There have been too many people in the water with cameras the last couple days. I say that because I was instructed to look through all of them and pick out interesting ones that might go on the project web site. There are a lot of pictures. Most of them are transect-related ones, so not of interest to anyone outside the our group. I was looking through them on the laptop on a desk. Laptops are not designed to be used for long periods. My aching neck. These chairs are not that comfortable either, while I'm on my comfort level.

Anyway, I had pulled some of the pictures and posted them here already, but the following are the highlights / a few more that I found today.


Some anemone tentacles sticking up through an opening.


A porities colony with a few fish. The fluffy-looking parts of the coral are the polyps that make up the colony.


These fish lay in wait on the sandy bottom. When a fish the right size comes by, it swims up and grabs it. We saw one do this last year with a damsel fish.


A puffer. The spines can be seen along its body. I think its eyes are very bright because they caught the sunlight just right. Normally their eyes are a bit dull.


I call them red urchins, though maybe orange. I think those are sargent fish swimming around them.


We think this is a hawksbill turtle, but they never saw it swimming around. If they are resting, their air can last quite a while. It is hiding under a big coral mound.


A favorite of many coral researchers is the Christmas tree worm. Down on the surface is a tube that the worm lives, but the worm's twin spiral plumes stick up and are used for feeding. If they are surprised, the "trees" disappear. The plumes are only about an inch tall.


Part of a school of yellow fish. They are a type of grunt.