Kona
Green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) seem to really enjoy taking time out
to get cleaned. These gold-ring surgeonfish (Ctenochaetus strigosus) and
yellow tangs (Zebrasoma flavescens) eek out a living nibling at algae
that grows on the reef. You can imagine their excitment when a turtle who's been
out at sea arrives sporting a shell with a lush carpet of algal growth. This
turtle has an injured flipper. Monofilament fishing line and other refuse create
entanglement hazards for a wide variety of marine animals, turtles included.
"Kona", Hawaii
January 6, 2007
Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) and orangespine unicornfish (Naso
lituratus). Turtles really do look pretty goofy when they swim.
"Kona", Hawaii
January 6, 2007
This green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) appears to be giving me a
one-flipper salute. Hmmm. well, anyway one of the odd habits of turtles is that
the seem to see nothing wrong with swimming so close to something that they
whack it with their flippers. True to form, I got a bonk on the head about a
half second after this shot was taken.
"Kona", Hawaii
January 6, 2007
Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas).
"Kona", Hawaii
January 6, 2007
Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), gold-ring surgeonfish (Ctenochaetus
strigosus) and yellow tangs (Zebrasoma flavescens).
"Kona", Hawaii
January 6, 2007
Moray eels like this whitemouth moray (Gymnothorax meleagris) assume an
open-mouth posture in order pump water across their gills. Such behavior may
look aggressive, but it's just the animal breathing. Then, of course, there are
times when morays really are making a threating display -- that's what this is.
Nice teeth.
"Kona", Hawaii
January 4, 2007
Geesh, in Hawaii, even ship propellers are fabricated in the likeness of
Plumeria. There's just enough water under the Kona Aggressor II
for these yellowfin goatfish (Mulloidichthys vanicolensis). This is
pretty typical for Kona diving. The shoreline drops away quickly so most of the
anchorages are in pretty close to shore. This one is downright scary.
"Kona", Hawaii
December 31, 2006
It's difficult to find creatures stranger than frogfish. This, of course, makes
them popular among photographers. The nice thing about this Commerson's frogfish
(Antennarius commerson) is its relatively large size. This affords
wide-angle zealots like myself the opportunity to create a shot with some nice
water and coral in the background.
"Kona", Hawaii
January 1, 2007
Whitemouth moray (Gymnothorax meleagris) on an ascetic reef.
"Kona", Hawaii
December 31, 2006
