Coral Reef Photos » Coral Reefs

Artichoke Coral, Scolymia cubensis, Smooth Disk Coral,

barry — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 23:18:30 +0000

Hi friends, Here is one of the coolest most over-looked corals on the reef, it’s called an Artichoke Coral or Scolymia cubensis. This animal is also known as a Solitary Disk coral, Smooth Disk coral, Doughnut coral, Flat Brain coral, Modern Meat coral, or just Meat coral, Atlantic Mushroom coral, and Tooth coral, talk about a animal with a whole lot of names! When I say “Meaty Coral” the meaty association is a reference to the polyps’ fleshiness and also to the common red coloration. This coral is found in the Atlantic waters in deeper habitats. They are solitary and grow up to four inches in diameter, and form a saucer shape. They have a smoother surface than S. lacera and is a solid green, red or brown with very little of any other colors. I believe this is a juvenile Artichoke coral because of the brownish/maroon ring on the outside, the adults are more one color. Underneath this beautiful green fleshy creature is a skeleton made entirely of calcium carbonate with it’s own unique designs and patterns. Other more popular Stony corals like Sheet corals, Brain corals, Star corals, Pillar corals and Finger corals just to name a few also have their own unique calcium carbonate skeletons underneath. These small, colorful corals generally inhabit deep reefs and walls but can be occasionally found shallower. They prefer shaded areas on rocky substrates and also grow in low-light conditions under ledge overhangs and in cave openings. During the night the polyp tentacles will emerge and the animal will feed by grabbing plankton and particles as they pass by.

All is well here, have a wonderful weekend!! Cheers, Barry

Blade Fire coral, Millepora complanata, Pencil Coral

barry — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 10:14:19 +0000

Good morning friends, Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends in the States. I sure wish we could join you all today for the food fest and festivities but fear not we will be dining ourselves tonight under the palm trees. Yesterday I took the day off to spend with Aimee. We both ended up being trapped at home almost all day because of non-stop rain and at times it came down so hard it flooded the driveway and yard! I made the most of it by hauling my chop saw and tools upstairs and building another driftwood bookcase which I almost got finished by the end of the day.

I had a question about Fire coral the other day and found this photo last night. Besides the low growing clumps of Pencil Coral, what you see is a sea of Fire coral! Fire coral can be found in such a large variety of shapes and sizes and completely decorates almost every part of the reef. Fire corals have a bright yellow-green and brown skeletal covering and are widely distributed in tropical and subtropical waters. They appear in small brush-like growths on rocks and coral. Divers often mistake fire coral for seaweed, and accidental contact is common. Upon contact, an intense pain can be felt that can last from two days to two weeks. The very small nematocysts on fire corals contain tentacles that protrude from numerous surface pores (similar to jellyfish stings). In addition, fire corals have a sharp, calcified external skeleton that can scrape the skin. Fire coral has several common growth forms; these include branching, plate and encrusting. Branching adopts a calcerious structure which branches off, to rounded finger-like tips. Plate adopts a shape similar to that of the smaller non-sheet lettuce corals; therefore erect, thin sheets, which group together to form a colony. The latter; “encrusting”, is where the fire coral forms on the calcerious structure of other coral or gorgonian structures.

I need to feed the dogs and make some coffee, have a wonderful Holiday today and please eat something just for us and say, “this one is for Aimee and Barry”!! Cheers, Barry

Orange Cup Coral, Tubastraea coccinea, Flower Corals

barry — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 10:40:24 +0000

Good morning, I apologize for yesterday and those of you who tuned in to see me and the sub underwater, we were there but not at the correct given times. I ended up being underwater three times yesterday, first at 9:35, then at 11:30 and again at around 4:00, we will try again next week.

Here is a single polyp of Orange Cup Coral, one of the hands down most beautiful corals we have on the island. Orange Cup Corals are believed to be the only species of stony coral introduced to the Western Atlantic. The species was first recorded in 1943 from Puerto Rico and Curacao. Interestingly some specimens collected in the Netherlands Antilles between 1948-1950 came from a ships hull. Since that period the species abundance at these localities has been increasing. During the day this coral is very plain and just looks like an orange bumpy mass but at night the show the begins! The beautiful polyps open once the sun goes down and generally feed most of the night on passing planktons and seem to be more active on nights with current and murky water.

I was really hoping to get the dogs out on a nice long Saturday morning walk but it started pouring here at around 4:00 in the morning and I think it is still going. I have a model shoot today with our cute intern Wendy, she wanted photos of herself in her Halloween costume which she will be wearing tonight to some big island party, so of course I said yes!

That’s about it, have a wonderful weekend! Barry

Spawning Starlet Corals, Stony Corals Spawning

barry — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 23:29:27 +0000

Good evening friends, as promised here are two photos of the same colony of Massive Starlet Coral releasing sperm and tiny eggs into the water. The top photo was just seconds after it started and the bottom one is the cloud of sperm that covers the reef on this one special night!! This is called; Broadcast Spawning. It’s were one species of coral like these Starlets release their eggs and sperm at one time into the water column and with luck will cross-fertilize somewhere out in the liquid darkness. With this coral the eggs are super tiny, unlike the Star Coral I sent out yesterday, therefore they have less chance of being eaten and a better chance of becoming baby corals. On our swim back last night we saw these corals spawning almost everywhere we looked and soon the whole reef had this “cloudy look” to it and at times we couldn’t see where we were going!

Today we first took the dogs to Saint Joris for an hour walk then went with Sal and Patty in their rental car for a fun afternoon tour of the West end of the island. I ended up taking a bunch of fun photos so be on the lookout for those later this week.

Sorry so short, I am very tired and I need to get my bike ready for ride with the fastest rider on the island tomorrow morning, I am giving him a tour of our trails! See ya, Barry

Boulder Star Coral Spawning, Montastraea annularis

barry — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:11:42 +0000

Good morning friends, I am back! Sorry about the “no blog” yesterday, I just didn’t have time! Aimee and I are about as tired as a human can be after two nights of very late diving and not getting home till the wee hours of the morning. Monday night was absolutely crazy! We arrived at the launch area at 9:15 just as two big dive boats showed up with no less than 20 people each all equipped with lights wanting to see the coral spawning. This immediately changed our plans! We quickly got ready and jumped into the ocean at around 9:20 and swam in the darkness on top of the water until we had passed the boats and everyone involved, we wanted to be left alone to our own area of reef. Our plan ended up working perfectly and at 10:09 we saw our first star corals spawning. After seeing that we continued the search for even better spawning and hit the jackpot and at 10:12 they went off along with everything else. This was by far the “weakest” spawning we have ever witnessed here in Curacao, and I am guessing it’s due to last years terrible coral bleaching episode! Here you can see Boulder Star Coral, Montastraea annularis releasing it’s “eggs” or bundles in hopes of re-populating the reef and keeping it’s species alive! Once the eggs are released as you see here it’s an automatic buffet of floating food for so many species of fish and creatures, it’s a wonder any of these eggs ever make it back to the reef to become new corals of their own! We did get a few shots of the ultra shy brittle stars grabbing eggs as they were being released but for the most part it was a lost cause. After this was over we quickly swam in search of other corals spawning and came across the Massive Starlet Corals, Siderastrea siderea starting to spawn at 10:45 as well. This turned out to be one of the best photos of the evening! These corals were shooting out large amounts of sperm and within moments the corals looked like they were “smoking” or on “fire”, it was so cool! We hovered in disbelief and watched these corals spawn literally until I couldn’t see them anymore, they became enveloped in a spermy fog!! I had such a hard time trying to focus on this event but with the help of Aimee shining a light on them it ended up helping a lot!! I will send you that photo out tonight, it’s to cool for words! There had to have been at least 60 people in the water with us but thanks to years of knowing this reef we never saw a one of them!! I also got a really cool photo of a very illusive Viper eel and some more fun octopus shots, those are on the way as well! Our plan once we got out was to go and shoot the bundles again but they just don’t stay together long enough! Look carefully at the photo below and you can see the bundles breaking apart just a split second after being released! I think this is the only photo I have ever taken that not only shows the bundles being released but also a bunch of the gametes as well, we didn’t realize they break apart so fast! We ended up exiting the water at 11:15 and the Starlet corals were still spawning when we left, it was such a great night!

Our company is doing great, they have been diving our “Sea Aquarium House Reef” every day and seem to be having a wonderful time!! The sub will not be diving today, it will be under Thursday, Friday and Saturday so we watching the www.seesubmarine.com link when you can! Aimee and I are taking our guests on an island tour today and yes, I am taking my camera gear so hopefully I can find something really fun for you all!

Have a great day, I have to get going!! Barry

Coral Spawning, Star Coral Bundles/Gametes/Eggs

barry — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:42:27 +0000

Good morning readers, I am waking up as tired as a person can be after one crazy, fast paced weekend, again!! Saturday night our friends Sal and Patty arrived safe and sound and once checking them into pick up their rental car and getting home it was Christmas in September!! Sal immediately started pulling out goodies he had bought for us and stuff I had ordered and had sent to him to bring, including more yummy Highlander Groog Coffee!! The next day Sal and Patty went with Aimee at 8:00 in the morning for a swim with the dolphins and I dressed up and took off on a fast two and a half hour bike ride around the North East tip of the island! I ended up getting home at a time when it was so hot and I was almost out of water, that will teach me to leave so late! My highlight of the ride was passing a large group of girls on their bikes, I went by them at Mach-10 and for all they know I was World Champion Bart Brentjens, hey it’s the little things in life that bring so much pleasure!! After that I took Sal and Patty to the Substation where they did a reef dive by them selves while I stayed inside preparing cameras for the busy night ahead. While Sal and Patty were diving I looked out and spotted Wild Dolphins in front of Royal Resorts and to my surprise a snorkeler was with them? Turns out Aimee had the best day of her whole life getting to swim and be with a pod of 50 Offshore Bottlenose for close to two hours! She said they were all around her and the closest one came within 6 feet!! When I saw this I bolted inside and grabbed a camera and rushed out to see them as well but by the time I got out and underwater they were gone or I scared them away with my scary camera?? Aimee exited the water with a permanent smile glued to her face and just ran up and gave me a big hug saying, “that was the coolest thing I ever experienced”!! I am so glad she got to do that!! I ended up doing two separate dives in search of the dolphins and I swam far offshore and far out to sea, I could hear them but never found them. After my dives I washed gear with Sal and Patty and we all went home for a nap, if I would not have taken an hour rest I never would have made it to coral spawning which started at 9:30.

So at 8:30 I met Aimee and our friend Eveline at Substation and we all worked hard at getting dive gear and cameras ready for the nights activities. We had to get all the gear from Substation to Sea Aquarium which required making a few trips with the cars and then pushing the rest of the stuff via carts to the entry exit area. We jumped in at 9:35 and off we went and almost immediately I found one colony of Star Coral that was already releasing it’s eggs but not worth shooting. At 10:12 we started seeing coral spawning almost everywhere and I mostly tried to get some close-ups of the eggs being pushed out but had a very hard time getting close enough because of the colonies being in such a hard area to get to. We looked and looked for brittle stars eating eggs but didn’t see a one and every fish I tried to shoot eating eggs just took off scared of the lights. I did get this fun shot of six bundles releasing gametes, The bundles are what everyone refers to as the “eggs”, they are the six big blobs in the photo. Inside each bundle are gametes, and as you can see there are lots of them and they are so tiny!! Each gamete contains a possible new coral colony, but most will never make it back to reef as they get eaten by just about everything but a few lucky ones will find a spot to settle on the reef and start growing.

I have to cut this short, I need to get to work! It is pouring outside right now most likely because I washed our car last night! Have a great week, more spawning photos tonight, Barry

Common Sea Fan, Gorgonia ventalina, Diving Curacao

barry — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:53:24 +0000

Good morning readers, here is a beautiful Common Sea Fan, Gorgonia ventalina that we found along the walls of the East coast a few months back during the Padi Submersion event. Sea fans grow attached to the seabed and look like exotic plants. Unlike soft corals, they have a supporting skeleton that provides a framework and allows them to grow quite large. It is made mainly of a flexible, horny material and consists of a rod that extends down the inside of all except the smallest branches. In the common sea fan, the branches are mostly in one plane and form a mesh that is aligned at right angles to the prevailing current. This increases the amount of planktonic food brought within reach of the polyps, which are arranged all around the branches. Here is Curacao if you want to see sea fans you need to get to our North coast where they grow like weeds! In Bonaire it’s the East Coast that is filled with forests of sea fans and is a favorite spot for sea turtles and schools of fish. These beautiful underwater corals really need strong current and seem to love the surge from passing waves. There really are not a lot of sea fans on the South side of Curacao but we do have a beauty in front of the Sea Aquarium that has been there since we came and has managed to survive thru countless big storms.

Not much else this morning, I need to go walk the dogs and get to work! See you soon, Barry

Devil’s Sea Whip Close-up, Macro, Polyps, Pinnules

barry — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:02:11 +0000

Open Polyps

Closed Polyps

Good morning friends, today you get two photos for the price of one!! As promised, here is a close-up of a Devil’s Sea Whip, Ellisella barbadensis. Yesterday, equipped with a trusty 105-2.8 Nikor macro lens I again took off down to 130 feet to help explain better what Octocorallian Polyps looks like. The top photo shows the eight tentacle octocorallian polyps out feeding and the bottom photo shows what happens when the polyps are disturbed or feel they are in danger, they disappear and hide! So as I mentioned two days ago, Octocorallian polyps have eight tentacles that bear tiny pinnate (feather like) projections called pinnules. Remember I also mentioned that these are gorgonians. The stems and branches of all gorgonians have a central skeleton or axis. The core is surrounded by gelatinous material called the rind. Polyps are embedded in the rind and extent their tentacles and bodies from surface openings (apertures). The arrangement of the polyps (in rows, alternating bands, randomly scattered, etc.) is often helpful in the identification process. The shape of polyp apertures and the rims around them, called calyces (calyx, singular), are often used to determine the genus and, occasionally the species. The beautiful red/orange color comes from one or the combination of three sources; pigments in the polyps tissues, intracellular symbiotic algae in the polyps tissues called zooxanthellae (zo-zan-THEL-ee), and or coloring minerals in the calcareous spicules of the colonial structure. Colors often vary between colonies of the same species and are rarely useful in the identification process. Occasionally, members of the subclass are inaccurately referred to as “horny corals” because their supporting skeletal material superficially resembles the horn-like protein of turtle shells, and the hoofs, horns, and antlers of mammals.

That’s your undersea lesson for the day, I need to get to work, have a wonderful day!! Barry

Sea Whip, Gorgonians, Octocorals, Soft Coral, Calyx

barry — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 02:15:51 +0000

Hi guys, I was sitting inside today thinking, “and yes it hurt”, about what common creature’s we have on the reef that I have never sent out to you and like a bolt of lightning it came to me, Sea Whips! This is a beautiful Sea Whip I found today for your viewing pleasure at 130 feet! These corals are by far the least visited and photographed out there possibly because of where they like to live, DEEP! These are corals, or more commonly know as soft corals and are in the Gorgonian family. Each single calyx or polyp works hard at catching and filtering plankton particles that pass by which in turn feeds the sea whip. The books say these grow to around eight feet in length but here on our reef they can grow much longer. I have been searching for months for a good one of these and finally found this one, the others I found (via the sub) are way to deep, they are growing at 175 feet and deeper and can be found to around 1600 feet, yikes! Today while at 130 feet, I looked down below me into the darkness and saw fields and fields of these Sea Whips, it’s one gorgonian that seems to be doing very well.

Not much else for you all today, it’s getting hot again here in Curacao, we sure could use a little rain about now. Take care, more tomorrow, Barry

Yellow Sea Whip, Pterogorgia citrina, Soft Corals

barry — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:55:24 +0000

Hi friends, here is something different that I have never sent before, this is called a Yellow Sea Whip, Pterogorgia citrina and they are very common in the Caribbean. I guess maybe that’s why I have never sent it out before?? These are classified as soft corals but are in the family Gorgoniidae/Gorgonians. They are fairly easy to ID on the reef, just look for small, bushy highly branched colonies. Branches are quite flat and narrow with polyps extending from swollen, slit-like apertures along the thin edges. Beware, there is a similar species called; Grooved Blade Sea Whip which is distinguished by polyps extending from a common grove along thin edges. The Yellow Sea Whip has branches that are bright yellow to green to olive with purple edges, occasionally all purple with polyps white to cream colored. My name for these are Sea Bushes and they are a great spot to find little Slender Filefish, crabs and shrimps and most baby fish call these home as well.

Not a whole lot to report tonight, it was a pretty quiet day. I did pick up a 29-inch 2011 Specialized Epic (bike) for a test ride this evening. To say it felt strange was an understatement and will take more than one ride to get used to it. I must say though, it was great on the straight rocky sections but not so hot on the corners, I will let you know more after I do a few more rides, I have it all weekend.

Off to bed, see you tomorrow, Barry