Just thought I'd share some pics and a video of my fish in the Caribbean. My family has a villa there on a lagoon. We've been going every year for over 20 years. There used to be a large, concrete pier that went out over the lagoon but it was destroyed about 16 or 17 years ago in a hurricane. When it fell in, all the tires that were on the sides for boat bumpers went down with all sorts of other junk too. Thus forming an unusual but thriving reef. Kinda like when they sink navy ships to form reefs. Also included are some pics of other critters I caught that are not necessarily aquatic for your enjoyment.

All most of these pics had to be altered because they were shot from out of the water in. It was hard to see the subject of the photo so I used photoshop to help see them better. It may not look like the best pic but it lets you see the subject.

Here we go-

This is the dock where the following were taken from:


Here is an overview of the reef. The 15ft long slab of concrete is from an old pier that fell in during a hurricane years ago.


A Large Cowfish or Boxfish (I always confuse the two):


Three French Angels:


French Angels with a Spiny Starfish (there are hundreds) and a Blue Tang:


Not a fish, but a small ground gecko I found under a rock:


Big (1.5ft) Puffer, there are two (a pair) but the smaller one hides a lot:


Upside down jellyfish, anyone know if you can touch them? There's tons of them:


A spider crab and some crab that I don't know what it's called:




Two bigger house geckos:




Top down:


A tree frog:


A skink (extremely fast runners):


A cool, burrowing worm like snake:


A common Anole Lizard:


A Caribbean storm approaching:


Here's the centipede:




Tree frog I rescued out of a parking garage: (he was the size of a computer mouse and was sticky as duct tape on his finger tips)


The Puffer pair! Both are about a foot and a half in length: (not sure how to tell which is male and which is female, one is bigger than the other and chases the other around. The bigger chases the smaller and the smaller one swims almost on its side like in a submissive position. The smaller one also changes colors when being chased.)






A pair of raccoon butterflyfish (kinda hard to see, right in the middle of the pic):


A Spiny Starfish on the seawall:


A cool orange sponge:


A bunch of fish during feeding time (they love American cheese):


A Parrotfish? and cool Wrasse eating together. They were eating and touching the whole time like they were best friends.




Crab, circled since it blends in quite well:


Bigger crab, size of the average computer mouse pad:


Barracuda: (1ft)


BIG skink I caught at the beach:


This is a real treasure I found washed up on the beach. We went to one of the calmest beaches to go snorkeling but it was extremely rough with 5-6ft waves. Guess this guy got shoved out of his burrow.

It's a Thalassinidean Shrimp (I believe):




Big Urchin:


Arrow Crab:



And the video of me feeding my fish. The quality is ok but it was filmed while I held the camera in one hand and was ripping off pieces of oily, greasy cheese that was melting in the 84F sun in the other hand. Also it was filmed from the deck of our house that is over the water, about 15ft up. It's in HD so be sure to click HD when before watching.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPV6P7SwkuM

Hope you guys like it all.

Cool!

sweet stuff

Neat!

Great pix! Cool to see in native habitat like it's just normal.

Now that's really cool.

very nice.Where about is that?

Thanks everyone! It's in the Netherlands Antilles. I'll have more in April when I return.

Who needs a tank when you have the ocean like that! Awesome!

Wish I lived there all year. There is so much other stuff I saw snorkeling like small angels ti schools of cardinals, tangs and all sorts of wrasses. Next time I'm bringing a waterproof camera.

thanks for sharing!

the upside down jelly is Casiopea spp.

One of the parrots is a stoplight parrotfish (really cool fish...they poop sand..ouch)

Parrotfish are really hard to distinguish because of all the color morphing phases. They have a strange intermediate phase which makes them confusing..

Fo Sho.

No kidding, I'd be on the dock, watching them, one second sitting motionless blending into the sand, then in seconds change to red and green and swim away. Awesome fish.

neato

re: jellyfish...we used to screw around with them all the time in the keys. their sting is really weak - most people don't even notice or just get a bit of an itchy rash for a little while (usually goes away after a hot shower). some people are allergic, though, and the rash can get pretty annoying in that case.

Those are some awesome pics. Thanks for sharing.

Great stuff!

Thanks for posting.

Hey your welcome everyone. I know I love threads like this with tons of pics so I knew everyone else would love seeing my pics. I have a few more videos coming soon, probably tomorrow.

A spider crab and some crab that I don't know what it's called:




A cool, burrowing worm like snake:

i belive the crab is called a calico crab and if u hold it half way out of the water it squirts water out of it mouth like a water foutain. the snake is a type of blind snake so it cant see. these are very cool finds thanks for sharing.

Ok, that pic I'll admit is an older one but cool so I thought I'd share it anyways. At first I did not know what it was. So, I knew it was a long shot, but I emailed a Smithsonian herpetologist to see well, first of all if he would respond to me, and to see if he knew what it was. And he did respond and he told me it was the first snake ever reported found on the island. It is Ramphotyphlops braminus and he told me it must have been introduced to the island and it's not native. Certainly a lucky find and cool that I got the help of and now have a contact of a Smithsonian herpetologist.

I also saw a water snake of some sort while I was there this time but didn't have a camera ready. Too bad cause I could have shown it to my contact at the Smithsonian.

Thanks so much for sharing the awesome pictures and stories with us. I was at a loss for where these pics where taken. I have dove in 4 countries in the Caribbean and don't recall ever seeing puffers that were that large. Really really cool.

Also, just to expound on the person saying not to worry about Jellyfish stings. Unless you have specific knowledge of the species of jellyfish the OP was referring to, its kind of irresponsible to say they will just give you a minor sting. I have seen at least 3 species of jellyfish and was stung by one once too. I was lucky that it was only a really painful sting (on my pecker of course). My point though, is that there are several species of Jelly's and even though most don't have deadly stings, some are pretty nasty and if a person has any other health issues, its probably best to keep a little distance from them (or use a skin-suit or other type of protection). I don't know the specific species of jelly your pic is of. Maybe its harmless and maybe it isn't, but getting stung by one in Florida or in S.C. doesn't really matter for the ones much further away in the Southern Caribbean. Better ere on the side of caution. And holy #### I sound like my mother...


Thanks again for the sweet pics, looking forward to seeing more.

thats a cool story it is kinda like a project i did in skool where we had to send a letter to a famous person asking for an autograph and i did kelly slater. most of the kids got there stuff throughout the year but i did not get mine but i wasnt the only one so i didnt really mind. well about a year later when i was in another grade and school i got a letter from my old school saying they had recieved a package for me. so i went and picked it up and it turned out to be a signed photo of him and a letter from the CEO or something. i was so stoked and it was agreat story.
p.s. i find those snake here under rocks but they are native.

thats tight. thanks

Love it, I'm totally jealous...

AWESOME! Thanks for sharing the pics of all the fish & critters.

Considering that the OP said "upside down" in reference to the jellyfish, the species is in the genus Cassiopea. They're pretty hard to mistake from any other jellyish, considering they're usually found UPSIDE DOWN on the sand bottom - and in the Caribbean they're the only species that do so. Conveniently, ALL of the Cassiopea species have similar stinging abilities, none of which are painful or deadly. Unless you judge the OP to be completely inept, there is no reason whatsoever to sound like your mother.

Thanks everyone. Just to help clear things up about the jellies- They are commonly known there as upside down jellies, the small ones float and pulse around the mid to upper water while the large adults stay pressed against the bottom. They really look like anemones but if you look really closely you can see them still pulsing. I had some in a small container and should have taken better pics. I will in April when I go back since I always see them there.

Thanks for sharing!

The centipede is insane!

Here's a video of one of the puffers, finally uploaded it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vam_ARhIa34&hd=1

Great Vid!


This is sooo funny! I never knew you were Goto! hahahahaha

Yep.

This is really cooL! So are the same fish and inverts there every day? Is it like blocked off so the same animals cant go out?


The Arrow crab is really cool! Are there a lot there?

Also, cool skinks!

It is completely open and the fish come and go as they please. But the puffers have been there for about 3 or 4 years. The french angels have been there for about 2 or 3 years. I couldn't tell you if each sergeant major is the same one every day but that whole school is always hangin around somewhere.

I saw 3 or 4 arrow crabs and usually there are quite a few.

And the skinks are pretty cool. That was the biggest one I've ever caught. it was like a foot and a half long head to tail!

This is so cool! you're so lucky!

What species is that puffer?

I'm not 100% sure but probably porQpine.

cool! I know Porcupines live down there so you're probably right.

What's the coolest thing you've seen?

Probably this huge cuttlefish that would change colors as you swam closer to it, then it swam away. Also saw a sea turtle and water snake. Dolphins...

Cuttlefish are like

OH! And a huge manta ray!

LUCKY!!

Manta Rays are awesome!

Thanks, I gotta get an underwater camera...

You do! Have you ever seen any sharks?

VERY NICE TRIP :-)

HOPEFULLY SOMEDAY I CAN MAKE IT.