Kelpscape

Lavender Sculpin

This Lavender Sculpin looks pretty cross, perhaps because I was watching his courtship with a large female at Tajiguas.  (I am guessing at the sexes of the participants here).  Lavender Sculpins are pretty common off the beach, usually on small sand areas surrounded by kelp.  They often seem to be taking part in various kinds of romantic activity, sometimes in large groups.  They are enthusiastic participants in the local club scene, and also enjoy cocktail parties, preferably chaotic ones.

Return of the Lizardfish!

 
I used to see California lizardfish like this one when I started beach diving about 11 years ago.  They disappeared after a couple of years, but are back now in large numbers.  Lizardfish might be harbingers of another El Nino, since the strongest El Nino in recent years was at about that time, 1998. They are stealth predators and hunt by sight, very aware of their environments and very wary.  Lizardfish like to cover themselves with sand, although not so much as halibut and angel sharks: the larger stealth predators.

Is This a Poacher?

I saw this fish at Tajiguas on 16 July, on the sand at about 2 pm.  It was about 3 inches long, and flitting across the sand.  It was quite shy, and didn't want me to photograph it.  It swam with its pectoral fins, also moving its tail and dorsal fins. To me, it looks most like the Souther Poacher in Coastal Fish ID. However, it was out in daylight, wasn't well camoflaged, didn't have bars, and was definitely aware and afraid of this diver.

 

San Diego Dorid

This San Diego Dorid was crawling through a maze of kelp at Tajiguas. The rhinophores look extended, curious and eager to see what's next down the path; and with all the spiraled ridges they should be able to tell a lot about it!

On the Surface at Tajiguas

Here's Tajiguas from the surface, looking across the kelp bed to the west and north.  I had a few frames left at the end of the dive. Tajiguas is said to mean "it leaks" in Chumash.  A canyon a short distance inland is the county dump.

Juvenile Rockfish at Tajiguas

I've seen literally hundreds of juvenile rockfish on each dive at Tajiguas and Refugio lately.  This one was at Tajiguas, hanging out next to a sea palm, as part of a school of a half-dozen or so.  There seems to be no particular reason for their abundance -- although rumor has it that abundant juvenile rockfish tend to be associated with El Nino (or Los Ninos?) events. These events come in two varieties, of which only one has becoming more common lately. Both cause warming of the ocean off California. One may be starting now. Perhaps as a consequence, lots of young sea lions have been starving lately, as the fish move to colder waters, too deep for the youngsters to dive. On my last dive at Tajiguas, the second weekend of July, I noticed that temperatures varied between 55F and 60F underwater.  In spots you could see the shimmery division between water of different temperatures.  If this goes on we'll have over 70F by October.  Warm-water diving, anyone?

Golden Gorgonian Close-Up

The polyps of a golden gorgonian strain out of their homes, extending their tentacles to grab passing food particles.  This scene is about the size of a fingernail; the entire coral fan is about a foot high.  The sea fan was at Tajiguas, where conditions have been reasonable lately and there are lots of gorgonians just off the beach.

Hermissenda

This Hermissenda crasicornis was crawling across a blade of kelp at Tajiguas. The common name is "Opalescent nudibranch" which is nice too, but somehow the Latin name seems more descriptive in this case.

Online Underwater Field Guide

Christine Donahue, and collaborators Clint Nelson, Dan Reed and Shannon Harrer, have come up with a great field guide to locally common plants and animals. To me, the best aspects of this guide are the algae and inverts.  It resolved a lot of the doubts and questions I have about those plants and animals that you see everywhere on the bottom, and seem to take a few different forms that may be related. Like, what are those big single-bladed algae that look like laminaria, but are completely smooth and have a central rib?  (They are young sea palms). It distinguishes between coastal and island environments: which are pof course retty different.  And, it's free for the downloading:
http://sbcdata.lternet.edu/external/Documents/Publications/FieldGuide.pdf