Today we have a second batch of underwater photos from reader Peter Klaver (first batch here). Today we have underwater wildlife (corals). Peter’s captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
Here is the second batch of photos from scuba diving around San Pedro, Belize earlier this month.
Apart from many animals, the coral reefs there also have a rich abundance of underwater vegetation.
Most of the sea floor in the reefs is covered with various kinds of soft corals.
There are also some hard corals:
. . . including brain corals:
. . .And there are various cylindrical or tubular species whose names I don’t know.
RWP has sunk to a new low.
Ha! Very funny.
Thank you Peter. These photos take me back to my very pleasant and amazing introduction to a colorful, wide variety of coral simply snorkeling off Barbados many years ago.
Whoops…and sponges! Per later comments.
Nice. Some of those tubular or cone-shaped corals remind me of the long extinct Rugose “horn” corals of the Paleozoic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugosa. They are abundant in the Paleozoic rocks of New York State where I grew up and grew to love paleontology.
I think the cylindrical/tubular organisms are not corals, but are sponges (phylum Porifera); I’m guessing a Lavender Vase Sponge, a type of barrel sponge, and a Yellow Tubular Sponge (although there are several that can look similar) but, as an ex-diver and non-biologist, I’d have to go to the books to find species names. Distinguishing by color can be tricky, depending on whether you’re seeing them by artificial vs natural light, which quickly loses red tones as one descends, such that they can look quite different in photos (w strobes) vs what one sees at depth.
Anyway, reminds me of how much I miss the activity, after being diagnosed w medical contraindications (which I didn’t know I already had while doing hundreds of dives without incident).
The last three photos are definitely sponges. I’m also out of practice with their identification, as it’s over 35 years since I last dived in the Caribbean. There’s a useful online guide to the sponges of the region here:
https://spongeguide.uncw.edu/
You can track them down by selecting colour, shape and habitat from a drop-down menu. Good luck!
Looking at the brain coral and its close approximate likeness to homo sapiens (mammals?) it made me wonder, do the same biological rules apply when both are forming.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dog or cat brain… hmmm. I’ve held a human brain at a Neurological Foundation open day.
Thanks for the watery stimulation… 👍
These are incredible photos. Phenomenal shapes! The 3rd to the end looks like a gemstone.
Thank you!
I love the brain coral with its endless maze.
lovely, rarely seen reefs with vegetation
As long as we’re celebrating sea life, I recommend Richard Powers’ latest novel “Playground”, which does for the ocean what his previous Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Overstory”, did for forests.