Friday afternoon came. Rob got off of work and we got in the car and drove off to go snorkeling. We didn't even grab a lunch, because we knew that low tide was coming up real soon, and we wanted to be out there. We went back to the Piti Bomb Holes Marine Preserve at Fish Eye.
The water looked calm and it was nice weather. As we started in we talked to a man coming out and he told us the current was low and he and his buddy had had a nice time watching the black tipped sharks.
Before I continue though, I want to give a big thank you to my local friend, Beth Dodd, who also loves the creatures in the sea. She generously offered to let me borrow her books on the fish in the region. Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide by Dr. Gerald R. Allen and Roger Steene. Micronesian Reef Fishes: A Field Guide for Divers and Aquarists by Robert F. Myers. Guam Fish and Wildlife Factsheets, which can also be found online. Click on the link. https://issuu.com/guampedia/docs/fish_wildlife_fact_sheets
In the shallow water I found this tiny blue fish guarding his hole. He darted in and out several times and looked quite serious about his business. Apparently I looked threatening. Is it a Damselfish? I'll have to search more.
The Scissortail Sergeant fish (Adudefduf sexfasciants) were the first to find us as we swam into the coral reef area.
They were not afraid of us, and were really hoping that we had something for them to eat. Piti Fisheye the company who provides fish experiences for tourists, feed the fish, so they get used to people bringing food for them. With them coming up so close, I started getting the excited feeling that I was right in the aquarium with the fish, and not on the other side of the glass. It made me love these shiny fish. Even if they are not the most colorful fish, they are the most friendly and I love swimming in their school.
Where ever we swam some seemed to follow us. This one came so close and somehow I managed to click the shutter at the right second to get a close up of his eye. This photo was not cropped.
The butterflyfish were exceedingly friendly this trip also, seemingly hoping for food.
I am getting a little better at running the Olympus Tough camera underwater. The settings are a little tricky for me to read with my contact lenses in. I now have one for distance and the other one is for reading. Sometimes my reading eye gets lazy and forgets to do its job, but it is getting better at it, or maybe I'm getting better at slowing down until I can read the setting. It is a good thing too, because really this little Threadfin Butterflyfish didn't give me much time when it came and looked the camera right in the eye.
I love his little stripes and transparent fins with yellow tips, and the yellow thread that trails behind their black dot on the upper fin. Many butterfly fish also have a black strip across their eye to confuse predators.
The Pacific Double-Saddle butterflyfish (Chaetodon ulieternsis) darted around the coral. Do notice how happy that coral looks too. It is because this area is protected that the coral has time to grow. It isn't trampled by fishermen day and night.
Sometimes you see several species of fish together feeding on something. There was something very interesting to all of these fish in the white coral area below. Each fish took turns darting down for a nibble.
The Longnose butterflyfish (Forcipiger flavissimus) catches your attention with its striking yellow color and black and white snout. You'll noticed that all three of these yellow butterflyfish have a "false eye" or a black spot on the rear part of their bodies. This hopefully confuses their predators who then have a hard time determining which end of the fish they are looking at. Hopefully the butterfly fish gets away unharmed.
The two fish above are ones we haven't seen yet this year, Redfin butterflyfish (Chaetodon trifasciatus). You can't see it in the photo, but they are called Redfin, because their dorsal fin (lowest fin) is redish. They don't have a black dot, but with all those stripes, you can't tell which end is which.
The Orange-lined Triggerfish is pretty cool with lines that appear like those in a maze. It looks different than its cousin, the White-barred Triggerfish. The Orange-lined Triggerfish hangs out in the coral with the Butterflyfish, and the White-barred triggerfish is found in the more shallow flat areas before you get to the coral.
I love the electric blue lines on the White-barred Triggerfish. I used to mistakenly call it a Picasso Triggerfish, but a Picasso does not have the black and white stripes/barrs on the side. They are very curious and come up to see you then dart away. I have heard they can be aggressive if they are defending a nest, but I haven't seen that yet. I must not come at the right time of the year.
I haven't identified these black fish yet, but there usually at least a couple groups of them eating among the white coral. Are they a kind of surgeonfish or a Lined bristletooth with those points on the tails? There are at least two if not three different species in this photo. Look at their tails.
I love that God made so many colorful creatures. The common Sea Star in Guam is bright blue, though I have learned it can vary in color from dark blue to light blue, depending on the region.
These beautiful blue fish are Bullethead Parrotfish. The interesting thing about Parrotfish is that they have kind of tooth or a beak up by their mouths. The locals told me that Parrotfish is one of the most delicious fishes. But how could I eat one of the most colorful fish in the area? They are safe with me, and smart to live in the marine preserve.
Then I spotted the Parrotfish swimming with an Morish Idol. I think the Morish Idol is the first tropical reef fish I came to recognize from photos and books when I was a kid. It is so cool to go swimming with one now. They are pretty elegant with their triangle shape, stripes and trailing dorsal fin.
I wish I could see the fish behind the Morish Idol a little better. I'm guessing it is a Butterflyfish, I just can't identify which one.
The distinctive Redbreast Maori Wrase (Cheilinus faciatus) is a memorable fish. Both times I have seen one, it is busy cleaning off the bottom.
These colorful fishes are called Six-bar Wrasse (Thalasoma hardwicke). I love that they have random pink and green markings, along with their six black bars down their backs. In the upper right corner is a black and white Scissortail Sergeant Fish. And behind that is an Ornate Butterflyfish.
Just before we got back to shore, the water was getting shallow and Rob pulled off his flippers and tried to walk the rest of the way in. I kept on swimming because there were things to trip on or fall into that you could not see when standing. I was rewarded with one last fish, a Convict Surgeonfish. They like to swim in the sea grass that grows near the shore at Piti. Sometime I think we need to poke around in the sea grass a little more and see what we find. It is a total different environment.
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