Reef Garden | ROLLING HARBOUR ABACO

Corkscrew Anenome = Peterson Cleaner Shrimps ©Melinda Riger @G B Scuba copy

Corkscrew Anemone with Peterson Cleaner Shrimps

MAKE FRIENDS WITH ANEMONE (2): SPECTACULAR REEF LIFE

Going snorkelling? Planning a scuba day on the reef? You’ll see wonderful fish and amazing coral for sure. But sometimes the beauty of other life on the reef can be overlooked. Check out the anemone in the header image, with the camouflaged cleaner shrimps playing around it. You wouldn’t want to miss a sight like that. The many and varied forms and colours of anemone on the reefs of the Bahamas make up a vital component of a spectacular underwater world.

Giant Anenome ©Melinda Riger @ G B Scuba copy Giant Anemone ©Melinda Riger @ G B Scuba copy 4 Anemone Melinda Riger @ G B Scuba Anemone on Rope ©Melinda Riger @ G B Scuba Anemone ©Melinda Riger @ Grand Bahama Scuba Anemone (Giant) ©Melinda Riger @GBS copy Anemone ©Melinda Riger @ GB Scuba

ADDED NOV 2016 Capt. Rick Guest adds this interesting material (& thanks for correcting my erroneous reference to anemones as ‘plants’. My bad. They are of course animals!):

“Anemones are living animals of the invertebrate type. Basically living corals without skeletons. All have stinging cells of several varieties to sting or entangle their prey such as small fish, or various invertebrates. A few can even, painfully, penetrate human dermal layers. Most host varieties of cleaner shrimps,and snapping shrimps that can stun their own prey. Some Dromidia crabs even pull some species of anemone off the reef, and attach them to their carapace (their back) apparently for camouflage, and perhaps protection”.

All photos: Melinda Riger of Grand Bahama Scuba, with thanks

Squirrelfish (Elvis) ©Melinda Riger @ Grand Bahama Scuba copy

Elvis the Squirrelfish

RED REEF RESIDENTS: A RUFOUS ROUND-UP IN THE BAHAMAS

It’s sunny and very hot. Time to take another dive with Melinda to see what is going on under water around the reefs. Here are some residents, a somewhat loose description since some of the denizens featured are not especially active. But they are alive, so they qualify by my wide rules. And please may we not get into a discussion about where precisely red and orange overlap. It’s a grey area. And it’s too hot to argue about it… Let’s start with three types of GROUPER that may be spotted in the northern Bahamas. In fact, they are always spotted. One of my favourite pictures is the Graysby – it’s such a great expression, and he really rocks the spots!

GRAYSBY