Who Likes Lobster?

[MaxBottomtime]

This is the time of year divers in SoCal lick their chops and look forward to the frenzy known as Lobster Season. If today's dives were any indication it is going to be a fruitful season. The west side of Palos Verdes was like a crustacean parking lot. Lobsters were stacked one on top of one another competing for parking spaces.

Be careful when reaching into holes for lobsters. Some of those holes bite back.

Windmill worm

Sea star wasting disease continues

Visibility was slightly better than average during our first dive. I found a tiny orange fringehead and pointed it out to Kevin Lee. He of course found a yellowfin fringehead on the same rock.

We moved offshore for our second dive at Golfball Reef. Visibility was poor here, but there were a few unusual sightings. Leaning against the barrel was one of the "Chinese anchors". I found an Ategema alba, my first at GBR. Nearby I spotted a purple dot moving across a rock. It was a juvenile blue-ring topsnail.

"Chinese anchor"

Ategema alba

Visibility was barely a body length here with water temperatures of 59° on each dive.

 

[fnfalman]

Nice shot of the orange fringehead. I just saw one this weekend at Santa Barbara Island at Shag Rock too. Tiny thing...

 

[cmburch]

Great Pics! Thanks!

 

[drbill]

Were any of the bugs munching on that molted carapace in front? I occasionally see lobster chewing on them or sea urchin tests or bivalves to get calcium. After all, they don't drink four glasses of milk a day! If I dive early enough at night I see the bugs stacked up in front of their crevices waiting to venture out into deeper water.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

When we dropped down the lobsters all backed up so we couldn't tell if they were eating or not. The lobsters at the back door backed up as well, causing quite the traffic jam in their hideout.