September snorkelling - part 2

We sailed off at about noon, right after my snorkelling, and sailed along island Šolta towards South, and then along SW side of Brač to bay Smrka. It is a very pretty and long and deep bay and we med-moored by the rocky shore further on the left side of the house. 

On the SW side we could see island Hvar in the distance. When we came a big motor yacht was med-moored some 100 m away from us, and they were a bit noisy with water skiing, but luckily it didn't last long and they drove away in the late afternoon.

But as soon as our boat was moored and before the sun was too low, I went snorkelling on the SE side of the bay, where there was still plenty of light. Red seasquirt (rdeči kozolnjak ali morska breskev or Halocynthia papillosa) was glowing at me from under the first rock where I looked. I know I have photographed it a thousand times already, but I can't resist such a display of bright red. And behind it on the left was another one.

And this was the next thing that made me happy - a Sea lemon (morska pomaranča or Tethya citrina). I don't know why I get so excited over a sponge.

After a long time I saw a Black-headed blenny (črnoglava babica or Lipophrys nigriceps) again. These creatures are really very small, maximum up to 4 cm, and can easily be overlooked despite the bright colours.

This was a nice surprise, a decent size European seabass (brancin or Dicentrarchus labrax), surely some 40 cm long. I don't get to see them very often.

This Rusty blenny (babica papagajka or Parablennius sanguinolentus) was not as shy as they usually are.

And this is a Twin fan worm (dvoperjaničar or Bispira volutacornis).

In the evening a smaller sailboat sailed into the bay and took one of the private buoys in front of the house in the right part of the bay, quite a distance away, and that was it. I was totally happy, so very few neighbours and so little noise in such a beautiful bay, it felt like Adriatic some 20 years ago. And I got to snorkel twice that day. True happiness! 

After a delicious dinner we had a good and calm night, but it proved very wise that we moored the boat so that the bow (the front) was pointing to the entrance of the bay, in the night some small waves were rolling into the bay that could get annoying if they were hitting the boat from the side.

Next morning, right after the coffee, I went snorkelling again, this time to the NW side of the bay, that was already lighted by the sun. I saw some very big and fat Salemas (salpe or Sarpa salpa).

And here is another highlight - a Black scorpionfish (škarpoč or Scorpaena porcus).

And this was another surprise - Greater amberjack (gof or Seriola dumerili), this time an adult that was hunting small fish. What was really strange was that it displayed the vertical stripes on its body when hunting, and "turned them off" when it came closer to check me up. Already the day before I saw a small group of juveniles and tried to make some photos, but none of them was good.

This interesting thing is a Variable loggerhead sponge (spremenljiva hrapavka or Ircinia variabilis), don't know where the name comes from and if it has anything to do with loggerhead turtles.

This Violet sea urchin (belobodičasti morski ježek or Sphaerechinus granularis) may be siting on a red seasquirt. Or can it be eating it? I read that they mainly eat algae, but also crinoids, sponges, mussels, sea cucumbers...

This is a Pigtooth coral (kamnito nakovalce or Balanophyllia europaea), in the night the polyps come out with which it catches food.

And here is the school of juvenile Greater amberjacks (gofi or Seriola dumerili) again, probably the same one as the day before, and this time I had more luck with photos.

This is a pretty Encrusting orange sponge (spužva žilavka or Spirastrella cunctatrix) with very prominent veins.

I found another hydroid, I don't know which kind it is, these just have short stems and the polyps form a circle right at the end and look just like a small daisy (marjetica). Only when I manage to make such close-ups of them, I can see all the details and recognise small differences.

Here is another goby, this time the Zvonimir's goby (jelenoroga babica or Parablennius zvonimiri), with lots of "facial hair" or cirri, as they are officially called.

These two are of the same family, first one is the Red-spotted horseshoe (apnenčasti cevkar or Protula tubularia), white with orange spots...

...and this one is orange with white and red spots, the Blod-red tubeworm (oranžni cevkar or Protula intestinum).

I've seen many Spiny starfish (bradavičasta morska zvezda or Marthasterias glacialis) around.

And these might be the Tree hydroids (morski grmički or Eudendrium spp.). Only at home on my computer I managed to see that it was different from all that I've seen so far and that it is already the fifth kind of hydroids that I photographed in only few days. As if there is a different kind of hydroids in each bay.

This is the smaller version of  Red triplefin, I couldn't find the English name (pritlikavi sprehajalček or Tripterygion melanurus), and this one also has some poetic names: pjevčić patuljčić (HR) and peperoncino minore (I). It is also very small and not easy to photograph, but there were really plenty of them. This one has a small crown behind the head and a much sharper nose and different pattern on the head than the Black-headed blenny above.

This Sea squirt, in Slovene named nagubani kozolnjak ali mali svet (Microcosmus spp.), is not so colourful as its relative above, and because of this much more difficult to spot. I find that Slovene name, the wrinkled sea squirt, is a very appropriate one.

This is a very pretty Purple sea urchin (Vijoličasti morski ježek or Paracentrotus lividus).

Here is another red thing - the Red encrusting bryozoan (mahovnjak rdeči skorjevec or Schizobrachiella sanguinea). It is again a relative of corals and the grey fluff that it is coated with are the tiny polyps.

And this is another highlight of this day, a Mediterranean moray (Lisasta murena or Muraena helena), I really see it quite rarely. But the Damselfish or Mediterranean chromis (črnik or Chromis chromis) tried to steel the focus.

This is a Comber or kanjec (Serranus cabrilla), a fierce predator with very confident behaviour. It can give you some very angry looks.