You wouldn’t think that something called a Tubeworm (Sabellastarte sanctijosephi)  could be very pretty. You might be wrong:

I shot the one above inside the reef at the west end of Pig Island.  I’m not completely sure of the identification, because there are several that have similar characteristics.

Many of the marine worms are quite beautiful. Have a look at these Christmas Tree Worms (Spirobranchus giganteus):

I showed some Sea Squirts the other day. Here is another shot of Didemnum molle:

This is yet another kind of Sea Squirt (Phallusia julinea):

There are so many species of Sea Squirts around this area that I think one could write a book about them. I doubt if it would make any best-seller lists, though. No money there.

I do love patterns. This Coral (Favites sp.)  is one of my favourites:

You have also seen a lot lately of the Spinecheek Anemonefish (Premnas biaculeatus):

The Spinecheek is an easy target for the Canon. It stays close to its anemone and will actually hold still for as much as a half-second, a rare thing for an anemonefish to do. They are among the most nervous and paranoid of fishes. When I’m shooting them, I sometimes imagine Woody Allen dialogue escaping from their tiny, toothy mouths.

The Reef Lizardfish (Synodus variegatus)  is another fishy friend that is easy to shoot:

Usually the problem with the Lizardfishes is that it’s a bit difficult to see them in the first place. You have to find one before you can take its photo. What usually happens is that I don’t see it until I’m close enough to make it move. Then, since they are so quick, it’s difficult to see where it went.

Related posts:

1. Underwater Eye Candy – the Canon G10 Again What's better than buying a new toy and discovering it's everything you hoped for, and more? I'm suffering no buyer's remorse over my purchase of the Canon G10....
2. More Underwater Canon G10 Shots from the Eel Garden I’ve had time to work up some more Canon G10 images from the dive on Saturday at the Eel Garden near Pig Island.  I’m still a little disbelieving at what’s coming out of this relatively cheap camera. It makes me wonder what we’ll be able to do in another five...
3. Sun Comes Up – Divers Go Down Come out for a Saturday dive in Madang, Papua New Guinea with Jan Messersmith. Bring your camera....
4. Today at a Reef Near You Just inside the reef at the Western tip of Pig Island there is a spot that few choose to dive. There is a lot of sandy bottom and the visibility is usually not much to write home about. It is, however, chock full of unusual critters. For instance:  This is...
5. Ooooo, Yummy Tube Worms for Breakfast Feeling a little queasy? A nice breakfast of Tube Worms might fix you right up. Try one named St. Joseph. Or how about a Spinecheek Anemonefish. Dig in!...
6. Underwater Guest Shooter – KP Perkins You've seen KP here before, but this time she has the Canon G11 in her hands. UW Photo lessons and Photoshop instruction make for very nice shots....
7. Reef Scenes – The Magic Kingdom Capturing underwater scenes in life-like colours is fussy. I'm going for "what you get is what you saw". Photoshop is my twelve-pound sledgehammer for this job....

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 11:33 and is filed under Under the Sea. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.