July 9, 2014

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Oops.  Left out this day.

Still haven’t made it back out to the NW point area.  Seas have been rough, especially in the afternoons when the wind really picks up, so back to the center reef, west of the dock.  Checked on previously marked flags for evidence of Flamingo Tongues.  Most corals other than the Common Purples Sea Fans (CPSF) had their polyps out in full force, unless a FT was on the coral, then the coral would have open polyps on part of it and closed polyps were the FTs were (the majority of the time).  Some of the fans showed signs of being eaten, but not to a serious extent, especially the feather corals, hardly showing any damage even though FTs were found on them often. 

                     In the lab at New College the CPSFs opened their polyps mostly at night, rarely in the daytime.  Only an afternoon dive today, whereas many days I try to get more than one session and area done.  Looked in the debris area under the dock for a reported large octopus sighting but was not lucky enough to see it, just millions of anchovies and other small fishes.

                                          

Rod Coral with polyps open - closeup

                                                   Purple Feather fan - 1/2 polyps open,1/2 closed

                                                    Rod coral - polyps open