Hello everyone, I am so sorry for the super late post today but from the second I walked in to work  till now (it’s 5:00 pm) I was busy!! We started the day off with two sub dives with more  kids from Wilmington which is one of the main schools that visits here every year to do research projects on our house reef. The kids are super fun, we first had them all decorate styrofoam cups with colorful sharpies that we attach to the top of the sub which as most of you know shrink about half the size because of the depth we take the sub to. If we go down to 1000 feet a regular size styrofoam cup ends up shrinking to about one third the size!! They are like little shrunken heads and make great Christmas ornaments!! After my dives I started packing for our trip to Klein Curacao and Bonaire which will start this coming Sunday, it’s going to be a real crazy week! Tomorrow the scientists arrive from Smithsonian and we all can hardly wait, these are some of the greatest folks we have ever had the pleasure of working with!

So, how was your weekend out there??? I did a fast paced 40k mountain bike race yesterday in the hot Curacao sun and ended up in the top five. Stiyn did a 50k road race which started at the same time mine did and he was still riding when I returned, I think I was out there for around an hour and forty minutes. On Stiyn’s last lap he left everyone in the dust and did a fantastic finish winning yet another race, he had hundreds of fans going crazy at the finish line!!

I have a big, bad Green Moray eel for you all today, one of coolest creatures on the reef! Green moray eels, Gymnothorax funebris (Ranzani, 1839), aka black moray, green cong, green conger, green congo, green eel, and olive-green moray eel, are one of the most common and one of the largest of the moray eels. These eels average 1.8 m in length, but can grow up to 2.5 m long and weigh up to 29 kg. The dark green to brown color comes from a yellowish mucous that covers its blue skin to provide protection from parasites and infectious bacteria. Additionally, they are often camouflaged to hide in the reef from unsuspecting prey. Camouflage often extend into the mouth of the green moray which continually opens and closes slowly to move water over the gills for respiration. The large mouth features strong, pointed sharp teeth. The body is muscular with a long dorsal fin that extends down the length of the body starting from the head and ending in a short tail fin.

Green morays are nocturnal predators with poor eyesight that primarily use their sense of smell to hunt for fish, squid, octopuses, crabs and occasionally other eels. Green morays have been observed eating octopuses whole as well as tentacle by tentacle.

Due to its large size, the bites of this moray can be particularly dangerous, however unless provoked, this eel is not a threat to humans. Within their native range they are eaten by some indigenous peoples but the risk of contracting ciguatera poisoning from this species is considered great.

Again sorry so late, I have to go walk the dogs!! Have a great eveing, see you sometime tomorrow.

Barry

Hi gang, we had a super busy day here at Substation-Curacao yesterday with collage kids from Wilmington and folks that just wanted to go down in the sub. One of my main jobs here is to follow the sub out onto the reef and photograph who ever happens to be inside at the time and send them home with these super cool underwater photos. Most of the time the sub meets me at around 50 feet, I then take a bunch of shots and usually follow them down to around 100. We use an old Nikon D-200 in an IKELITE housing with double strobes for these shots and a D-800 for all the specimen shots and video. While out there yesterday I came across this very hidden Peacock Flounder as you see above, look how well he blends in!! Like so many fish and creatures here in the Caribbean these flounders have the art of disguise down to an art, it’s really amazing! I can’t even tell you how many times I have seen friends and divers swim right over these fish and never spot them and the cool thing is the flounders won’t move unless they are sure they have been spotted.

The peacock flounder is also called flowery flounder because it is covered in superficially flower-like bluish spots. As suggested by the family name, lefteye flounders have both eyes on top of the left hand side of their heads. The eyes are raised up on short stumps like radar dishes, and can move in any direction independent of each other. That feature provides flounders with a wide range of view. One eye can look forward while the other looks backward at the same time. The baby flounders have one eye on each side of their bodies like ordinary fish, and swim like other fishes do, but later on, as they are becoming adult, the right eye moves to the left side, and flounders start to swim sideways, which gives them the ability to settle down flat on the bottom. The maximum length of this flounder is about 45 centimetres (18 in).

Peacock flounders are mostly found in shallow water on sandy bottoms. Sometimes they rest over piles of dead corals or bare rock. They may be found as deep as 150 meters (490 ft).

As most flounders, the peacock flounder is mainly nocturnal,but is sometimes also active during the day. It hunts for small fishes, crabs and shrimps.

Like all flounders, peacock flounders are masters of camouflage. They use cryptic coloration to avoid being detected by both prey and predators. Whenever possible rather than swim they crawl on their fins along the bottom while constantly changing colors and patterns. In a study, peacock flounders demonstrated the ability to change colors in just eight seconds. They were even able to match the pattern of a checkerboard they were placed on. The changing of the colors is an extremely complex and not well understood process. It involves the flounder’s vision and hormones. The flounders match the colors of the surface by releasing different pigments to the surface of the skin cells while leaving some of the cells white by suppressing those pigments. If one of the flounder’s eyes is damaged or covered by sand, the flounders have difficulties in matching their colors to their surroundings. Whenever hunting or hiding from predators, the flounders bury themselves into the sand leaving only the eyes protruding.

I found another new Gecko yesterday at my house and got him photographed at work. After that I took him back out to the desert and released him or her back into the wild.

Have a great day, Barry

Good morning from the ABC Islands!! I have a real treat for you all today especially for my fish collectors out there. This is the mega-rare, Golden Basslet, Liopropoma aberrans or we call them here, the Eyestripe Bass. Your looking at one of the rarest, most beautiful fish ever brought up from the deep and to date we have only found and collected 10!! This is an adult male, the juveniles are completely yellow with just a faint orange glow on their bellies, as they get older they get more of this beautiful orangish-red color to their bodies. These are found and collected by our new 1000 foot submersible called the “Curasub” at www.substation-curacao.com  We find these fish in little caves or parked next to solitary stones, never near the walls. They seem to love areas near sandy slopes or little rubble piles the most and are always found hidden behind rocks most likely so they can ambush prey. This species like other basslets is very shy and solitary, we sometimes will see two in one area but they are always spaced 10-15 feet apart.  They are found at depths between 450 and 800 feet and researchers are thinking there could be two or three different species yet to be found. Once brought to the surface which takes about a week, they are taken into our deep-water lab (it’s very cold in there) and fed live mysis (type of tiny shrimp) which they seem to love. Like other basslets they also feed on just about anything that moves and are very aggressive hunters. So if your reading this and all ready thinking, “I gotta have one”, be prepared to shell out around $6,000!!!  Yes, you read that right, in fact the first one brought up ended up selling for over five figures!!! I have been told that these fish can live a long time and they seem to do well in captivity, they just need plenty of places to hide and lots of live things to eat!!

I am off to the sea, we have two sub runs today!!

Have a wonderful day, Barry/www.coralreefphotos.com

Hola Amigo’s, I have a very shy, bright orange, Longsnout Seahorse, Hippocampus reidi for you all today that I found right here on the Sea Aquarium house reef. For most visiting divers this is the Holy Grail of finds but sadly many will leave without ever seeing one. If you want to find a seahorse you have to dive slow, get lower to the reef and look at the base of all sponges and gorgonians, I promise you they are there you just have to find them. This little reef treasure can grow to about seven inches long and can be found in a multitude of rainbow colors. Males are often bright orange and the females yellow, both may be covered in brown or white spots, and may turn pink or white during courtship. They are found in coral reefs and sea grass beds and occasionally in the midwater of the Atlantic from North Carolina to Florida, and from the Caribbean down to Brazil. Males can carry broods of up to 1,000 young in their pouches, with larger males carrying even more young.

Of the thousands of longsnouts born in each brood, only one or two may live to become adults and raise broods of their own. In the past, that’s been enough to keep their populations healthy. But today, collectors take tons to dry and sell as souvenirs. The more that are taken, the fewer that are left to reproduce—putting longsnout populations in danger.

As with other seahorses, when longsnout seahorses mate, the female deposits her eggs into a special pouch on the male’s belly. The pouch seals shut while he nurtures the developing eggs. Once the eggs hatch, the pouch opens and the male goes into labor giving birth to his tiny young.

We had a crazy day here at Substation yesterday with film crews, famous singers and two actors, never a dull moment around here!! 

Not much else to report, the rains have stopped and the island is nice and green, the down side is the wind is blowing hard again and the ocean is rough!

Have a wonderful day, Barry

Good morning from the Caribbean!! IF your like me, you just got to work and are just sitting there starring at your computer wondering why your head is spinning and asking yourself, “where did the weekend go”???? It’s like some cruel magic trick, you wait all week for your weekends and then “POOF” they are gone!! I was thinking, we as a human race need to implement a new work strategy, we will all work super hard on the weekends even overtime if needed and then we get the week off, tell me that doesn’t sound better!!

My weekend was of course crazy busy again and so much in fact I can hardly remember what I did on Saturday?? Yesterday, Sunday I left the house at 6:30 am on my mountain bike and did a very fast paced two and a half hour ride to the North coast and back, that’s around 35 miles. After that Stijn came over and we found two more different gecko’s in my yard for my “reptiles of Curacao” collection and took them to work to be photographed. After they were photographed we took them all the way back out to the desert and released them in a beautiful spot with lots of old wood. We then met a few friends at Substation and went on a fun reef dive, I spent the whole time just cleaning up the reef and not taking my camera for once. After the dive we worked in my yard getting it cleaned up and finally at 4:30 took the dogs out for a long two hour hike around the salt ponds, talk about a man who was wiped out when I got home!!! So tell me what you all did this weekend for once.

Here is a sleek Trumpetfish I found a few days ago and forgot to send it to you all. These fish are everywhere you look here in Curacao! They can be found in electric yellow, blue as you see above and even red, and I am still trying to get all the colors into one photo!! Trumpetfish, Aulostomus maculatus, are long bodied fish with upturned mouths, that often swim vertically while trying to blend with vertical coral, like sea rods, sea pens, and pipe sponges.

Trumpetfish occur in waters between 0.5 and 30 meters (1.6 and appr. 100 feet) deep and can grow to 40 to 80 cm (appr. 15 to 31+ inches) in length. They are sometimes locally abundant over coral atoll reefs or in lagoons, where they may be caught even in areas of severe wave action. The spawning habits of the trumpetfish are unknown, but in the region around Madeira, it is known that the females have mature eggs from March to JuneTrumpetfish are closely related to cornetfish. Trumpetfish can be a bit more than 36 inches (3 ft) long and have greatly elongated bodies with small jaws at the front end of a long, tubular snout. The gills are pectinate, resembling the teeth of a comb, and a soft dorsal fin is found near the tail fin. A series of spines occurs in front of the dorsal fin. Trumpetfish vary in color from dark brown to greenish but also yellow in some areas. A black streak, sometimes reduced to a dark spot, occurs along the jaw, and a pair of dark spots is sometimes found on the base of the tail fin.

Trumpetfish swim slowly, sneaking up on unsuspecting prey, or lying motionless like a floating stick, swaying back and forth with the wave action of the water. They are adept at camouflaging themselves and often swim in alignment with other larger fishes. They feed almost exclusively on small fish, such as wrasses and atheriniformes,by sucking them suddenly into their small mouths.

There is another fish similar to a Trumpetfish called a Cornetfish often mistaken for a trumpetfish. The key visible difference is the tail, pointed “T” in a cornetfish and rounded fan-shaped in a trumpetfish. In the years I have been here in Curacao I have only seen two cornetfish, they are so hard to find and very scared of their own shadows!!

Trumpetfish make up the genus Aulostomus of the family Aulostomidae.

Have a wonderful day folks, we have the film crew from “Wild About Animals” showing up here soon so I need to get ready!!!

Barry

Good morning gang, I really can’t believe it’s Friday already!! Here is a big Channel Clinging Crab by request this morning. Most of you divers know this species by the common name Channel Clinging Crab, but it turns out that it has several other common names, including Reef Spider Crab, and Spiny Spider Crab, among others. The crab’s scientific name is Mithrax spinosissimus, and that designation stays the same, independent of the common name, which varies from place to place. This crab is a ‘true crab’ (as opposed to, say, a hermit crab), and belongs to the Majidae family.

Majidae tend to have long slender legs just like this example above which is why the common names of many species in this family include the word ‘spider’. Majids also tend to have little hairs or bristle-like structures on their carapaces. Bits of material like algae, sponge, and so on attach to those hairs and act as part of the crab’s camouflage.

Note that the walking legs of this species also are rather hairy, and are covered with ‘stuff’ while the business end of the crab those impressive claws, are smooth. 

Like so many reef creatures, this species forages mainly at night. During the day, they hunker in the reefs, under ledges, and in cavelets. Because of their size, they can’t wiggle into small cervices like so many smaller species can do. Still, they can be difficult to spot during the day, since their decorated carapaces blend so well with their surroundings.

These crabs inhabit a range from the sub-tropical western Atlantic to the Caribbean. They can be found in reef areas along the coasts of southern Florida, through the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, and throughout much of the Caribbean. Thanks to The Right Blue for this great information.  http://therightblue.blogspot.com/2009/02/channel-clinging-crab-mithrax.html

Stijn and I started filming a mountain bike movie last night but will takes weeks of work to finish. Because of all the new green growth everywhere now we thought it would be a perfect time to start this long overdo project and so many have asked to see the trails here!

I am off to the sea, have a great weekend and thanks for all the wonderful comments and suggestions.

Barry

Good morning gang!! I have a super cool photo for you today showing how Pillar Coral can look before the “coral pillars” really begin to form. All these small pillars you see will eventually grow to be quite tall and what I love about this shot is how big the base is. This is very important as the pillar corals once grown, will need to be well fused to the reef that way it can never fall over in case of a big storm. For my coral fans out there visiting Curacao that want to see some “killer pillar corals” dive the area to the East of our Aquaelectra, desalination plant, these are some of the best in Curacao!

Pillar coral (Dendrogyra cylindricus) is a hard coral (order Scleractinia) found in the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. It is a digitate coral -that is, it resembles fingers (Latin digites) or a cluster of cigars, growing up from the sea floor without any secondary branching. It is large and can grow on both flat and sloping surfaces at depths down to 20 m (65 ft). It is one of the few types of hard coral in which the polyps can commonly be seen feeding during the day. Pillar coral forms an encrusted base from which grow vertical cylindrical, round-ended columns. This coral can grow to a height of 3 m (10 ft) with pillars more than 10 cm (4 in) wide but is usually much smaller than this. The corallites from which the polyps protrude are smaller than 1 cm (0.4 in) in diameter and arranged in shallow meandering valleys with low ridges in between. The skeleton of the coral is not usually visible because the polyps are typically extended during the daytime, unlike most other coral species. The mass of undulating tentacles gives the coral a furry appearance. This coral is usually some shade of beige or brown.

Pillar coral is a zooxanthellate species, with symbiotic dinoflagellate algae living within the tissues. In sunlight these undergo photosynthesis and most of the organic compounds they produce are transferred to their host, while they make use of the coral’s nitrogenous wastes.These algae give the coral its brownish colour and restrict it to living in shallow water into which the sunlight can penetrate.

Pillar coral is a slow-growing, long-lived species. A number of columns grow up from a basal plate; if the whole colony is dislodged and topples over, new cylindrical pillars can grow vertically from the fallen coral. Some specimens have been found where this has happened more than once, and the history of the colony can be deduced from its shape. If a pillar gets detached and becomes lodged in a suitable position, it can continue to live, sending up new pillars from the base and other parts of the column.

Each pillar coral clonal colony is either male or female. Sexual reproduction takes place with gametes being released into the water column where fertilisation takes place. The larvae that hatch out of the eggs are planktonic and drift with the currents before settling on the seabed to found new colonies.

We have a film crew here from Brazil this morning and we are taking them down in the sub in just a few minutes. I will be on the outside following them down to about 150 feet taking photos the whole way which means I have to get going!

Have a great day, Barry/www.coralreefphotos.com

Good morning friends, yep, late again what can I say?? There is so much going on here at the moment that getting to the blog is becoming down right difficult, but I am trying! So just to get you up to speed on what’s coming up for us this month, we first have the crew from “Wild About Animals” arriving from the States on the 14th through the 16th to shoot a story on the sub and all the cool stuff we find down there, not sure yet when that will air but I will keep you posted. Then, days after we have the scientists arriving from the Smithsonian again and they will be around till June 3rd or 4th. We are first taking them, our ship and the sub to Klein Curacao for a few days and then to Bonaire for five days, we are going to be sooo busy! The scientists will be searching for new species of fish and creatures and I will be right there with camera ready to photograph these new finds when they surface in my waiting deep-water aquariums that I will have aboard the ship. We are also in the middle of moving to another house so please be patient in the coming days. When we are out to sea on the “Chapman” (our research vessel) I will have no Internet which means no blog for about a week but I will make it up to you with cool photos never seen before.

Here is a colorful photo of a big school of Blue Tangs cruising through the reef. We see these large groups called “aggregations” on the reef here every single day and I still never seem to get tired of it, they are just so beautiful. Adult blue tangs have three social modes: territorial, wandering, and schooling. Territorial adults defend their home rage from other members of the species. Schooling adults are not aggressive. Wanderer adults are not aggressive nor do they interact with other individuals like schooling fish do. Wanderers are mostly chased by other fish including Ocean surgeonfish and damselfishes. Occasionally, Blue Tangs form large multi-species aggregations with other surgeonfishes as seen above.

Blue tangs may benefit from forming schools for two reasons. First, individuals may experience lower rates of predation when feeding in large groups. Second, by feeding in groups, fish might be able to work together to overcome the territorial defenses of other fishes. For example, a single blue tang is easily chased away by an aggressive damselfish defending its territory. However, when a large school of blue tangs and their schoolmates try to feed on algae in a damselfish’s territory, there is little that the damselfish can do.  When this occurs, the damselfish frantically, but ultimately fruitlessly, attempts to chase away their more numerous attackers while the school consumes all of the algae in their territories.

Blue tangs are active during the day, hiding in crevices on the reef at night to avoid predators.

Juvenile blue tangs are solitary and occupy home ranges that increase with body size. Juveniles aggressively defend their home ranges from juvenile ocean surgeonfish. Juveniles also avoid damselfishes that overlap in range with them.

Have a wonderful day folks, Barry

Good morning from wet Curacao! It’s crazy how fast things change here, we went from two months without rain and now there is standing water everywhere!  The forecast for today and tomorrow is heavy rain and stupid me I rode my bike to work, it’s gonna be real fun getting home.

So how was your weekend???? Mine was busy with packing up our house and getting ready for our big move across the street at the end of the month. The house we are in now is much too big for us and we hardly even use the upstairs, our new place will be cheaper and have better wind circulation so needless to say we can hardly wait. I did a three hour bike ride yesterday and then went to watch Stijn and Dorian race in a criterium over on the North coast by the airport. Stijn had to do 30 laps (65k) and Dorian who is much younger only had to do 5 laps (13k), they both won first place!!

Today I have a beautiful school of Yellow Goatfish, Mulloidichthys martinicus, hanging out around a mound of Mountainous Star Coral. Yellow goatfish are tireless benthic feeders, using a pair of long chemosensory barbels (“whiskers”) protruding from their chins to rifle through the sediments in search of a meal. May grow up to 39 centimetres (15 in) in length. They usually feed off of smaller fish, hunting in a school during the day, and alone at night.

Goatfishes are tropical marine perciform fish of the family Mullidae. Seldom found in brackish waters, they are most associated with the reefs of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans.

The goatfishes are sometimes called ‘red mullets’ as opposed to the Mugilidae, the grey mullets, though that name is usually reserved for the red mullets of the genus Mullus of the Mediterranean. Within the family are approximately six genera and 55 species. All goatfishes have the ability to change their coloration depending on their current activity. By day, many goatfishes will form large inactive (nonfeeding) schools; these aggregates may contain both conspecifics and heterospecifics. By night, the schools disperse and individual goatfish head their separate ways to loot the sands. Other nocturnal feeders will shadow the active goatfish, waiting patiently for any overlooked morsels. Goatfishes stay within the shallows, going no deeper than about 110 m.

I hope all is well out there, the rain has stopped and I am racing home to get the car before the next wave arrives!

See you soon, Barry

Hello Earth people, I have a cute little Banded Butterflyfish hiding in a sea-fan for you all today that we came across the other day while cleaning the reef. These fish are so beautiful and really one of the more graceful fish you will see on the reef, they just cruise about the reef (usually in pairs) without a care in the World. This one here was so calm that I was able to photograph him or her with a 105 macro lens and really showed little concern at all. I was telling a new underwater photographer just yesterday to concentrate your efforts on animals and creatures that are relaxed, stationary or slow moving and practice patience!

Banded butterflyfishes, also called banded mariposas, butterbuns, butterflyfishes, Portugese butterflies, and school mistresses, were first described by Carl Linnaeus as Chaetodon striatus in 1758. The family name “Chaetodontidae ” means “bristle-tooth,” while “striatus” refers to their thick black vertical stripes — two on their sides and a third extending from their dorsal fin to their caudal peduncles (tails). Their pelvic fins, except for the spine, are also black. A well-known denizen of commercial aquariums, this species has a short snout and a vertically flattened, squarish “disk-shaped” body. They have 12 dorsal spines, 19 to 21 dorsal soft rays, 3 anal spines, and 16 to 17 anal soft rays. Adult banded butterflyfishes grow to a maximum length of about 15 cm. Maturity is reached at lengths around 12 cm.

Banded butterflyfishes, Chaetodon striatus, are associated with tropical marine reefs from 43° N to 23° S, at depths of 3 to 55 meters. In the Western Atlantic, they can be found from Massachusetts to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil , including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. In the central Atlantic they are found off St. Paul’s Rocks .Banded butterflyfishes, Chaetodon striatus, feed primarily on polychaete worms, coral polyps , crustaceans and mollusk eggs, scraping off the invertebrates with their bristly teeth. Adults may form plankton -feeding aggregations of up to 20 individuals, and they occasionally clean other reef fishes which join the group, such as grunts, parrotfishes and surgeon fishes. They are a diurnal species, active during the day and sleeping at night. At the end of the day they seeks shelter from night predators such as moray eels, sharks, and other larger reef fishesBanded butterflyfishes, Chaetodon striatus, reproduce quickly. Their minimum population doubling time is less than 15 months.

Banded butterflyfish adults are most often seen in male-female pairs and may be monogamous throughout life. Courtship between the two is drawn out and energetic; the fish circle each other, head to tail, then chase each other around the nearest coral reef, shooing away other fish that dare to approach. Spawning takes place at dusk as the female releases 3,000 to 4,000 small, pelagic eggs. The larvae , which hatch within a day, are characteristic only to the butterflyfish family, with the head encased in bony armor and bony plates extending backwards from their heads. The larvae are gray and almost transparent, useful adaptations for any species growing up in the water column. Butterflyfish spend weeks as pelagic larvae before undergoing final settlement to the reef and attaining juvenile coloration. Juveniles look different from adults; they have a large, ringed black spot at the base of their dorsal fins that acts as a false eye , confusing predators as to which end is the front of the fish. Juveniles may retain this spot up to a size of 5 centimeters, after which it begins to fade away. The overall body color of juveniles is brownish-yellow instead of white and may serve as camouflage, as banded butterflyfish juveniles often inhabit sea grass beds . Thanks to Marine Bio for this wonderful information. http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=433

The rains have stopped and everything is blooming and turning green again but without a bit more rain the greening will stop.

Not much else going on, I am headed out to the sea for a dive with the sub and then biking tonight, have a wonderful weekend all and thanks for tuning in. If there is something specific you would like to see just ask, I can be reached at; barry@coralreefphotos.com

See ya, Barry

Good morning from Curacao! This is one of the most spectacular trees on our island and it is in bloom now!! Every year during April or May, after months without rain, the first showers awaken this sleeping giant and within three days the tree is enveloped into a glowing yellow mass of flowers! The yellow blooms are all the more conspicuous because most of the other plants are still leafless from the months of no rain and drought conditions. The bloom does not last long, after only three days the flowers drop off and only then the tree starts growing leaves. This kind of strategy is found in more plants if the circumstances are unfavorable like a drought. The tree makes seeds as soon as the opportunity presents itself, in this case hard April rains this way assuring reproduction. Such plants could be called “bloomers by distress” After the flowering the tree forms long, thin pods of flat, light seeds which are blown away by the wind. It can be easily be grown from seeds and with good care and not too much water, you can have a beautiful tree in your garden after four to five years. The Papiamento name for this tree is “Kibrahacha”. The name originates from the hard wood of the tree. The wood is so hard that the ax (hacha) will break (kibra) trying to cut it. I did shoot a short video as well yesterday of all the flowers falling off with every gust of wind and the dozens of birds and lizards eating the flowers, such a cool thing to see.

Well friends, I have to get to work, have a great day!! Barry

Hello friends, sorry for the no blog yesterday and the very late one today!! Yesterday was a holiday called “Queens Day”, where everyone dresses up in Orange (Netherlands national color) and parties like it’s 1999, it’s honestly the biggest party of the year here!

While this big event was getting underway I was underwater with a group of divers from the World famous “Dive Bus Hut” which is now located across the street from the old Breezes Hotel, it’s now called Sunscape I think.. The dive was an annual event held by PADI to help get folks out there at least once a year to clean up their local reefs. We mostly found yards and yards of fishing string but did bring back a lot of plastics as well. I was joined by not only our buddy Mark from the “Dive Bus Hut” but also, my wife Aimee and my two mountain bike students Stijn and Dorian, it was a great time! While they cleaned trash I found the tiny little fish above called a Slender Filefish hiding in the gorgonians, talk about a fun fish to watch and below is some cool info about him. After the dive we stopped at a local BBQ, ate till we could hardly walk and then went to see what all the fuss was about at the “Queens Day” celebration in Punda. We walked for an hour soaking up the madness of thousands of Dutch people all wearing orange, I swear my eyes hurt when we got home!! Today (WED) is Stijn’s 16th birthday and to start things out right we did a very fast paced three hour mountain bike ride to the North coast and back, it was great!! We did have to navigate quite a few muddy areas that were still filled with water but other than that it couldn’t have been a better morning for a long fast three hour sprint! So, all is well here and now a bit more information on today’s fish, read on.

This little beauty above is called a Slender Filefish, Monacanthus tuckeri and is one of the smallest types of filefish in the world, growing to a mere three inches (but most typically found in the Caribbean at about one inch). Another master of disguise, this fish is usually found hiding out in the gorgonians, changing its color and even patterns to blend in with its surroundings. It gets its name from the forward single portion of its dorsal fin. 

Appearing very much like their close relatives the triggerfish, filefish are rhomboid-shaped fish that have beautifully elaborate cryptic patterns. Deeply keeled bodies give a false impression of size when these fish are viewed facing the flanks. Filefish have soft, simple fins with comparatively small pectoral fins and truncated, fan-shaped tail fins; a slender, retractable spine crowns the head. Although there are usually two of these spines, the second spine is greatly reduced, being used only to lock the first spine in the erect position; this explains the family name Monacanthidae, from the Greek monos meaning “one” and akantha meaning “thorn”. Some species also have recurved spines on the base of the tail (caudal peduncle).

The small terminal mouths of filefish have specialized incisor teeth on the upper and lower jaw; in the upper jaw there are four teeth in the inner series and six in the outer series; in the lower jaw, there are 4-6 in an outer series only. The snout is tapered and projecting; eyes are located high on the head. Although scaled, some filefish have such small scales as to appear scaleless. Like the triggerfish, filefish have small gill openings and greatly elongated pelvic bones creating a “dewlap” of skin running between the bone’s sharply keeled termination and the belly. The pelvis is articulated with other bones of the “pelvic girdle” and is capable of moving upwards and downwards in many species to form a large dewlap (this is used to make the fish appear much deeper in the body than is actually the case). Some filefish erect the dorsal spine and pelvis simultaneously to make it more difficult for a predator to remove the fish from a cave.

The largest filefish species is the scrawled filefish (Aluterus scriptus) at up to 110 cm (43 in) in length; most species are below 60 cm (24 in) in length. There is marked sexual dimorphism in some species, with the sexes possessing different coloration, different body shapes, and the males with larger caudal spines and bristles.

Again sorry so late, see you tomorrow. Barry

Good morning friends, how was your weekend?? Mine was so busy and filled with so many adventures which is probably the reason I am so tired this morning! Saturday morning I took the dogs out for a long two and a half hour hike and the second we got home it started to rain. And by rain I mean one of the hardest rains we have had in years, it was an all out flooding tropical downpour!! In just seconds our driveway was transformed into a raging river and our backyard looked like a small pond, everything was flooded in just minutes! So because of the rain I was now pretty much stuck at home and went to work on the computer for the rest of the day. Sunday morning my buddy Stijn came over and we again took the dogs out for a long walk and did some much needed trail work. While moving some brush Stijn found a beautiful little gecko that I had never seen here before so we put him in a container and carried him back home and then to work to photograph him. We brought leaves, sticks and rocks from where we found him and re-built him a natural little World for him to hang out in for the photo-shoot and after took him all the way back to the desert and released him in his original home! I couldn’t find any info about him this morning but once I do will send you the photo and tell you more. After the gecko event we grabbed our dive gear and took off on a fun dive, Stijn went lionfish hunting and fed them to his big pet spotted eel and I took my macro lens and searched for anything of interest to shoot. One of the cool things I found was this cute little Sharpnose Puffer and ended up hanging out with him for quite awhile, they are just so cool! Below is some information I found for you about the puffer so please read on. After our dive I took off on a two hour mountain bike ride and other than a few standing mud puddles it was a great ride. So, needless to say after the morning hike, the gecko thing and the dive I was wiped out after the ride, there is just only so much one can do in a day! In the evening we had a friend come over to watch “Game of Thrones” our new favorite series and by 10:00 I was out, that’s kind of my weekend.

The Sharpnose Puffer (above) is a small, roughly football-shaped fish with a large pointed snout, small fins at the rear of the body, and a prominent tail. The sides of the body vary from pale yellow to white with bright blue spots, while the edges of the tail fin have thick, dark borders that distinguish this species from similar puffers. The back is typically brown in females and grey in mature males.

Sharpnose puffers are omnivores that consume small reef invertebrates, such as crabs, shrimps, polychaete worms, and snails; they may also graze on sponges, algae, and seagrass. These fish, like other puffers, possess tetrodotoxin which makes them poisonous to eat. As such, most reef predators avoid them. However, they are still occasionally consumed by groupers, snappers, barracuda and eels. 

Sharpnose puffers are territorial and coexist with other sharpnose puffers in a complex social hierarchy. Females defend a small, permanent territory, whereas males defend a larger territory that encompasses the territories of several females that are part of their harem. Sharpnose puffers know the territorial boundaries of their neighbours intimately. If they must cross into the territory of a neighbour, they adopt a precautionary mottled colour pattern that is thought to help camouflage them from the territory owner, as well as indicate submission if sighted. If intruders are caught they are met with a series of aggressive displays, such as tilting the body forward and presenting the flank. If this display does not deter an intruder, the defending puffer will face the threat head-on with the fins spread, and flex the body to make it appear thicker. If the opponent relents, it will leave while adopting a submissive display where the belly is flattened to make the fish appear smaller. If the opponent persists, then the fish may circle each other and attempt to bite. The sharpnose puffer’s primary defence against predation is to retreat into a reef recess; however as a last resort puffers can inflate to increase their size, making them harder to swallow. 

Mottled colouration: Caribbean sharpnose puffers aggressively defend the boundaries to their territory. In densely populated areas an entire reef might be carved up into a territorial mosaic. Males that wish to leave their territory may have to pass through a neighbour’s territory, resulting in confrontation. In order to reduce their odds of being attacked, wandering males adopt a special submissive, mottled colour pattern, making them harder to spot. Even when spotted, this pattern is believed to help curb the aggression of resident males because they are acknowledged as being superior.

Sharpnose puffers reproduce sexually by laying demersal eggs and do not undergo sex change during reproductive development. Males regularly visit the female members of their harem throughout the day to reinforce their bond. During the breeding season, these visits often result in spawning when they occur in the early morning hours. Males enter a female’s territory, spread their fins and present their flank. Females respond with a submissive display, and the pair spends a few minutes feeding side by side. If the female is ready to spawn, she will search the substrate for a patch of algae to use as a nest and will spend some time cleaning it while the male encourages her by nudging her repeatedly with his snout. If the female stops preparing the nest, or attempts to leave, the male often becomes aggressive and may display or even bite to urge her on. Once the nest is ready, the couple swim side by side just above it. The female lays her eggs into the nest and the male fertilizes them immediately. Once the eggs are laid, the two sharpnose puffers return to their daily activities and the nest is left uncared for until the eggs hatch and disperse into the plankton. Sharpnose puffers have been observed mating in the spring, but the full extent of their breeding season is currently unknown. Thanks to; http://www.oceana.org for this great information.

Well, we have a sub dive at 10:30, I have to get ready to go! Here is the subs website for those of you asking, www.substation-curacao.com

PLEASE, PLEASE take the time to watch this insane video from National Geo, it’s about a Horse Conch and Hermit Crabs, talk about insane footage!! www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExV4b77qfww&feature=player_embedded

Have a great day, tomorrow is “Queens Day” here in Curacao and in the Netherlands so I am off, will try to get a blog posted but it won’t be early as we are doing an underwater reef cleanup at 9:00am.

See-ya, Barry/www.coralreefphotos.com