Octopus' Garden

Photos Copyright 2014 by Barry Fackler

day octopus                          Octopus cyanea

Keauhou Octopus

All Photos Copyright 2014 by Barry Fackler

Day Octopus                     Octopus cyanea

Big Foot

Photo Copyright 2014 by Barry Fackler

horned helmet           Cassis cornuta

Extrication

Photo Copyright 2014 by Barry Fackler

Day Octopus           Octopus cyanea

Tom Smith's nudibranch

Photo Copyright 2013 by Barry Fackler

Shell Game

Whilst scouring the reef for interesting things, I happened upon a small treasure. Lying in the sand and rubble at the base of a coral head was this perfect spiked helmet shell ( Casmaria erinaceus kalosmodix).

Photo Copyright 2013 by Barry Fackler

The shell was clean and perfectly intact - a rarity on the Big Island where a lot of the predators just crush shells and eat the contents. When one does find an intact shell, it is often inhabited by it's mollusk builder or a hermit crab. The inhabitant of this shell was probably eaten just hours before by a cone or Triton's trumpet snail.

Just to be clear with you, the shell is now in my collection. If I come across something this beautiful during a dive and I can have it without taking a life, then I consider it a gift from The Sea and I am grateful.

Beautiful Shell

I found this beautiful Triton's Trumpet shell (Charonia tritonis) while diving this Saturday at Honaunau. It was close to a foot long and still occupied by its builder. The Triton's Trumpet is a snail just like the ones you would find in your garden except it is specially adapted for its marine habitat.

Photo Copyright 2013 by Barry Fackler

The top of the shell has a coating of marine growth and sand as such things tend to settle on slow moving surfaces.

Photo Copyright 2013 by Barry Fackler

The underside is generally clean and glossy, particularly the aperature which is the "hole" the creature protrudes out of. The yellow and tan matter is the creature's muscular foot. The brownish oval is the operculum, a toenail-like structure that seals the aperature securely shut when the snail retracts into its shell. the operculum is the final wall that, along with the shell, completely protects the snail's soft body from would-be predators.

Life is full of beautiful things. Take time to enjoy them!

Spanish Dancer

Photo Copyright 2010 by Barry Fackler

Photo Copyright 2010 by Barry Fackler

For all my years of diving in Kona, I've never seen a Spanish Dancer nudibranch. I don't night dive very often and that's when they're most active. My luck changed, however, on an early morning dive earlier this month when I happened across a juvenile specimen in a small cave at Honaunau.

Photo Copyright 2010 by Barry Fackler

This was a small individual, only a couple inches in length, but very active. It was making its way to the back of the cave to escape the increasing sunlight.

Photo Copyright 2010 by Barry Fackler

This little creature allowed me plenty of time to take its photograph and I was happy with the images I got. In the past, this small cave has been the scene for encounters with sea turtles, ulua, a Whitetip Reef Shark and an assortment of interesting mollusks and crustaceans. It's a good place to check out.

Photo Copyright 2010 by Barry Fackler

Tiger Cowrie encounter

Photo Copyright 2010 by Barry Fackler

Last week I was lucky enough to come upon a Tiger Cowrie actively making its way across the reef during daylight hours. I often find Tiger Cowries during the day but the animals themselves are all drawn up into the shells. The few times I've seen the actual living animal has been on night dives years ago.

Photo Copyright 2010 by Barry Fackler

When the animal is active, a thin layer of tissue slides up over the shell. This is called the mantle and is greyish in color having many little projections called papillae. In the photo above, The mantle is extended from the underside and a small slice of uncovered shell is visible on top. The mantle is responsible for the glossiness of the cowrie shell as it protects and polishes the surface.

Photo Copyright 2010 by Barry Fackler

Here, the shell is completely enveloped by the mantle as the snail cruises among the coral peaks.

Photo Copyright 2010 by Barry Fackler

Looking at the animal head-on in this photo, you can see that on the left side, the mantle is almost all the way up, while on the right side a good part of the shell is exposed. Note the bright white line down the shell's center. This is the point where the two halves of the mantle meet.

Photo Copyright 2010 by Barry Fackler

In this last photo you can see the "spiky" appearance the papillae give the cowrie. These projections serve a sensory function giving the snail additional information about its environment.