Sometimes, plans fall right into place. Not for me, but sometimes they do. Today was the exception to the rule. Less than two weeks ago, Merry Passage and I had a very unusual discovery on the Five-Mile outfall pipe off El Segundo. Hundreds of Limacia mcdonaldi covered nearly every rock surrounding the big pipe. We went back to see if we could document any mating or egg-laying. The first rock I came to had an individual laying eggs. Merry found a rock with a mating pair and three egg coils. We spent seventy minutes taking way too many photos. We headed to the Elevated Pipe for a second dive, but there wasn't as much life as there was when the sponges were there. I did see the smallest Garibaldi ever. Visibility was poor at each site, but the upper thirty feet over the Big Pipe was the bluest water we've seen in years.

Limacia mcdonaldi

Mating Acanthodoris lutea laying eggs

Euphrosine hortensis

Savalia lucifica Zoanthid Anemone

Pleuronichthys coenosus, C-O Sole

Crassedoma giganteum, Rock scallop

Hermissenda opalescens

Cuthona divae

Aglaophenia struthionides, Ostrich plumed hydroid