June 29th, 2009

Had a great day at Mike's Reef. A close encounter with a friendly Manta Ray. He hung out for 15 minutes or so. We found a super rare (but not that rare at Mike's Reef) Male Whitley's Box Fish. The females are common, why there are so few males is a mystery! We also found a Red Spotted Nudibranch, a Sponge Crab, 5 pom pom crabs cruising in the rubble patch!! Too cool! 3 Tiger Cowreys, One of the most beautiful and perfect Triton's trumpets, I've ever seen, an Octopus, Corn Kernel Nudibranchs. I actually call them "Cyclops" since they only have one rinophore. They are the size of a grain of rice, to really get a good look at them you need a magnifying glass.