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


Red & Purple Algae
Red & Purple Algae

Red algae actually vary in color from straw-yellow to deep-purple or black in appearance.

Agardh's Red Weed - Agardhiella subulata is very common and grows in tufts and clumps to about 12" in sunny shallow areas.

Laver or Porphyra ( above ) is similar to Ulva in many ways, although unrelated. It grows interspersed with Ulva in shallow sunny areas, and like Ulva, it is edible.

Printed from njscuba.net