentiate terns from Laughing Gulls, which also have black heads.

Terns are found in the same habitats as gulls, that is to say, just about anywhere near water. Their call is a common sound along waterfronts everywhere.

Printed from njscuba.net