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 ABOUTfeatured: 30 Best Snorkeling Blogs Fun Ways to enjoy the caribbeanArchive for the ‘Octopus + Squid + Nautilus’Jan 28, 12 Comments (0)
Good morning friends, it 5:00am here and super quiet! I have a very busy day planned ahead IF it doesn’t rain again! I am picking up Stijn at 8:00am and we are both first taking a friend of mine out to the airport to get him a ticket so he can get home to see his family in South America, will tell you this story more next week. After that we are planning on going to Mount Christoffel for the whole day doing photography. It’s something I have always wanted to do but have never taken the time to do it. Stijn will be helping me carry gear all day and help me set up any black-back-drop photos I may be taking so if it happens we may end up having some fun Curacao wildlife/vegetation photos for you next week. For the past few days a group of four baby Caribbean Reef Squids, Sepioteuthis sepioidea have been living in our little lagoon at the Substation. The biggest one seen here is only about an inch and a half long. They spend their days just hovering in one spot under a big piece of algae encrusted rope that is hanging in the water and close to the surface. So yesterday after the sub dive I ran inside and put together another camera with the good-ol 28-70 lens and took off back to the water. When photographing squids you have to move real slow! In fact, what I do is just park myself about a meter from them and just hover there for 10 minutes before I start taking any pictures, that way they start to get a bit used to you. The basic coloring of a Caribbean reef squid is a mottled medium green to brown on their dorsal (upper) side with lighter coloring on their ventral (under) side for camouflage from predators swimming above or below them. These animals are social creatures often found in small groups that communicate through a variety of complex signals. Both cuttlefish and squid communicate by controlling the pigment in their skin. Messages such as readiness to mate, sexual identification, and alarm are flashed through various colorful spots, blotches, and background color. To signal slight alarm, their brow ridges turn bright gold and their central arms turn white. Their entire body will pale when a squid retreats from a potential predator and in open water when faced with an extremely aggressive predator, reef squid can also hide themselves and confuse predators by ejecting a cloud of black ink. Retreating squid near the protection of the reef will often turn dark brown or reddish in color to match their surroundings. In addition to their colorful signaling behavior, S. sepioidea display unique behaviors such as pointing their bodies upward or vertically prior to striking a fish or prey, curling upward during territorial disputes and in hostile situations, and pointing head-down when approached by a predator in open water. As you can see here this little guy put his arms out as far as he could to make himself look bigger to try and scare me away, I was laughing underwater at how darn cute he was! Compared to the size of their body, squid’s eyes are strikingly large. They have the largest eye-to-body ratio in the entire animal kingdom. I better get moving, I will send more baby squids shots this week! Have a wonderful weekend, Barry Sep 16, 11 Comments Off
Good morning friends, here is my pet octopus of sorts that I have living right under our sub dock. This is a nocturnal Caribbean Reef Octopus and he spends each and every day just watching me and all the other creatures swim or crawl by from the protection of his ultra cool hiding spot in the rocks. He uses his suction cups on the bottom of his arms to hold rocks, shells and even a chunk of beach glass! He uses those attached items to protect his face and body from predators. If anything approaches he will quickly lower his head and body down into his hole while still holding onto the items with his arms creating a solid rock barrier against unwanted company, it’s really very cool. Almost every morning I can see what he had for dinner the night before. He usually eats crabs, conchs and all different kinds of mollusks that live in shells, he eats them, I in turn collect the shells! The only way this guy will come out of that hole during the day is if he spots food, like a conch passing by, they will risk their own safety for food. Before each sub dive I usually just lay on the bottom inches in front of him and slowly put my finger out for him to feel and each time he grabs it with his suction cups. You can’t even imagine how powerful just one of those suction cups are, sometimes I have to pull pretty hard to get my finger back.
I was off most of the day yesterday but had to go into work to take photos of a sub-dive. While out there I went to check on the baby seahorse but he was gone. I will keep looking but as small as he is he will be hard to find. I did take the dogs and my camera gear to Saint Joris yesterday morning but because of the heat we came back home within an hour. Aimee had spotted seven Cara-Cara’s the day before and said I should take my camera, I never saw one yesterday I guess that’s how it goes!! We spent the day cleaning our messy house and getting it ready for our guests that arrive this Saturday at 6:30pm. I have coral spawning Saturday, Sunday and Monday, so I will be very tired those days as I won’t get home till the wee hours of the morning!
We have a sub dive today at either 9:15 or 11:15, that means it will be live at 10:15 or 12:15 Eastern Time. Off to work, hope all is well out there, Barry
Aug 19, 11 Comments Off
Good morning friends, Aimee and I had friends show up from New Mexico yesterday but they could only stay for half of the day. They arrived the night before and mainly came to Curacao to do a swim with our wonderful dolphins and to deliver some goodies from home. I finally got my new part I needed for my mountain bike and some new elbow pads and Aimee got some new clothes and some stuff for the dogs. After their fun dolphin swim I took them all on a fun snorkel around the Sea Aquarium and other than a little current I think we all had a great time! At 2:00 we had to say goodbye, they were in route to Bonaire where they will now be staying for the next five days. As most of you know we LOVE having guests and try to do our best at entertaining even if it’s only for a few hours. It’s also our only way to get needed items to Curacao as shipping is out of the question so please don’t ever try to send us anything!
Here’s a cool octopus shot, I found this one at night doing acrobatics under a big piece of Endangered Elkhorn coral. This is a Caribbean Reef Octopus, it’s the most seen and active octopus we have here but you usually just see them at night only. Octopus are crazy agile creatures, they can squeeze their bodies into super tight places or inflate themselves to cover a large area when in hunting mode. I remember telling this one to “get off the coral”, I mean talk about no respect! I remember we followed this guy for a long time and watched as he or she investigated every nook and cranny of this big outcrop of coral in search of dinner and I think he finally found a small crab to eat. Yesterday while on our fun snorkel we found a similar octopus trying to eat a big Queen Conch but upon seeing us he let go with a cloud of ink and went and hid in the coral.
Sorry so short, I am a bit behind this morning, came home from a fast hour and a half ride with Super Stijn last night and didn’t feel like sitting at the computer.
More soon, Barry
Aug 17, 11 Comments Off
Good morning from Curacao, I have been going thru old squid photos this week and found another for your viewing pleasure. It seems like every time we send out squid or octopus photos we get the most replies from our readers and really they are my hands down favorite creature to see on any given dive. Caribbean Reef Squid are largely piscovorous (means feeds of fish) and wait for their prey to approach them during the day. At night, they are more active hunters. Captured prey are generally a few centimeters long, depending upon the size of the squid. In feeding, fish are transported to the mouth by the arms where they are bitten behind the head and secured until eaten. These arms are lined with sharp hooks, corresponding to adapted sucker-rings. The tip of the arms have a cluster of smoother suckers, while the clubs at the ends of the longer tentacles have both connective tubercles and smooth suckers. The squid will feed on the flesh and internal organs of the fish but discard the head, tail, vertebrate column, and ribs. When out hunting, these squid will employ a number of very clever techniques. Individuals may raise their central upper arms to lure potential curious predators. Another method, presently exclusive to Caribbean Reef Squid, involves hiding their tentacles from the vision of their prey until the time to attack. At this time, tentacles are rapidly extended past the limit of the longest arms. Also, squid can bend their tentacles in a hooking v-pattern to aid in capturing smaller prey. In addition, upon approaching food a squid may twist and spiral its tentacles in hopes of confusing its prey.
During the day, they live in large and organized groups but are never close together and usually equally spaced apart. This species does not cooperatively drive its prey but may compete with one another for food at times. They remain closely bunched and will strike at prey generally one at a time then fall back into line with the group. However, they are known to exhibit cannibalistic activity. When ready to feed, they have been observed anchoring themselves, and remain very still, by the arm tips on the seafloor bottom and wait for the appearance of its prey. The fish captured are primarily sardines, dwarf herring, false prichard, red, and hardhead silversides. Other prey include shrimp, mysids, and mollies. Food selection is of greatest important to the survival of young squid. In isolated studies, newly hatched squid were very selective in choosing prey but flourished upon large amounts of mysid crustaceans. Juveniles and adults also capture small planktonic animals (copepods) and small arthropods, something I have never seen yet as a photographer. Aimee and I are off on a North coast adventure this morning with the dogs and bikes so I need to get going, have yourselves a wonderful day! See you tomorrow, Barry
Aug 11, 11 Comments Off
Good morning comrades, not a whole lot going on this week not even diving or biking, Aimee and I both are fighting a bug. Actually I have been lucky so far and have only had the first signs of what ever she had but still it has been enough to make me feel down and out. Aimee is supposed to be racing in a team Triathlon this weekend, she is doing the swimming part of it so I hope she starts feeling better soon. We have a giant fish-ball or school of fish that is currently residing in our lagoon and I was hoping that today she could jump in and help me with some photos, I keep telling her the salt water will do her good!
Here is another beautiful Caribbean Reef Octopus, Octopus briareus posing for me on top of a large rock covered in moss and Algae. Many of you already know that once a female Caribbean Reef Squid mates and lays her eggs, she will die. Well this species of octopus is very similar. Since this species of Octopus doesn’t live for very long, they are able to start mating between 3 to 4 months of age. The males seem to mature sooner than the females. The males will die sooner than the females as their role in mating is done once they have successfully released the sperm sac from their body to that of the female. The males will actually fight with each other for the right to be able to mate with a given female. My guess is they would not be so eager to fight or mate if they knew they were going to die soon after. This fighting though is nature’s way of ensuring that the best genetic materials are able to be passed on to the future generations of offspring. Even though the male is able to win that battle, he is far from done fighting. The female may not want to mate with him at all. If she doesn’t and he continues to pursue him she may bite off body parts or kill him. Yet the desire to mate is very instinctive for the males so they will continue to pursue a female. She generally will take part in mating as long as her basic needs are being met. The female will die soon after mating too but she has one more aspect of life left to complete. Her mission at that point in time is to make sure as many of her eggs are able to be fertilized by the sperm and to hatch. There can be as many as 500 eggs that she will release from her body. She will lay them in either January or February. The warmer the water temperature is the sooner she will release them. The incubation period will also be affected by the water. When it is warm the may only have 50 days or so before they hatch. In cooler temperatures it can be as long as 80 days though. The young offspring are amazing and are able to move quickly through the water and to instinctively find food. They have a very quick growth rate too due to the whirlwind life span for them.
Have a great day all, off to the sea, Barry
Aug 10, 11 Comments Off
Good morning friends, thanks for all the comments from yesterday, it’s nice or should I say; it’s comforting to know that everyone likes sea turtles. Here is a male Caribbean reef squid, Sepioteuthis sepioidea in his “angry colors” that I found a while back at a dive spot called “Tugboat” located at Caracasbaai. This is by far the wildest color pattern on a squid I have ever seen and I think it was due to another male in the area bothering his woman while she was laying eggs under a rock. The basic coloring of a Caribbean reef squid is a mottled medium green to brown on the dorsal side with lighter coloring on the ventral side for camouflage from predators swimming below. These animals are social creatures often found in small groups that communicate through a variety of complex signals. Both cuttlefish and squid communicate by controlling the pigment in their skin. Messages such as readiness to mate, sexual identification, and alarm are flashed through various colorful spots, blotches, and background color. To signal slight alarm, their brow ridges turn bright gold and the central arms turn white. The entire body will pale if the squid retreats from its potential predator and in open water when faced with an extremely aggressive predator, reef squid will obstruct themselves and confuse the predator by ejecting a cloud of black ink. Retreating squid near the protection of the reef will often turn dark brown or reddish in color to match their surroundings.
In addition to their colorful signaling behavior, reef squid display unique behaviors such as pointing their bodies upward prior to striking a fish or prey, curling upward during territorial disputes and in hostile situations, and pointing head-down when approached by a predator in open water. The main adult squid predators include the Yellowfin grouper as well as other large predatory fishes. Compared to the overall body, squid’s eyes are strikingly large. The have the largest eye to body ratio in the entire animal kingdom. Yesterday I started to come down with what ever Aimee and the rest of the aquarium have but thanks to my mom sending cold medicine I have so far kept it away. She sent me this stuff called Zicam and Airborne and is best used at the first signs of sickness but seems to work. Need to get moving, have a wonderful day, Barry Jun 6, 11 Comments Off
Good morning from Funville once again, how was your weekend?? We have been going non-stop here trying to get in as much as we can every day, would hate for Ron and Aubrey to go home saying “there wasn’t much to do in Curacao”!! Yesterday I was gone with the dogs by 6:30am taking them on a great two hour adventure along the coast in search of usable wood for my driftwood furniture creations. The minute we got there I could tell it was going to be a great collecting day as there was wood right where we parked the car. I never heard of any big storms here over the past few days but what I ended up finding was evidence that there must have been. It turned out to be one of the best wood trips I had ever been on, it was everywhere! I moved and carried wood to a place where I could drive the car to and in the end had so much to bring home there was hardly room for the dogs! The dogs always have such a wonderful time here, they run up and down some of the small beaches taking turns chasing each other and then following me thru some pretty deep water which means they have to swim. Indi found a dead, dried up eel and rolled in it and Inca found a dead fish to eat, the more I yell and chase them the more they love it, it’s just a game to them!
When I got home and after unloading the wood and washing dogs I quickly took off to the glass beach for an hour of collecting while Ron and Aubrey went with Aimee to swim with the dolphins, again! Yes, it’s the benefits of staying with the Browns, I think I told you too that Ron even got thrown in the sub just because he was standing around and Aubrey will most likely be going as well some time this week.
At noon, I drove the car down to the Substation and spent the next 30 minutes loading up tanks, dive gear, and the camera, I was taking our guests diving at a place called Small Wall. I picked them up around 12:30 and off we went to Caracas-bay headed to Directors Bay where we unloaded and the adventure began. Small Wall is a great Curacao dive spot but normally only accessible by boat but for those of you with adventure you just enter the water at Directors bay and swim on your backs all the way out to the Small Wall buoy, it’s East of the Directors Bay beach. It took us around 15-20 minutes to get there and because we still had full tanks we were able to submerge and dive the whole way back to where we started, a dive very few will ever do and it’s one of the best around. The dive itself was incredible even though we saw four big Lionfish, but the mix of sponges and fish I found quickly made up for that. The dive was great and water visibility was perfect and we exited with smiles on our face on a beautiful sunny beach, what more can you ask for?
After cleaning gear back at the Substation we then got ourselves and the bikes ready for a two hour bike ride. I again took them on a grand tour of all the trails in the area and I must say these two are great riders! Other than the lack of wind last night the evening was just beautiful, I had wished for a camera many times as I would look back or watch our guests spinning thru the Curacao jungles, it was just beautiful!
The perfect day ended with an evening out at the Ribs Factory and upon our arrival back home I was the first in bed!
Here is a beautiful Caribbean Reef Squid for you all today and it goes out especially for my buddy Neal Larson at the Black Hills Institute in Hill City, South Dakota who is by far my number one fan when it comes to these animals! Treat yourself to a fun online experience by checking out the company Neal and his brother own, go to; http://www.bhigr.com/ Neal and I both are collectors of Ammonites which are the ancestors to these spectacular creatures that still roam the seas. Neal also just wrote a new book with hundreds of colorful pages of different Ammonites from all over the World and some of my squid and octopus photos are in there as well. The book is called, Ammonites, Treasures from a Lost World by Neal L. Larson, try to order a copy you would love it!
I have to get to work, busy day ahead with the sub! Talk more soon, Barry
May 11, 11 Comments Off
Good morning from Curacao. Here is a new Caribbean Squid photo I got on my last night dive months ago in Bonaire. Below is a little information from marinebio.org they have a great site and great information and perfect for those of us who don’t have much time in the morning, read on. The Caribbean reef squid is one our favorite Cephalopods. It is often encountered among shallow reefs and is usually unafraid of divers, if not curious about them. The mantles of newly hatched squid are about 8-9 mm in length and the mantles in adult males and females reach 12-20cm in length. Adult reef squid closely resemble their cousins, the cuttlefish, in that their bodies are broad and less streamlined than many other squids. Reef squid can also move using jet propulsion by pressing water from the pallial cavity (in the mantle) through their funnel to move through the water.
The basic coloring of a Caribbean reef squid is a mottled medium green to brown on the dorsal side with lighter coloring on the ventral side for camouflage from predators swimming below. These animals are social creatures often found in small groups that communicate through a variety of complex signals. Both cuttlefish and squid communicate by controlling the pigment in their skin. Messages such as readiness to mate, sexual identification, and alarm are flashed through various colorful spots, blotches, and background color. To signal slight alarm, their brow ridges turn bright gold and the central arms turn white. The entire body will pale if the squid retreats from its potential predator and in open water when faced with an extremely aggressive predator, reef squid will obstruct themselves and confuse the predator by ejecting a cloud of black ink. Retreating squid near the protection of the reef will often turn dark brown or reddish in color to match their surroundings. Not much new to report, yesterday was one of our first real hot days but lucky for Aimee and I we were in the water most of the day. We are getting our house cleaned up and ready for our new guests Ron and Aubrey Hoard from Spearfish who arrive at the end of the month. I know Aubrey from the coffee shop in Rapid City where I went every morning for my dose of Highlander (coffee) and we have kind of kept in touch all these years, will be great to have them here.
My website is currently down, I am unable to post any new blogs there but hopefully we will get it fixed soon. See you, Barry
May 4, 11 Comments Off
Good morning friends, it’s time for you daily dose of Curacao. Because of the outside of our house being invaded by these big black ants last night I ended up having no time to write. It started off with the last trip I did to Saint Joris. I had come home and washed my shoes and then just tossed them on the gravel to dry. Well, hours later they had dried a bit and a storm was coming so I tossed them inside our back door along with everything else that was then outside. In the morning I picked up the shoes and to my surprise they were filled with hundreds of these giant black ants and now they were in the house! So ever since I threw the shoes back outside we have had these ants trying to get back in thinking that inside was their new house?Later in the evening Aimee and I went outside with lights and followed a line of them from the top of our driveway all the way out to the back-yard! We tried swatting a few with a shoe but they seem like they are wearing some kind of armor so after getting knocked down they just get up and attack all over again. Anyone have any ideas how to get rid of them with the use of chemicals?? These things are mean!
Had a semi-fun mountain bike ride last night, it was short but very enjoyable. My little buddy Stijn was running late so he just met me out on the trails and after 10 minutes of riding he asked me from behind, “do you have any water”? I thought at first he was kidding but turns out he was in such a rush to catch up to me he forgot the most important thing. And yes I gave him water, I always carry two large bottles here but that now meant we only had enough water for a one hour ride maximum, it’s hot out there and you have to drink unless your name is Aaron or Jen, then you can drink from one bottle all day!
Here is a close-up shot of the eye of a baby Octopus I found hiding under the Sub platform on Monday. Octopuses (and their close cousins the squids) can change color with remarkable speed because of color cells on their skin called chromatophores. These cells are sacs of colored pigment that expand or contract to create just about any color or pattern found on the coral reef. When the color cells are relaxed, all their pigment is concentrated in a dot at the center. But when the animal needs quick camouflage or a diverting flash of color, muscles around the cell pull and stretch until the pigment is spread out. In octopuses, such color cells come in red, orange, yellow, brown or black. The combinations of these hues are endless, allowing the creature to match most natural backgrounds. Other special cells in octopuses’ skin are called iridocytes. These act like prisms and mirrors, reflecting light into rainbows of colors. In some species, such as the highly venomous blue-ringed octopus of Australia and the South Pacific, these vibrant colors serve as a warning to would-be predators. Besides being able to change color, some octopuses can also change the texture of their skin to match their surroundings. Tiny muscles surround folds of skin on these octopus bodies. The octopus can contract or relax them to change the roughness of its skin.
Off to walk the dogs and cut some thorn bushes that really cut my arms up last night, see you again soon, Barry
Apr 16, 11 Comments Off
Good morning from your Curacao Zombie!! I am super beat this morning after a long day of diving and then an hour and a half fast bike ride in the evening with Stijn. I came home after the ride, looked at my computer and said, no way, I’ll do it in the morning, I just don’t have the energy. Thanks to everyone for all the compliments and notes about the two new deep water hermits, I think it’s so cool how many folks responded. Those hermits are really one of the most gentle and beautiful creatures out there, just doing their own thing each and every day and always a joy to watch.
Here is another gentle creature of the Caribbean and by far one of the top creatures a visiting diver hopes to see on any given dive. This guy here was absolutely beautiful sitting on top of a large outcrop of Giant Star Coral. The octopus group makes up around a third of the worlds cephalopod population, with around 300 species found in waters around the world. The octopus can be found in the all the worlds oceans, with the octopus ranging in size from a just few centimeters to number of feet depending on the species of octopus! The octopus is well known for being a master of disguise and is able to blend into pretty much any background using its elaborate camouflage. The octopus not only uses this to its advantage for both hiding from potential prey and predators, but it is also thought to play a role in the male octopuses mating display, in order to attract a female octopus. Generally, most species of octopus have no internal or external skeleton which means that the octopus is able to squeeze itself into tight places. The octopus and the squid are known to be one of the most intelligent of all the invertebrates.
I have to run, still need to walk the dogs and get into work for a dive at 10:30, see you soon, Barry
Nov 4, 10 Comments Off
Howdy gang, how are we all doing this evening?? Well, bad news, no fun snorkel today with the famous cyclists! Apparently because of all this bad weather they missed a riding/training day and ended up doing that instead. I had already spent an hour preparing and dragging all my gear over to Dolphin Academy in hopes of doing the swim but after the news of “no go”, I hauled it all back to the Substation. So instead I ended up doing two short photo shoots back to back with the sub and after that worked on the computer for the rest of the day. I did finally get out for a bike ride but just on the road, the trails are still way to messed up!
This is a Caribbean Reef Squid (Sepioteuthis sepioidea), also known as just the Reef Squid, is a small (20 cm) torpedo-shaped squid with fins that extend nearly the entire length of the body and undulate rapidly as it swims. The squid has recently become notable when it was discovered that it could fly out of the water; a discovery which finally led to identification of six species of flying squid, cool huh?
I hope all is well out there, it’s been a long, long time since I have heard from many of you, please check in if your one of these folks as I will be deleting address that we never hear from anymore.
Chow folks, Barry
Sep 16, 10 Comments Off
Good morning from windy Wyoming! I have had countless questions this week regarding the fossils we are here collecting so yesterday I took the time to photograph one of our better finds. This is called an Ammonite, it’s a fossil sea shell of sorts that once swam here in a shallow sea. This one here is around 5-6 inches wide. The ammonites once had an animal living in them that was very much like a squid or an octopus and are in the cephalopod family. We are collecting in the Grandis and Baculus zone and fossils found here are around 68-71 million years old. We find these beautiful things by walking the prairie and searching for what we call “mud balls” or “concreations” that are starting to weather out from below the surface. Once one is located we use a rock pick to dig it out and a small sledge hammer to open it. Many times we break what we are looking for but you can pick up the pieces and put them back together back home in a lab. I love waking in areas that used to be underwater and being able to find clues to the past. It’s fun to envision all these cool and unusual creatures swimming around in an ocean now called Wyoming, there is still so much to learn. We are heading back to South Dakota today, Aimee still has lots of friends to see and a small time to do it and I want to go mountain biking. Thanks for all the support, Barry Jul 5, 10 Comments Off
Hi gang, how was your Fourth of July?? Send us some stories of what activities you all did would love to hear about it. There were no fireworks here last night, I think that’s a first but all in all it’s been fairly quiet around here, doesn’t seem to be that many tourists around lately.
I found this close-up shot of a Caribbean Squid and his beautiful colors from a night dive I did a few months ago. I remember this squid was circling around me flashing what looked like every color under the rainbow, it was such a great show and I had a front row seat! Many don’t know that squid skin is translucent. The color comes from pigment cells, called chromatophores, located in the outer layer of skin. These chromatophores appear as small patches or dots. Chromatophores in Caribbean Reef Squid contain red, yellow, blue, green, purple, orange, maroon or brownish-black pigments. Muscles controlled by nerve fibers control the chromatophores. Different nerve fibers control different colored chromatophores. This allows the squid to selectively retract or expand sets of chromatophores and to increase or decrease the amount of a selected color. By expanding the red chromatophores, as squid may do when excited, the squid will flush with a bright red color. Rapidly retracting all the chromatophores reduces all the colors and the squid appears colorless.
Not much news from Curacao for you tonight, the puppies are doing well and it’s great to have our Aimee home! I’ll be back tomorrow night, Barry
Jul 4, 10 Comments Off
Hi again everyone! A BIG late Happy Fourth of July to all my friends and readers in the States, I almost forgot! Yes living here with an all new set of Holidays it’s easy to forget our own. We usually have a fireworks display here at Breezes Hotel for all the Americans but it hasn’t started yet, when it does Inca will be going crazy!
I had a very calm and relaxing day for once! I first took the 4 dogs out for a two hour walk doing some macro flower photography along the way. I found a new area full of those tiny “starfish looking’ flowers and spent at least an hour trying to get a nice shot which I finally did accomplish! While shooting the two pups raced back and forth and dug holes in the dirt they had an absolute blast and upon my return home they crashed and slept the rest of the day, how cool is that! I watched movies while working on new photos in Photoshop and also cleaned up my computer room which looked like a tornado went thru. That’s about it for my day.
This is a beautiful Common Octopus all rolled up trying to blend in with the reef. When these octopus are out in the open and want to hide they either lay flat and change to dark colors or make them selves look like a coral head, it’s really pretty cool! Octopus are considered to be the most intelligent of all invertebrates, the common octopus “seen here” is found in the tropical and temperate waters of the world’s oceans. They can grow to about 4.3 feet (1.3 meters) in length and weigh up to 22 pounds (10 kilograms), although averages are much smaller. They prey on crabs, crayfish, and mollusks, and will sometimes use their ink to disorient their victims before attacking.
Hope everyone is doing well, have a safe evening, Barry
Mar 21, 10 Comments Off
 Atlantic Longarm Octopus Hi guys, how was the weekend?? Did you get a lot done or did you go to a movie and just relax? We have a friend staying with us at the moment who is from California named Tom. The first thing I did this morning was take him and the dogs to the cool bat caves at Koral Tabok where I finished hiding my new Geocache called Batman and Robin. While I worked on the Geocache Tom explored the cave and the surrounding area and the dogs stayed with me. After playing around there and getting a few new GPS coordinates off we went a bit further down the road and parked the car and set off on foot towards the ocean. The North coast of Curacao is getting heavily pounded at the moment with giant waves. We watched and watched as wave after wave rolled in and exploded onto the jagged limestone shoreline, it was unbelievable!! There was so much salt spray in the air that every minute you had to take your glasses off and clean them. The dogs had a great time running around but came back to me every once in a while for a much needed drink and like a good pet owner I carry lots of water for them. Once back home I submitted my new Geocache on-line and then spent the rest of the day working on the computer. At 4:30 I took off with a friend on a fun mountain bike ride around the salt pans, it was super windy but we both had a pretty good time.
This is a beautiful little baby Atlantic Longarm Octopus that I again found at Eden beach in Bonaire on one of my night dives. This guy was in three feet of water and just laid there trying to not move and blend in and was changing colors the whole time. Bonaire is the only place I have seen these octopus, they are so diffeent than the other two we see all the time in Curacao.
That’s my day, we just had a great dinner of chicken on a stick on the grill, yummy!! Bye all, Barry
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