19 September - K41

It was a characteristically beautiful dive at K41 today. The first dive was to the east and the second to the west. Even though I missed the black and green nudibranch on the first dive, I got 2 very interesting ones on the second. Before the first dive, one of the team spotted a sea snake on the rocky K41 beach. It was a beautiful banded sea snake and I have no excuse for not photographing it other than I was so excited that I forgot! 


The dive itself was relatively uneventful from a “critter” perspective but there were multitudes of fish – everything from rabbitfish to sweetlips to fusiliers. There was a cast of thousands. I normally don’t photograph sea cucumbers (Trepang) but couldn’t resist upon seeing “him” eating.

And then, later, I saw this (not a nudi but, according to Wayne, a juvenile form of the trepan).

The break between dives was marked by a series of giant leaps from a large bill-fish (Marlin?) a couple of hundred metres from shore. And then some whales further out, made an appearance. The dive itself produced squid and, most impressively, a Great Barracuda. This big fish is a loner and is often spotter west of K41. This time, however, he was stationary near a small coral outcrop with his mouth wide open, bearing his teeth. But he wasn’t anticipating lunch, he was visiting the fish dentist, who were busily working away way on him. Its days like this when you wish for a video camera. On the turn around, however, there were a couple of Nudis worth noting. The first was found by Wayne.

Flabellina bilas?

And the second, by me, a few metres away…although I have to admit that I could only see some small amount of colour and hoped that the camera got the focus (this nudi was about 2cm long). The result was not too bad. It is probably of the flabellina genus (Flabellina Rubrolineata?) and resembles one I photographed a few weeks ago. But this is a better shot. (But I still need to get glasses.)

And finally, on the wall at K41, was this magnificent worm, like a sunburst.