Yesterday afternoon I drove down to Pacific Grove to take care of a couple of things at our home here and took the opportunity for an afternoon dive at Otter Cove. Visibility was much poorer than on my last dive four days earlier, about 20 ft. I again saw several cabezon and a large group of Leafy Hornmouth snails busy laying eggs as well as a scattering of spiny or knobby sea stars and quite a number of bat stars and I again noted that there are very few sea urchins in Otter Cove and thanks to that, healthy giant kelp. The highlight of this dive was with a Giant Kelpfish, only the second time I've been able to get pictures of this type of fish. The "giant" is relative - it was about 16 inches long.
I obviously never tire of taking pictures of Cabezon.
Kellet's Whelk
Sea Hare sea slug
Tube anemone and seascape
I was pleased to see such a large gathering of bat stars. Largest group of sea stars since the great sea star wasting disease outbreak. I also saw quite a few knobby or spiny sea stars. I haven't seen a sunflower star in well over a year. I am afraid it is locally extinct.
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A grass rockfish.
Giant Kelpfish
A large group of Leafy Hornmouth gastropods mating and laying eggs.
If you would like to see more pictures from this dive please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6120190987931958001?authkey=CKOhx6GHvsSPNw
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