Here's a miscellaneous assortment of my remaining diving photos, starting with Christmas Tree worms which I always like. Each pair of "christmas trees" is one worm.
The "trees" are used for feeding and also for respiration. The worm itself lives in a tube inside the coral and will withdraw into the tube if disturbed. I realized afterwards that these next ones were on what I think is Fire Coral. I would have been sorry if I'd brushed up against it while I was focused on photography.
Social Feather Duster worms are somewhat similar but live in groups.
Encrusting Gorgonians look similar but are actually a soft coral rather than a worm.
There are a large variety of corals, soft and hard. The shallow part of the reef was not in great shape, but there was still quite a lot of coral, and deeper the coral seemed in better shape. I wasn't sure if this was a coral or an anemone, but according to iNaturalist it's a Pillar Coral.
Brain Coral was quite common.
I only saw this one Cactus Coral. I've seen it other places and remember its distinctive pattern.
I'm not sure what kind of coral this one is.
There was quite a large area of this healthy looking lettuce coral.
Staghorn coral is one of the faster growing corals. It used to be one of the most common corals but much has been wiped out from a variety of causes. I didn't see a lot of it, but there were several areas where they were growing it on ropes, presumably to "plant" on the reef.
A few more of the variety of corals:
There were also a variety of sponges. Sponges are primitive animals that don't move and don't have complex nervous or digestive systems. They are simple filter feeders.
Apparently this Stinker Sponge smells if taken out of the water, hence its name.
There weren't as many of these vase sponges as we've seen other places.
Green Finger Sponge was a new one to me. When I looked at the photo zoomed in on the computer I saw there was a brittle start on it.
Orange Icing Sponge (the orange part) grows symbiotically with coral.
Sea Cucumbers and Crinoids are related to sea stars and urchins, although the five-fold symmetry is less obvious.
Sea anemones aren't common here but I saw a couple of these Branching Anemones.
See all the photos in this batch
