An Unknown Nudibranch...
Admittedly, this article wasn’t published anywhere near March 3rd, the date the photos were taken. But, in keeping with the the tradition, I’m forcing the post dates to the dates of the photos, making it easier for viewers to correlate conditions and what can be seen by date.
Anyways, I’ve been doing a lot of diving without a camera this month (Taking GUE Fundamentals), and I haven’t had a chance to get these photos processed until recently. On that note, I’ve been playing around with a program known as “Darktable” for processing RAW photos. Darktable is an open source (read: Free) alternative to Lightroom. I’m still learning the ropes of the new software, but I like what I see so far. The images in this post were all processed in Darkroom, however I must admit they weren’t the best exposed photos I’ve taken, which is perhaps why I’ve taken so long to edit them and upload them. I couldn’t seem to make them look decent in UFRaw and GIMP, however Darktable made it easier. Or perhaps I’m just more motivated towards the end of the month.
A Hairy Spined Crab
On to the actual dives!
I went out to Whytecliff for a couple of dive swith a new buddy with whom I would be taking GUE Fundamentals in the coming weeks. Although I haven’t always had much luck of getting great shots of cool critters at Whytecliff, I was pleasantly surprised on this dive with a wide variety of crabs. Some of the cooler crabs which I’d never seen before were the Rhinoceros Crab and the Hairy Spined Crab, both very unique and funky crabs. Unfortunatley I couldn’t seem to expose them quite right, so the photos aren’t as good as they could be. Also of note was the large number of HUGE Tanner Crabs, which appeared to be mating.
The full gallery is available below:
That’s a Multicolored Dendronotid! And what a beautifully clear shot of him it is! Wonderful!
((If you ever need a buddy… I need a buddy who’s okay with me looking for the micro life too!))