On Wed, 9 Jan 2002 David Strike <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>The nice thing about early morning dives is that you can be back in the
>office for the start of business.

Hah! The nice thing!!!! I was probably thinking about getting out of bed
when you returned to your office :-))  This gal is not a *morning* person &
demands more kip than what the average person requires to function ;-) Just
ask da Feeesh .. I'm sure I did all the sleeping for him when I stayed at
his place in 1999 :-)

<snip of the kiwi shears>
>As well as a solitary pipefish, a couple of octopus and numerous small
>rays, Gary discovered a very large (about 6 - 7 centimetres long), and
>gloriously adorned nudibranch trundling across the sand.  Janet took a
>great picture ofit that allowed Julian to identify it as a:
>"... Species of Cerberilla live in sandy substrates where they burrow
>beneath the surface and so are seldom seen. They have a very broad foot
>and the cerata are often very long and extremely numerous, arranged in
>transverse rows across the body...".  A picture of it can be seen at:
>http://www.seaslugforum.net/cerbaffi.htm

Wow! Just checked out those pics. It's a beauty and one I've never seen
personally YET :-)  You will have to keep an eye out to see if it lays any
eggs in that area.

There is a very pink nudibranch that is common (but very hard to see) on
some of the sponges on the pylons under Busselton Jetty. Unfortunately
being the same colour as the sponge they are very difficult to spot and
look like that pink hubba bubba chewing gum when they ball themselves up.
The very pink nudi second pic down on the link below with a yellow juvenile
to its left shows how pink they are in our southwest.  I noticed a comment
that some were discovered in Botany Bay so keep your eyes peeled mate :-)
http://www.seaslugforum.net/vercverc.htm

>(I also managed to find a weight; a shot glass - and rediscovered
>the large anchor that we'd found a week or so ago.

Remind me NOT to invite you along :-)) to participate in a combined uw &
land camera club seaweed frolic fest that we are holding in April to open
the eyes of non-diving/snorkelling photographers. Ok, its really a grovel
on the shoreline & the shallows for the land camera folk but the rest of us
from WAUPS plan to get wet first so I can just imagine what you would find
that would require Mr Hulk to dredge out for the landbased photographers to
take piccies off .. sorry no WWII gems at Woodmans Point ;-)

<snip of the kiwi shears>
>Along the wall we saw a couple of large, leprous-looking, estuarine
>catfish; a snoozing wobbegong, and hidden among the branches of a
>soft coral, a minute black-and-white fish and a tiny shrimp.

I am ALWAYS amazed by the difference between a juvenile fish and the adult
in pattern and colours.. and even the differences between the sexex :-)
Sometimes my mouth drops to the floor when I see pics of the minute fish
hiding amongst the seaweed & other debris that floats along in our Leeuwin
current. And I am talking *minute* here ... you can just make out the head
end because the eyes are so big & very reflective .. but it appears they
have lost the other end of their body, especially the tail, but it really
is there just transparent. Then a couple of weeks later they really start
to really develop where you can actually identify what juvenile it was you
originally saw :-)

Viv