We took advantage of good weather and went scuba diving in Fiesa for two days. A total of three dives got me quite a few nice pictures.
Since Fiesa is shallow you get dives over 1,5 hours long easily. The goal was to get some nice pictures of sea hares (Aplysiida) which was more than achieved. In addition we saw some interesting things which you can see below.
I am also trying out a snoot so I try to have some fun with it where I can. As I use dual strobes it is easy to switch between the one with a snoot and the one without it. I sometime use both to bring out the subject while still keeping the background somewhat illuminated.
Sea slugs
The main goal was to see sea hares (Aplysiida) and there were plenty of them. The most common species here is the spotted sea hare (Aplysia punctata). There were multiple cases where one was on top of the other. I can only presume they were mating.
In addition a common Thuridilla hopei you can easily see here. This was done with a snoot and I think it came out quite nice.
I was also very lucky to see a Trapania lineata. While I have seen it before it is not that common I believe. I was also able to take some nice photos with a snoot.
Other animals
One of the common and remarkable animals you can see in Fiesa is the seahorse. Specifically the long-snouted seahorse (Hippocampus guttulatus). This time we saw a total of four different ones. They come in a variety of colors.
In addition I also took the time to take pictures of a black-faced blenny (Tripterygion delaisi). The left one is probably a male and the right one a female.
The compass jellyfish (Chrysaora hysoscella) was also common this time. We saw multiple of them drifting around. I also took a video of it you can watch below.
However, the showcase of the dives was certainly the cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) mating. We watched it for a good 15 minutes. The egg laying process afterwards was also quite interesting. I didn’t want to get too close so I didn’t disturb them so the pictures and videos are not as nice. But it was certainly an interesting sight.
You can see the mating in the first video and then the egg laying process. The cuttlefish attaches the black egg sac to the sponge one by one.
The male was also nearby, guarding. In a few cases I probably got too close and he quickly stepped in to guard the female. What was interesting to me was also the camouflage. The female tried to blend with the environment and the male made himself more visible.
Conclusion
We certainly achieved the goal of finding sea hares in Fiesa. There were so many we couldn’t count them all.
However, the highlight of the three dives was the mating of cuttlefish.