That would be wonderful. Have already voted on the site that I don't do photos but I sure do buy calendars....try as I may I can't explain to my friends my fascination with DG and the underwater forum....maybe that would help them see for themselves. Just in case Shari hasn't given you the forum j, you can find it under Dave's Garden. It's getting steamed up for print before Christmas so it can be sold for gifts. That would be just great!
Underwater Gardens #6
Good job, Christi - dork that I am, I forgot to tell him! D'oh!!! They are closing the entries on November 1st I think, so be sure and get your's in John! Your little sharpnose is so cute! Looks like he's sitting on an octopus! Here's a black spotted puffer - also a little guy.....
Dave has posted a notice on the home page now about the calendar.
Are all of these smaller puffers just as dangerous as the big guys?
Can't get over the eyes on those fish. This from the kid that was called "Eddie Cantor" in school. Younger readers - never mind.
OK, I'm not so young, but I didn't know who Eddie Cantor was so I googled him. I've seen him in movies but didn't know his name.
How I love ya, How I love ya, my dear old momma....I want the world to see...how much you mean to me....wowowowow..How I love ya......
Early, early, early days of tv....transferred from follies and broadway....first talkie movies....now I'M NOT THAT OLD, either. On Ed Sullivan sometimes and the Ethel Merman Show I think.
Christi - ♫There's No business, like SHOW business♫ . So many people don't know Ethel Merman these days, but few could belt it out like she did! Ahh yes, Eddie Cantor...I remember him best from those cartoons that did the charicatures of all the stars,,,,I think they were on the Bugs Bunny show....I loved them! Always tried to race my dad with id -ing the different folks. And here we are OT again! ha Ha Ha !
The little puffers naturally can't do as much damage as the big guys, but for the most part they have a similar personality "Don't call me CUTE - I HATE that!"
I found this one after looking at Sylvain's parrotfish - I wanted to post it because the one on the far right shows exactly why they are called parrotfish - doesn't that head look exactly like a parrot?
eat coral...poop sand...eat coral...poop sand...you folks that believe that the pristene white sand that you walk hand in hand in came from another source...sorry.....parrot fish, among others, spend their lives providing that gorgeous white sand on the beaches in the Caribbean and other parts of the world....on dives they remind me of the airplanes used to fight fires with....cruising along the top of the reef and opening the bay doors to extinguish that backscatter free image ready to post on Daves.....that's what all the little dots in certain images are....grains of sand(poop) that strobe light reflects off of.....reflecting back to the film plane......not sure where i'm going with this so i'll cork it....just a little info on the feeding habits of parrotfish....they have beaks like that to tear chunks of coral off and eat.....don't wake a sleeping parrotfish....if you do, the first they do is dart off along the bottom of the reef and smash into the first thing in the way, their front teeth get broken and then they cant tear off food, hence, curtains for them within 2 weeks.....gotta go...sorry for the rambling....just so much to say about these fish....more later if anyone cares...
j
Fascinating info! I didn't know about the broken teeth! But sure do agree with you about the "specks"....we were out snorkeling a week or so ago , and they were out in force! It was actually funny - and its so hard to laugh with gear in your mouth! At times it looked like they were letting the curtain down on a bad stage act!
No problem John.....very interesting! Always fun to know how something has come about into existance!
This message was edited Oct 3, 2007 5:27 PM
John, I love bits of info like that. OW, poor teeth. Yes, Shari, the very front looks like a parrot - I checked! :-)
Great stuff as always! So the beautiful white sands they talk about on all of the expensive resort commercials are really the result of fish poop?? TOOO Funny.
Tis a shame ours doesn't. Then when people would say, "Oh, s*#t", it would have a totally different meaning!
LOL! Indeed!
Of COURSE WE CARE. (sorry, only way I know to emphasize) This is better than any college class or lecture in the world. Since this started I personally have learned something new everyday and that is important to a happy life, in my opinion. We are now waiting for the next page on the diet of a Parrot Fish. Knock,knock,knock. Class, attention now. Mr. John is going to help us learn in his inimitable way.
Mr. John.......we are ready.....
Okay, we are sitting quietly now...sorry for talking during study hall. Uh, excuse me Mr. F - could we have some more please????
I'm getting sleepy and that is not allowed in class.
.....More research please.......(anybody seen the commercial?) Oops, I was always bad about talking in class! Shhhhh....sorry.....
LOL..yes..I've seen it...
okay..I'm quiet now....LAUGH! ssshhhh
Okay back to DGTV underwatergardens and ill tempered, but cute snapping puffer fish.
shshshsh Randy, we're waiting for John.....
He's been working very hard this week and the hand is still not 100%.....maybe he has signed off. I'm about to myself....goodnight, Mrs. Calabash
Does the 10 min rule apply to this class......see y'all later....when Teach comes back!
what commercial?? I hate it when you talk about things of which I know nothing! I don't get commercials!!! Okay, I'm pouting now....no teacher, and the rest of the class is leaving me out! :-(
Shari, there's a commercial here, I think it's Juicy Juice....the advertizing company needs to present the product to the panel for an evaluation.....so this company rep hands over the bottle. In another room are kids, and one child holds out their glass and says, "More research, please!"
The kids were the testers.....and it passed!
Randy I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, telling you to hush! I sorry! Please forgive me! We love you too!
Oh...got it. I was paraphrasing Oliver Twist, and you guys bring up commercials!
"Ya jest ain't got no cultcha"! Ha Ha Somebody pull down the shades, I think LouC is out for the count.
LOL...I'm sorry but I was standing in the corner....! I refused the dunce hat though,..
Randy, Oh, poor baby, no dunce hat for you sweetie! You can talk any time you want!
Okay Jeanne - 100 times on the blackboard "I will not tease my fellow students" I think I'm not going to use my "I refuse to have a battle of wits with unarmed opponents" line...I'll save that for some other time. Randy, you can come out of time out now, I think this class is dismissed until our professor comes back. (Maybe he's diving!!!)
Yes Mam, (hand up, begging to ask a question.....) But I don't have a blackboard!
I promise not to tease Randy. I promise not to tease Randy.
I promise not to tease Randy. I promise not to tease Randy.
I promise not to tease Randy. I promise not to tease Randy.
I promise not to tease Randy. I promise not to tease Randy.
I promise not to tease Randy. I promise not to tease Randy.
Can I stop now? Randy, I'm sorry. I'll be good.
LOL!! I go to bed and you all have too much fun.
Hi.
Here's a picture of my friend Denis at DePalm Island, Aruba. Notice how he holds his hands hidden because the little sargeant-majors somehow found him very palatable. They don't bite, it's more like a gentle peck but he hated the idea. This comes from a kid that was raised on a farm and pushed 1500-pound bulls around when he needed them to be somewhere else. He's so funny. They didn't peck me but they found my mask very interesting. I had to push them out of the way. I don't know about you but sargeant-majors are like the dandelion of the sea to me. They're everywhere!
Sylvain.
And here's one of a stingray at Stingray City in the Cayman Islands.
Sylvain.
Great pictures! Thanks!
Thanks for sharing Sylvain, however, Sargeant Majors do bite. True story. I was enjoying a cool beverage with some friends and there was a man snorkeling by himself. This area is frequented by hundreds of cruise ship passengers as it is relatively shallow and lots of reef fish, including the majors....many people take fish food with them to keep the fish close....
Not sure if you know what skin tags are, little fleshy bits that grow on skin...well, this guy's back had many of these skin tags, closely resembling the fish food. The sargeant majors bit everyone of them off this poor man. he was screaming and fighting to escape. We jumped in to assist as it started to become a rescue situation. We took him to hospital for treatment and he healed up. Needless to say, his snorkeling adventure was over for a long time....i am not an advocate of feeding fish, they seem to find food without our assistance just fine....these little fish are so used to being fed that they will attack anything that resembles their food, more like pirhannas than cute little striped fish...
just my opinion, but i know of one person that agrees with me.....not sure if the skin tags ever grew back.....nor if the guy ever got back in the water again.....
john
That would be terrifying! Good to see you John! You always have such interesting stories. Love to hear of your experiences and see your pictures! Really brightens my day! Hope you are doing OK!
John,
Your story reminds me of singray city. Went snorkling there with a tour group, and they of course want you to feed the rays, hold the squid etc. I am with you, it just does not seem very natural and only encourages un natural behavior. I am probably programmed this way because of our bears in Canada.....
Anyways, needless to say, I was the only one without food, so one of the rays decides that a mark on my leg looked like something it might want to nibble, so attached itself to me, bit startling as I was not watching or expecting it.
We are going to the Gulf last week of October. I never go any deeper than 6 inches. Last two times we have been there the stingray and jellies have been everywhere. I wear my Crocs and look down a lot.
Sounds like a good plan, wearing crocs, in the Gulf of Mexico. I see lots of jellies in the harbour, but no rays around MS anyways. The only thing I do here, "in" the water is sail, our water is pretty shallow as we are surrounded by the barrier islands.
Have seen some gators in the harbour, which is always good fun!
The other thing to do is dive around the drilling rigs, am told the hammer head sharks are plentiful. Still want to come to Texas and dive in the "gardens".
We stay on Mustang Island which is a barrier island. First time we went was right after Rita and things were just a mess.
Hi gang! Thanks for posting those pics Sylvain! We have about 6 varieties of Sergeants out here, and wouldn't ya know it, I can't find a pic. They can be pretty aggresive when you are invading their territory out here as well - but I haven't heard of anyone getting a massive attack like the one John described. That would certainly discourage me, I'm sure! I think I have posted this one before, but since we were talking about odd shaped fish above, I thought I'd show this one...a Unicornfish. There are several types, but this is one of the ones that really earns his name!
