Dive #459 - Madrona Small Wall - 20 January 2021
Beautiful night for a dive, with bright stars above. Fantastic critter spotting as we swam very slowly along the wall. Bay pipefish, several smallish Red Irish Lords, 4 barnacle nudibranchs (!), small cockscombs (one slender and one high, I think), spotted leopard dorids, some beautifully decorated graceful crabs, two mosshead warbonnets, 3 Buffalo sculpins all in the same meter square, 3 painted greenlings of increasingly smaller sizes within a 1/2m square, Thick-horned Nudi, Nanaimo Dorid, super curious and photogenic young orange wolf eel, small PSKC, two GPOs, kelp greenling dad guarding well-developed and mostly hatched eggs, sailfin sculpin, 2 mosshead warbonnets, heart crab, sunflower star, two grunt sculpins on eggs, and gunnel couples in rock holes. As we rounded the corner, a juvenile GPO was strolling along the kelp. It eventually dissapeared into a little crack in the rock/sand. Plainfin midshipmen in the shallows.
Cold but clear and lovely. One of my most recent favourite dives.
Observations
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Kelp Pipefish (Syngnathus californiensis)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Monterey Dorid (Doris montereyensis)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Striped Surfperch (Embiotoca lateralis)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Red Rock Crab (Cancer productus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Red Irish Lord (Hemilepidotus hemilepidotus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Red Ribbon Worm (Tubulanus polymorphus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Scalyhead Sculpin (Artedius harringtoni)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Copper Rockfish (Sebastes caurinus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Barnacle-eating Dorid (Onchidoris bilamellata)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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White-lined Dirona (Dirona albolineata)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Ochre Sea Star (Pisaster ochraceus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Mottled Star (Evasterias troschelii)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Barnacle-eating Dorid (Onchidoris bilamellata)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Barnacle-eating Dorid (Onchidoris bilamellata)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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High Cockscomb (Anoplarchus purpurescens)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Slender Cockscomb (Anoplarchus insignis)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Kelp Greenling (Hexagrammos decagrammus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Decorated Warbonnet (Chirolophis decoratus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Northern Leopard Dorid (Diaulula odonoghuei)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Graceful Decorator Crab (Oregonia gracilis)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Painted Greenling (Oxylebius pictus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
Note three painted greenlings of progressively smaller sizes. The big one on the right, and two smaller ones around the base of the plumose anemone.
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Horned Nudibranch (Hermissenda crassicornis)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Plumose Anemone (Metridium senile)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Copper Rockfish (Sebastes caurinus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Northern Leopard Dorid (Diaulula odonoghuei)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Nanaimo Dorid (Acanthodoris nanaimoensis)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Wolf Eel (Anarrhichthys ocellatus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Puget Sound King Crab (Echidnocerus cibarius)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Giant Pacific Octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Kelp Greenling (Hexagrammos decagrammus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Sailfin Sculpin (Nautichthys oculofasciatus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Mosshead Warbonnet (Chirolophis nugator)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Buffalo Sculpin (Enophrys bison)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Buffalo Sculpin (Enophrys bison)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Buffalo Sculpin (Enophrys bison)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Heart Crab (Phyllolithodes papillosus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Kelp Greenling (Hexagrammos decagrammus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
I've included a photo of the eggs dad was guarding.
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Kelp Greenling (Hexagrammos decagrammus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
I've included a photo of the dad, who was guarding nearby
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Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Gunnels (Family Pholidae)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Grunt Sculpin (Rhamphocottus richardsonii)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
Note the eggs in the background of the den
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Slime Star (Pteraster tesselatus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Grunt Sculpin (Rhamphocottus richardsonii)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
Eggs in the background
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Red Irish Lord (Hemilepidotus hemilepidotus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Gunnels (Family Pholidae)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Lewis' Moon Snail (Neverita lewisii)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Painted Anemone (Urticina grebelnyi)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Kelp Greenling (Hexagrammos decagrammus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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East Pacific Red Octopus (Octopus rubescens)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Roughback Sculpin (Chitonotus pugetensis)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Plainfin Midshipman (Porichthys notatus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Helmet Crab (Telmessus cheiragonus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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Lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus)Observer
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Night dive at Madrona Small Wall
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