They weren't exactly Nemo, but they were awesome! We dropped in to our 3rd dive of the day and it looked like huge clumps of blue cotton candy had fallen on the reef. This was our first sighting of anemones for this cruise and we were duly impressed. These anemones are usually brown but are being affected by the same warm water bleaching that has affected so much of the coral. As anemones are related to corals they usually have algae living within them to photosynthesize and create their color. However anemones are also able to capture food by paralyzing small fish with their stinging tentacles and then moving it to their mouth at the base of all of the tentacles. Only clownfish and a few species of damselfish are immune to the stinging toxins. So being able to capture food will hopefully allow these anemones to survive this period of bleaching. As we don't get to see these very often, the clownfish darting in and out of the tentacles definitely kept me amused while I was waiting on my dive buddies! And as a picture says a thousand words, a movie must say even more.
Enjoy and sleep well!
~ Cristi
No comments:
Post a Comment