In the look for manta rays

The Intertidal Zone

I used to have a beautiful text describing the intertidal zone here but seems I overwrote it and can’t find what I initially had. Well, bad luck for me. We’ll start with these pictures and then go on with the post.

The search for manta rays

Charismatic species are generally the most attractive ones. People fly to other countries and even continents to see species they cannot see in their home. Fortunately, here in Costa Rica we get to see manta rays. Unfortunately, our guide just rushed us through the place to find one and everyone sucked their tank quite fast - no mantas to be seen. I love encountering these huge animals and seeing them majestically glide through the water but not at cost of spending so much little time underwater. There were lots of cool stuff to see!

What we got to see instead

As I waited for people to descend, I started seeing at the small stuff. This guy with a punk hairstyle was the first one I shot.

It’s not the sharpest shot but it still looks cool! I think this might be Mccoskerichthys sandae, a tufted tube-blenny, though I’m not sure. I posted it in iNaturalist as Chaenopsidae (this is the family it most possibly belongs to) and just one person identified it as Mccoskerichthys at genus level. Some species are easier to identify than others, definitely.

Revisiting why lighting matters

Here are two pictures of the same colony of Tubulariidae, a family of hydroids.

You can easily guess which one had lighting. Someone told me the first picture looks dead, which I didn’t think about it. I know the colony’s alive but due to what its coloration looks like in the first picture, I think I know what they meant by that.

The Gallery

More pictures to see!