Posted by Ross-O on December 11, 2004 at 20:32:49:
In Reply to: A few non intelligent questions posted by kylecawaza on December 11, 2004 at 17:20:59:
Kyle,
The latin name is corynactis californica and the common name is strawberry anemone. They're beautiful little creatures that often carpet the surface of wrecks, structures such as oil rig legs, and sometimes they're found on reefs/rocks. They come in a dazzling array of colors.
I don't know what that string was doing there, but the corynactis don't seem mind!
The fact that many of our wrecks are blanketed in small invertibrate life is the reason that we should apply the same NO TOUCH motto to CA diving that we do when diving over tropical coral. The invertibrates can probably repair themselves and grow a lot faster than the coral, but it's still a good thing to have in the back of our minds. When I need to grab on to something for one reason or another, I always try to use only 1 or 2 fingers and put them in a place that will cause the least amount of damage/disturbance to the little stuff that may be growing there.
If you liked the corynactis, you should check out some metridiums and aggregating aneomones.
I have a bunch of local CA diving pics on my page below.
If you still live in CA, you really owe it to yourself to check out the CA diving scene. I'm fairly certain that you would fall in love with it based on your passion for biology that you've demonstrated in other posts.
Take care,
Ross-O
Thank You to Chris Grossman & Diver.net for hosting my pics!