Venus's girdle. The surface waters were filled with small, nearly transparent animals that you could find if you knew what to look for and had a little help from the sunlight. While everyone else was bored during their 15-foot safety stops at the end of each dive, I had a field day tracking down these little critters. I used a macro camera setting and a very strong flash to capture them.
A sea walnut, a type of jellyfish that I captured near the surface during a safety stop at the end of a dive. It was maybe an inch long. The color are just the result of diffracted light in the tiny hairs or "cilia" that is uses for propulsion.
A tiny goldface toby above a sponge.
A barred hamlet turning to look at me. I think they have very interesting patterns on their faces.
A large hermit crab in a very precarious position on the edge of a coral head.
Cymothoid isopod, hitching a ride on a blackbar soldierfish. The isopod is not a parasite; it just scavenges the specks of food that the fish leaves behind. Once an isopod attaches to a particular fish, it loses its ability to swim and so will stay there for life.
A closeup view of a cymothoid isopod.
A juvenile hogfish.
Another of my shallow-water closeups of nearly invisible creatures. This is a "sea gooseberry".
A "warty comb jelly", similar to but much larger than the sea walnut shown earlier.
I took this photo at the end of my final dive. The chain was hanging from the boat at 15 feet to provide a reference during our safety stops. Frank pointed out this little, juvenile filefish, which was maybe a quarter of an inch long.
I have no idea what this is. Some of the weird transparent things floating by are a total mystery to me.
