Solomons Other Interesting Stuff

This huge lobster hid in its hole. Note the size of the main antennae and the two feelers. Note also the six small blue legs. Unlike the Atlantic variety, it has no claws.

This seemingly threatening giant moray eel has opened its mouth as wide as possible to invite the three blue cleaner wrasse to clean its teeth.

The pegasus sea moth is about 4 inches long and constantly turns away from a diver.

This juvenile snake eel is another ambush predator.

A typical pose for a hawkfish waiting for tiny prey to swim by.

During the day, box fish continually rotate to keep their heads away. At dusk, they seem to be less conscious of a "threatening" diver.

This crocodile fish was lying in wait for a passing fish during a night dive. We saw about a half dozen crocodile fish during the two weeks.

Courageous blennies sit on top of their coral home saying "I'm king of the castle!".

The three inch fire dart gobies are usually found in pairs swimming parallel to each other. This is the first time I have seen them make a "X".

It's very unusual to find a porcelain crab out in the open. This "monster"  (over 1 inch) was sitting out right in the middle of an anemone. 

Popcorn shrimp are usually found in anemones guarded by clownfish. The clown fish kept "attacking" me as I tried to take this large (over 1 inch) shrimp's photo. Most of my pictures showed bits and pieces of the shrimp and lots of attacking anemone fish.

A pixie hawkfish gives me the once over.

Usually, the arc eyed hawkfish appears in profile. This one looked right at me.

This large orangatan crab was found (as usual) on bubble coral.

We must have seen this large (4 inches) white nudibranch with the orange border on a third of our dives. 

This pair of unusual nudibranchs was in a small cave. 

These are the most common nudribranch in the Solomons. But it was very unusual to find three crawling independently in close proximity on the same coral wall.

This brilliant blue nudibranch was crawling along a reef wall.

I've only found the 5 inch long Notodoris minor once before in Papua New Guinea. In Solomons, I must have found a half dozen. 

I found this 3/4 inch nudibranch while doing a safety stop with Janet when its slight movement caught my eye.

This pearl oyster has its mouth open. It quickly shuts it if it detects a nearby presence.

This blue tunicate with the gold trim was growing on a line on a wreck.