18-19 December: Days of the Dragons

I don't care what anyone says about visibility. Again, after a hard rain and the resulting "poor" visibility, those intrepid adventurers who were prepared to plumb the murk were rewarded. And what rewards there were to be had with the discovery of new and old friends along the way.

At Marble Rock and K41 on Saturday we were to be very thankful. First, Wayne spotted this great Nudi Sexfest of Dermatobranchus ornatus on a coral branch. I must admit that the first time I saw the mass I thought that either it was a large blob of porridge ("oat meal" for the americans) or Wayne had had a bit of a 'sicky' on the reef. Of course, I was wrong on both.

Magnificent Menage a tois

And then the Dragons came out to play. Pteraeolidia ianthia. The "chinese dragon". I love these guys. Not only are they incredibly ornate but (because of it) they are really hard to capture in a photo. I like photographing them because they make a nice study. They are also quite variable in size, colour and complexity. I understand that they vary with age but it is sometimes hard not to think that they are different species. Perhaps this is a relatively young one...

But contrast that one with this glorious specimen at Bob's Rock taken on Sunday. So different.

There were many Dragons out on the weekend at Marble Rock and at Bob's rock. Fantastic!

While not making it into the photo gallery we were lucky to spot at K41 old friends of the micro world and the world of..let us say 'Macro'. The tiny Flabelina rubrolineolata eluded my camera skills. At the larger scale, however, we are happy to report that, rumors of Barry-cuda's death are greatly exaggerated. What a beast of a fish! Sitting there only a few metres from us on the edge of gloom, trying to decide whether I will be the main course and Wayne dessert, or the reverse. Where have you been, Barry? There is no reply. Wayne feared that he had been made into fish steaks or become sushi for hammerhead sharks. I held out a faint hope, however, that he was just out for a few weeks in order to undertake...er... propagation activities. Still, he's back and that's all that's important!

On Sunday, we were lucky enough to find what Breanna and Kym call the "Christmas Tree Nudi" - Nembrotha Kubaryana. Amazingly spotted by Marianne. Don't ask me how she found it under that coral ledge at Lone Tree.

My shots would have been better if I could see properly and didn't spend the first 20 shots shooting this Nudi's butt!

And then there was the flashy ("flashing") Chromodoris Coi lifting its skirt for the camera at Bob's rock. This is the first time I have managed to get a shot of this strange skirt-lifting activity by this pretty little nudi.

And here is a new one for me. Phylidiopsis annae (thanks to Wayne for the ID..after all, you do have in your possession my magnificent new Nudi Encyclopedia...)

Perhaps 10mm long, this guy was a challenge first for my eyesight and then for my camera skills.

Back to Adelaide for Christmas to see my son, Raeph, and family. Raeph will, no doubt, want to spend much time discussing fishing. I can hear already his 12 year old skeptical questioning of his old man: "Dad, do you even KNOW what a GT is?! I shall return with my new Macro lens soon! Merry Christmas to all!