Mating Hairy Blennies...captured some underwater sex ; )

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Today was a holiday Monday. Once again the visibility was amazing and since it has been a while that I don’t dive under the bridge I decided to go check out some of my old spots. The visibility was so good that we could see from one sector of pilings to the other one. We don't get those conditions very often. As soon as we went around the pilings Steve gave me the “mating” signals so I stopped and dropped but I couldn’t see anything. I asked him to show me because I couldn’t see whatever he was looking at. He showed me a couple of blennies inside the pilings. One of the blennies turns real orange and colorful while the other one turns darker and spotty. It seems to me that he bites her (him) behind her (his) head to encourage her (his) to shake her eggs off. The eggs must be really small because we couldn’t really see them like we have with Seaweed Blennies. But if you are reading this for a science paper better ask the experts I just blog what I see but don't really know which is the female or male out of the two. It was, indeed, a great opportunity to catch some action. (Where the hell was our video person, Diane???) Luckily they were at it a bunch of times I would say like 20 times and I got a few chances to get it on film. It was just difficult to get the light in the hole and keep the focus. Forget about keeping the camera steady being so buoyant with my new suit but the fun was worth it.

To watch the Video click here:

At the end of this amazing mating display I saw a very shy bright seahorse hiding behind the bushes. I took a POL (Proof of Life) shot and I moved on to the sailfin blenny area to see if I could get the fin display. I saw it a few times but of course once I got close they stopped. In between clips I saw a nudi cruising by so I tried super-macro video for first time with not great results but not bad for first time. The result looked much better on the screen than in the computer so I only kept one of the clips for future reference. There are a bunch of different things that I need to adjust for video and this was totally out of the spare of the moment....and don't forget...my excuse is that I am not a videographer just a photographer so please watch beyond the quality and enjoy the behavior captured 😉

Anyway, I ended my dive in the algae area looking for precious Costasiella Nudibranchs but I found none.

Log 681 14ft 149min 73oF 14lbs ? 80 AL 5mm Bali lavacore hodie + gloves

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Photos

ID please
Pretty nudi with orange cheeks

Sailfin Blenny
Between displays

Seahorse Yawning!!
Probably bored watching the blennies mate...

Comments

[Kevin Bryant]

Pretty cool! :-) But, weren't you embarrassed watching that going on??

[Xeaman]

Yeahhh specially with all that shakin'

[john casey]

Great stuff
Kelly was checking that area for a downy blenny she saw the day before. I saw Steve hanging in that spot for a while and was video capable but didn't want to get in his way. We went back over the shallows in the end by the boat launch checking the sea grass but nothing exceptional. Nice seeing you again. John

[Xeaman]

Thanx for the comment.
Steve and I took turns on them...It was pretty cool to see. : )