the inkspot

more poor knights

nobody@vox.com(Tintenfisch) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:23:32 +1200

i had some trouble uploading about half of the dive pics the first time, so here are the rest.

grey moray, Gymnothorax nubilus

mosaic moray, Enchelycore ramosa

overhang, northern arch

pink maomao, Caprodon longimanus

sea urchin

aliens

yellow moray, Gymnothorax prasinus

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diving the poor knights

nobody@vox.com(Tintenfisch) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:08:24 +1200

this is going to be one of those entries where the photos speak for themselves. yesterday we went diving at the poor knights islands, a marine reserve about 3 hours north of auckland. we dived in and around rikoriko cave, the largest natural sea-cave in the world, and in northern arch. the water was about 20 degrees (C) and the vis was about 25 metres. so, without further ado...

entrance to rikoriko cave

inside rikoriko cave

kelp wall

scorpionfish, Scorpaena sp.

red pigfish, Bodianus unimaculatus

northern arch

jewel anemones

sandager's wrasses, Coris sandeyeri

inside northern arch

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jellicles

nobody@vox.com(Tintenfisch) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 09:03:27 +1200

jellyfish are crazy, crazy animals, for all that they have no brains. they are cnidarians, closely related to corals, and most of them are about 95% water. they drift, they pulse, they bump into things and get stuck or head off in another direction, and yet they also hunt, feed, and reproduce quite successfully. some of them have blue or green zooxanthellae (symbiotic algae) living in their tissues, like corals. seeing them in the water with you can be magical, or panic-inducing, or both. seeing them on display in a tank, however, is mesmerizing.

mediterranean blue jelly

upside-down jellies

more upside-down jellies

and some upside-down jellies, for a change

mediterranean blue jellies

sea turtles, although brain-possessing, do not seem much smarter than jellies. below you can see why jellyfish are one of their main dietary staples, since turtles can't sneak up on much that has eyes and/or can swim quickly.

green sea turtle & bucket

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ladies and gentlemen, the octopus

nobody@vox.com(Tintenfisch) — Thu, 17 May 2007 15:37:14 +1200

so, there was a lot of very cool stuff on the leigh dive. but best of all - far and away - were the two Octopus gibbsi we found hiding the the rocks. the first was quite shy and seemed ok with being observed closely, but definitely didn't want any contact. the second, however, got involved in a lively tug'o'war with proffered fingers, and eyed up a small crab as well. here are the best stills of both beasts:

and here are the videos!

O. gibbsi breathing

O. gibbsi lurking

O. gibbsi taking crab

O. gibbsi pulling finger

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more seanery

nobody@vox.com(Tintenfisch) — Tue, 15 May 2007 08:55:24 +1200

here are a few more interesting beasts we encountered while diving at leigh. (yep, i'm getting good mileage out of this one!)

snake star, Ophiopsammus maculata

jack mackerel, Trachurus novaezelandiae

hermit crab

funky blue alga, Champia sp.

cute triplefin

triangle crab, Eurynolambrus australis

11-arm star

school of parore, Girella tricuspidata

hordes of kina (sea urchins), Evechinus chloroticus

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creepies and swimmies

nobody@vox.com(Tintenfisch) — Mon, 14 May 2007 12:51:31 +1200

here are a few videos from the dive as well. this is a snake star (ophiuroid), Ophiopsammus maculata.

snake star

these are feather stars, Ophiopteris antipodum.

feather stars

and these two are schools of sweep, Scorpis lineolatis.

sweep

more sweep

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ooh, spongy

nobody@vox.com(Tintenfisch) — Mon, 14 May 2007 09:03:48 +1200

don't worry, the tattoo story is still in the works, but in the meantime, here are some very cool sponges we saw while diving in leigh harbour on saturday morning. more pics will follow, and some videos - we found two octopuses to play with! - but i'll just share these first. the 'common names' are completely made up (by me) so don't use them to, like, identify these things or anything.

to set the scene...

the surface from below

'staghorn' sponge

'meringue' sponge, Polymastia sp.

'fairy finger' sponge

'SEM' sponge, Polymastia sp.

'firework' sponge

funky orange sponge, Cliona aff. cellata

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of fins and feelers

nobody@vox.com(Tintenfisch) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:00:16 +1200

life has been full of fishy goodness recently.

last weekend, the pebbles and i went diving up at tawharanui, near goat island marine reserve. we were not expecting anything miraculous in the way of sealife encounters or visibility, since the northern part of the country had had heavy rains the week before. but we thought we'd see what was around, and also play with the underwater camera.

as it turned out, the vis was about 2m, so not great, but also (sadly) not the worst we've dived in. in terms of fauna, we came across a large short-tailed stingray, Dasyatis brevicaudata (at extremely close range, since i was less than 2m away before i could see her), but i was too slow on the draw to get any good shots. there were lots of nice sponges, a school of sweep (Scorpis lineolata), hordes of baby spotted wrasse (Notolabrus celidotus), and the occasional friendly adult spotted wrasse.

friendly spotted wrasse

we also got to play with the scallops, and with the video function on the camera. the microphone even works underwater, as you can tell from the darth-vader-like breathing noises.

swimming scallop

and here are a few goatfish (Upeneichthyes lineatus), the other most common sight for the day. they're nibbling on a small cluster of broad squid eggs that have come loose from the nearby kelp and gotten partially buried in the muck on the bottom. note the cool feelers on their chins.

goatfish and squid eggs

but wait, there's more! we have two new additions to the domestic aquatic scene as well. having had bad luck with bettas, we were interested in finding some mid-to-upper-level-swimmers that are fun to watch, and the pebbles became fascinated by a tank of pearl gouramis (Trichogaster leeri) on a recent excursion to the fish store. so we went home and read up on them, and they seemed ideal - omnivorous, hardy, peaceful, and captive-bred. piscine perfection. so we brought a pair home.

pearl gouramis

they are indeed mesmerizing. they explored the whole tank as soon as they were released into it, and have been greedily snapping up the live mosquito larvae that i discovered developing in a bucket of rainwater on the deck. next project: stick the underwater camera into the fishtank and see what happens. stay tuned!

pearl gouramis

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