View from the dry side of the glass

I promised more aquarium photos "tomorrow" and then I took the weekend off. "Mañana" works better; it's more flexible. So here's a stack of underwater critters.

Orang sea pens, Ptilosarcus gurneyi. And a shrimp.

The lighting on this tank in the aquarium was strongly pink. To highlight the sea pens? I'll have to ask why next time.

Tunicates, just a living bag of water with an intake and outlet.

Plumose anemone, Metridium senile.

A green starfish with white bands around the centre.

And a very long-armed, spiky starfish.

Crescent gunnel, Pholis laeta.

And the same painted greenling I posted earlier. Oxylebius pictus.

And here he is, standing on his tail to get a better view of those strange noisy creatures just beyond the glass.

For some of the critters spending the summer in the aquarium, we are the spectacle; something to tell the folks back home about this fall.

Next, a pair of hermits, the ever-curious hermits.

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Prometí subir más fotos de los animales en el acuario "mañana", y luego flojeé todo el fin de semana. Pues, aquí están, por fin.

Fotos:

1. Las plumas de mar anaranjadas, Ptilosarcus gurneyi. La luz en el acuario, en este tanque por lo menos, tiene un tinte color de rosa. Hay un camarón que probablemente no tiene ese color bajo luz natural.
2. Tunicados. Apenas una bolsa de agua viviente, con una entrada y otra salida para mantener la corriente.
3. Una anémona plumosa, Metridium senile.
4. Una estrella de mar verde con círculos blancos alrededor del centro.
5. Otra estrella de mar, esta con brazos largísimos.
6. La borda creciente, o blenio, Pholis laeta.
7. Y el mismo greenling pintado que subí anteriormente, Oxylebius pictus.
8. Y aquí se para sobre la cola, para ver mejor a esas criaturas extrañas y ruidosas al otro lado del vidrio.

Para algunos de los animales que pasarán este verano en el acuario, el espectáculo somos nosotros. Tendrán aventuras para contar a sus amigos cuando regresen a casa en el otoño.

Siguiente: un par de ermitaños, que nos miran con mucha curiosidad siempre.

Oh, those eyebrows!

Gunnels are panicky fish. When I turn over their rocky roof, they flip and twist and flip some more, squirming and twisting until they find a hiding place. But no crack is deep enough; my shadow moves, and they fly into a new frenzy, splashing and stirring sludge, making a slurry dense enough to disappear into. They hope.

No wonder herons stand so perfectly still for so long!

This big saddleback gunnel couldn't find a good spot.

Saddleback gunnel, Pholis ornata. Unless he's a Crescent gunnel, P. laeta. They're almost identical.

The pattern along the spine is either saddles or crescents, but which? Both saddlebacks and crescentbacks may have the line from the eye down to the chin, and the pretty orange pectoral fins. They live on the same beaches, sometimes sharing a rocky hideout.

"You can't see me; I'm under a shiny spot on the water."

The shiny spot proved useless; now he's hiding under a black prickleback. The tail looks like a leaf.

And look at those eyes!

Dotted line eyebrows. And from this angle, the clear jelly part of the eye is a brilliant orange.

I took a couple of photos of the black prickleback, and carefully rebuilt the roof of their hideout. The tide came in and covered them. They live to panic another day.

50th parallel, again.