Small octopus calling a beer bottle home

The photos in this gallery are a combination of  two days of diving last week – Friday the 27th and Sunday the 29th.  I was lucky to be able to photograph a beautiful orange seahorse, thanks Deb!  The Striated (hairy) Frogfish are returning and Linda found a fantastic, very hairy, pair.  I didn’t even see the little male sitting with the female at first.  There are quite a few octopus around now and I found a little one making a  home out of a beer bottle.  Dwarf frogfish are quite numerous now also, but very hard to spot as they are 1/2 to 1 inch in size and blend into the surroundings very well.  We have found several females that look pregnant and are accompanied by one or more tiny males.

Thanks to Mena’s marker sticks and Linda’s keen eye, I was able to photograph another Dusky Jawfish with eggs.  This time the eggs are more developed with the eyes showing.  On Sunday, two days later, the eyes turned from black to silver and the yokes are getting smaller.  I imagine they will hatch in a few days.  Unfortunately the weather and an earache have prevented me from returning to document any further development.

Click HERE to see the photos.  Full screen playback is best.