Alright! I have finally made it through all the photos from my (at this point, not so) recent dive trip. I really should have finished them a long while ago, since the last dive certainly had a couple gems in them - in particular in the form of an encounter with a Spotted Cleaner Shrimp (Periclimenes yucatanicus). It was definitely a challenging subject due to the continually undulating anemone that it was hiding in, but I did manage several really sharp photos, and this particular one worked pretty well in several different crops... take a look and then cast your vote for which one you like best.

Original	2:3 Crop	Square Crop

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/200th sec at f/8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 400. Ikelite Housing and Port and Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Raw conversion and cropped in Photoshop CS5.

Honestly, I didn't even notice the crab also hiding in the anemone at the time - I was so focused on capturing a species of shrimp that I'd never seen before.

There are still a handful more good shots from the trip, so hopefully I'll post a little more frequently to get them shared here. Stay tuned.

- Bill

It is ridiculously cold here, so I'm daydreaming about warm waters and circling reef sharks...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II at 22mm. 1/250 sec at f/8. ISO 400. Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in eTTL mode. Raw conversion in Adobe Camera Raw.

Stay warm wherever you are...

- Bill

Blennies are small reef fish that can often go unnoticed due to their often shy nature and cryptic camouflage. Here's a nice set of blenny portraits...

Secretary Blenny (Acanthemblemaria maria)	Diamond Blenny (Malacoctenus boehlkei)	Spinyhead Blenny (Acanthemblemaria spinosa)
Arrow Blenny (Lucayablennius zingaro)	Saddled Blenny (Malacoctenus trianculatus)	Yellowface Pikeblenny (Chaenopsis limbaughi)

I've shared other posts with blennies in the past, and it seems that they are a favored photo subject for me.

A fun story with the pikeblenny... Anya found this little guy during our shark feeding dive on our last trip. While the rest of us were completely engrossed in the twenty-or-so sharks ranging in size up to about eight feet long, Anya was interacting with this little fellow on the sandy ocean floor. I managed to get a few shots with the wide-angle lens, but focusing was a bit of a challenge. If you look closely, that feisty little guy is coming up out of its hole to bite Anya's finger. It also took a few nips at me as well - so we can say with complete honesty that we've sustained multiple bites during a shark feed dive!

- Bill

Ok - I've been lazy/busy (take your pick) and haven't been posting often, but here's a cool shot of a Bearded Fireworm (Hermodice carunculata) taken on our recent dive trip. We didn't see too many of these until the last day or so of diving, then they seemed to be everywhere. This one in particular really appears to be on fire and definitely illustrates one of the sources of its name - the other is from the fact that those white bristles you see can inject a painful toxin that causes a burning sensation. Definitely not something you should mess with!

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/250th sec at f/16. Image Stabilization on. ISO 400. Ikelite Housing and Port and Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Raw conversion and cropped in Photoshop CS5.

Thanks for stopping by.

- Bill

So we've talked about feeding bloodworms to reef critters on multiple occasions, and I've briefly touched on how annoying they can be... but today I will show just what photobombing jerks they really are...

The night dives in the Bahamas were especially bad with bloodworms, and this is just a small sampling of the photos ruined by these prolific little annoyances (most of the rest just got deleted).

- Bill

Yep - you read that right - Caribbean Sea Spider (Andoplodactylus sp). I'm sure to some folks, it comes as no surprise that I managed to find spiders underwater too...

Ok - it isn't a true spider, but it is somewhat related. Both spiders and sea spiders are in the subphylum (the classification above class) Chelicerata. I've been fascinated with them ever since I first saw them listed in my identification, and so when I spotted one during a night dive, I instantly knew what I was seeing. I unfortunately did not come back with the best photos, but I'll explain that a bit more later.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/250th sec at f/16. Image Stabilization on. ISO 400. Ikelite Housing and Port and Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Raw conversion in Photoshop CS5.

I know - I'm sure for most folks those photos look like a while lot of nothing - if you can even figure out what you're looking for at all. In general, the sea spider just looks like a jumble of legs to be honest, but like I said - I knew instantly what I was looking at and was thrilled with my find. I only spent about three minutes photographing it, and the conditions were absolutely horrible (I'll explain more on that tomorrow) and so I will have to continue searching for another one to get a decent photo.

But for now, I get to show everyone that there are spiders in the ocean too... :)

- Bill

Sorry - it has been a while since I have posted... I got sick last week and then have been working on a bunch of little projects around the house - I haven't even found time to process any more photos. So just stopping by real quick to share another Caribbean Reef Shark photo today.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II at 22mm. 1/200 sec at f/5.6. ISO 400. Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in eTTL mode. Raw conversion in Adobe Camera Raw.

- Bill

A nice shot of some Atlantic Spadefish (Chaetodipterus faber) in both color and black & white... take a look, then cast your vote for which version you like better!

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II at 38mm. 1/200 sec at f/8. ISO 400. Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in eTTL mode. Raw conversion in Adobe Camera Raw.

Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for voting!

- Bill

This Southern Stingray (Dasyatis americana) has a groupies in the form of a Bar Jack (Caranx ruber) and a pair of Blue Tangs (Acanthurus coeruleus). We followed this stingray around for a few minutes while it fed on various things that it would find in the sand, and the others would snap up any scraps that they could find.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II at 55mm. 1/200 sec at f/11. ISO 400. Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in eTTL mode. Raw conversion and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II at 55mm. 1/200 sec at f/11. ISO 400. Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in eTTL mode. Raw conversion and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

If you look closely, you can see a field of Garden Eels (Heteroconger longissimus) in the background.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for a nice B&W conversion...

- Bill

Ok - as promise, a new species of nudibranch to add to my list... Trapania dalva. There are pretty small nudibranchs only ranging in size up to about 10-12 mm (less than a half inch). Their white rhinophores and gills give them the appearance of detritus on the sponges that they tend to be found on.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/200th sec at f/8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 400. Ikelite Housing and Port and Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Raw conversion and cropped in Photoshop CS5.

Thanks for stopping by.

- Bill