I missed my weekly photo a few weeks back. Now I’m making up for it with two photos from the same day. Banana slugs are common in the Santa Cruz Mountains if you keep your eye out for them. This one must have thought these leaves were delicious, he looked like he was going to eat the whole thing.
Sometimes, to get that sweet sweet nectar you have to do extraordinary things.
Nothing to see here, certainly not a friendly little green bug just trying to blend in with the little green bits of this flower. Move right along please and don’t bother the bug!
This christmas tree isn’t a tree at all, it’s a worm living under this coral. It will keep its delicate blue crowns exposed like this to catch food and breathe until it detects something nearby, and then will quickly retract into the coral. This one let me get close enough for a shot with my camera before deciding I was too close and going away to hide.
I love nudibranchs. Very tiny, hard to find, hard to photograph, and full of so many crazy colors when you get the photo right. I could spend a whole dive getting a good shot but normally have to move one after taking a few pics. Some would call this a sea slug, but I think the proper name for this one, Dermatobranchus Ornatus, rolls of the tongue much better!
Taking in all of the details and patterns is comforting, don’t you think?
I found this banana slug just sliding around the floor of the redwood forest. He can’t really see, just detect light and movement, which might explain why he thought it was a good idea to go over this stick but ended up searching around in the air for his next move.
Last week was all about winter and this week is all about summer! This caterpillar knows all about the change of the seasons. They are taking over our neighborhood right now, but it won’t be long before the seasons change and these guys make a transformation of their own.
This close up underwater shot is of a bearded fireworm. They have amazingly detailed bodies, but all of those little white bristles will sting, so don’t touch!
What does this look like to you? Some type of microbe, a spiny cactus or a sea creature? If you guessed sea creature you’d be correct, and this one isn’t nice at all. It is a crown-of-thorns starfish, and this nasty guy eats the coral reefs. Close up you can see his sharp spikes and understand why most other animals don’t mess with him.
