BurbleChaz

Mon Dec 08 00:36:16 2008

Yet More Snorkelling

Including nutritious violence

To the beach again. The surf seems to have gone on holiday, so we were glad to have masks and fins with us. As we dropped our gear on the beach heavy drops of rain splatted into the sand. Lightning flashed ominously across the northern horizon, as dull grey clouds cast a leaden hue over the gloomy seascape, portending dark, squamous ...{please help me I'm trapped in a maze of cliches and adjectives}

Thank you. Much appreciated. Anyway. Into the water. Warm. Splish. Out to the sea wall by the Bower break. Heroic rescue of panicking swimmer (true) and back to the business at hand.

Injured fish Probably happier deeper

I haven't seen one of these before. Long, eel-like fish, with whiskers. It seemed to have some nasty injuries on its head. I think it would have been much happier a lot deeper. Poor thing.

The local Big Fish were being photogenic:

Eastern Blue Grouper Eastern Blue Grouper

This is the local boss of the clan. Larger and bluer than the others. I forget whether it's the only male or the only female. Unique in the local group, anyway. When the boss dies, one of the others changes sex and becomes the new boss. We know this one well - it likes swimmers. I think the divers feed it.

And then, by pure chance, I captured one of the (female?) groupers from the clan grabbing a sea urchin. These are the primary diet of the groupers, and are abundant on the reef. All the other fish follow on looking for crumbs, while the prizeholder goes for depth. I may have pushed the limits of the warranty on the camera housing.Video here.


email BurbleChaz

Last modified: Thu Aug 31 22:46:27 AUSEST 2006