The weird, the scary and the strange

[Shadowkiller]

Despite the topic heading, I'm not talking about Sven's toilet habits...

Whilst fish are the obvious wildlife in the ocean, there is a lot of weird stuff out there, and a lot of its pretty small.

So armed with my macro settings I went out to find some of that "freaky shit".

A good place to start is the nearest good size rock. Many animals shelter beneath rocks, so after having a look make sure you flip it back over!

First pic is of a Eunice Polychaete worm. This one was roughly 1.5cm thick, and about 50cm long.

It moved at quite a speed, so I was unabe to use the super macro on my Olympus, but the macro at full zoom did ok.

 

[Shadowkiller]

Nudibranchs are a lot slower, so the supermacro comes into its own.

Below is a Ceratosoma brevicaudatum, a fairly common seaslug for this area. I assume it was travelling between feeding sites, since it is a carnivore, and doesnt feed on plants.

 

[Shadowkiller]

The next nudibrach is Bennets Hypsolodoris, shot with the macro on full zoom. This one was a bit deep (10m) and on the dark side of a dropoff, so I couldnt use the supermacro lens. I will get a strobe one of these days...

 

[Shadowkiller]

The last one has me stumped.

It could either be a Echiuran, or a Sipunculan, most likely a nemertan.

Anyone care to guess?

It creeped me out, whatever it was..

 

[tylerz]

Hey great job Shadow! I love this stuff. Macro life is so diverse and overlooked...

Keep up the good work!

Cheers,

Tyler

 

[Fondueset]

Anything goes in the ocean

When it comes to life forms. Beautiful shots.

Marine invertebrates are like surreal denizens of the subconscious

 

[Adrian]

Uh...what planet did you take those shots on?

Very nice!

Adrian

 

[Paul Kotik]

I'm not going to be the one to tell it, but perhaps somebody else will tell the story of Brett Lemaster and the sea cucumbers.

 

[Shadowkiller]

Originally posted by Adrian
Uh...what planet did you take those shots on?

Sometimes, when I'm down there... Im really not sure. But no matter what strange sight I see, I always feel sorry for those who never bother to look.

Those poor landlocked people, who will never soar beneath the waves...

 

[Adrian]

Anyone care to guess?

Are you sure it's just one? It looks like two joined together - could be mating?

Adrian

 

[Oldsarge]

Wow! And the dumb system won't let me give you any more karma. Damn!

 

[Cingene]

the last one looks like the remains of Uncle Sven's socks (poor Uncle Sven getting dissed again)..

 

[Amphibious]

Simply Stunning! You're making me homesick!

 

[Frank O'Donnell]

Great shots, Shadowkiller! I find macro photography while freediving interesting and challenging.

Is my assumption correct that you were just using the camera's built-in macro mode and zooming, as opposed to an add-on macro lens?

 

[Pezman]

I love the 5050s macro mode. Here's a picture of a mantis that I snapped a few days ago for the kids.

Not in the same league as these other shots, but definitely weird, scary and strange.

 

[DeepThought]

Pez, I like those little buggers .
I liked your pictures as well shadowkiller, as you might have noticed in your karma when you posted them.

But since we're showing off above water macros as well, that's one of the best I got, on my nikon coolpix 4300 with the built-in macro mode (would still prefer a c-5050 anyday).
Tough I had to resize it with mspaint:duh, so quality probably decreased.

(I wish I had the money to spare to buy a case for my camera.)
(Would've used it for a mono-fin instead actually.)

 

[Shadowkiller]

Frank: Yep, no bulky add-ons for me... although a strobe is looking more and more attractive..

Heres one from yesterday. Pity my RA was stolen while I was in the water snapping this guy... :waterwork