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African Queen and White Point Rock dives





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Posted by Merry on August 06, 2013 at 10:08:12:

We were excited by Walter's report of wolf eel and squid egg bounty on the African Queen; finally, conditions allowed us to motor over. Marine life attracted to the wreck is generous and appears to grow to full size when left undisturbed at 90 fsw. I'd dive this sweet little wreck every day if I could.

Massive squid egg clusters make a beautiful backdrop for sand-rose anemones.

 photo SquideggsampanemoneDSC_0574_zps771730aa.jpg

 photo SquideggsampeyesampconesnailsDSC_0568_zps9f15bf55.jpg


The salt and pepper-ish dots are eyes of developing squid. In real life, their eyes are actually red, and each little squid is contained within its own sac in the tubular egg case. This gives some idea how many squid may actually hatch from the huge egg beds we see.

 photo SquidsaltamppeppereyesDSC_0567_zps4b830986.jpg


Some won't make it.

 photo AnemoneampsquideggsDSC_0587_zps1930165e.jpg

 photo AnemoneampsquideggsDSC_0589_zps194104d4.jpg

 photo AnemoneampsquideggsDSC_0588_zps79aa7548.jpg


 photo CAscorpionfishDSC_0586_zps76ef9a0f.jpg

 photo TwowolfeelsDSC_0581_zps43170e37.jpg


White Point Rock - another treasure.

 photo OrangeanemoneDSC_0630_zps2b9f1233.jpg


Between Phil, Kevin, and me, we've found 24 species of opisthobranch on this bus-size reef. The cryptic, sponge-eating Atagema alba.

 photo AtagemaalbaDSC_0637_zpsd729284d.jpg

 photo AtagemaalbaDSC_0644_zpsca56ea1c.jpg


Three Polycera tricolor on one clump of bryozoan. That never happens....

 photo PolyceratricolorDSC_0624_zpsfd3c2b7e.jpg

 photo PolyceratricolorDSC_0627_zpsddd52d4d.jpg


You won't see this every day: cone snail preying on a Hudson's dorid, Acanthodoris hudsoni.

 photo CAconeampHudsonsdoridDSC_0614_zps98d1cfdf.jpg


A young Triopha maculata

 photo TriophamaculataDSC_0710_zps6659b8ce.jpg

 photo RoughpatchshrimpDSC_0662_zps1b09cb91.jpg





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