Electric disco clam; the clam has been given this nickname because its soft tissues flash light like a disco ball (it is the only bivalve known to have light displays)
My divemaster thought I'd like a photo of me (or he just wanted to see my camera) so here I am near the East Tangat Gun Boat
A beautiful coral bowl with trim; the coral here was infinitely more impressive and photogenic than the fish
Clownfish live only 3-5 years in captivity but can live more than 10 years in the wild; there are no clownfish species that live in the Atlantic Ocean
A pipefish looks like a straight-bodied seahorse with a tiny mouth; the name is derived from the peculiar form of the snout, which is like a long tube, ending in a narrow and small mouth which opens upwards and is toothless
A Friant's sea star appears to be clinging on for dear life (or maybe he's just being friendly)
Sea squirt couple; it was treacherous getting on and off the bangkas as you walked a plank to get on the first boat and then had to cross from boat to boat to reach the boat in the back (I actually tumbled into the water one day!)
Lobed brain coral; this looks like something left behind after an autopsy; there were virtually no kids vacationing here since there is really nothing of interest for them
Vermiculated angelfish; often mistaken as a butterflyfish (that was my thought too) this species ranges from Japan south to Indonesia
This HUGE lionfish was in the cargo hold of the Morazan Maru; it was one of only two lionfish I saw in Coron and I saw none in El Nido
Oriental sweetlips; there are no stop signs here but the rules of the road seem to give the right of way to the largest vehicle
A dozen sunken Japanese warships at depths between 10 and 40 meters (33 and 131 ft) off Coron Island make the area a premier diving destination; ranked one of ten best scuba sites in the world by Forbes Traveler magazine
Bubble (aka grape) coral; the bubbles are larger during the day, but smaller during the night, when tentacles reach out to capture food
Venomous crown of thorns sea star which preys upon hard, or stony, coral polyps; this species can have up to 21 arms and range in size from 10-14 inches
Anchor (aka hammer) coral; this coral has puffy tubular tentacles with T-shaped tips and is blue-gray to orange in color, sometimes with green on the tentacles
Batfish; there were tons of kids in Coron and lots of young people but I saw virtually no old people
This was something I hadn't seen before and I've hunted and hunted and can't figure out what it could be; any experts out there?
Nudibranch; they must not have a government entity here like OSHA as the bangkas were full of hazards for both workers and guests
The shore around Coron was full of ramshackle houses on stilts which lacked running water and, usually, electricity; I wondered where the local Filipinos I encountered lived
Bird's nest coral; I struggled to find food in Coron since there are no supermarkets, just small shops that sell a few vegetables, beans, etc; they're missing the joys and convenience of processed foods
Morazan Maru was an English passenger cargo vessel that was captured by the Japanese Imperial Navy and then used for war purposes
Columnar cup (or daisy) coral; I should have taken classes in marine biology in college so I would better know what I was seeing underwater
Moorish idol; there were tons of small sidewalk shops but they all featured the same merchandise like sodas, candy and chips
Lobophyllia serratus is one of 10 endangered coral species in the Philippines; there are more than 500 coral species in the Philippines alone!
Anchor coral; this interesting species is threatened due to overharvesting for the aquarium trade and degradation or destruction of its habitat
Pipefishes, like their seahorse relatives, leave most of the parenting duties to the male, which provides all of the postzygotic care for its offspring, supplying them with nutrients and oxygen through a placenta-like connection
Chocolate chip sea stars possess rows of spines or "horns," black conical points arranged in a single row, radially on the dorsal side; these dark protrusions are used to scare away possible predators, by looking frightening or dangerous
Wire (aka whip) coral on Malpadon Reef; these corals are part of the reefs in the Indian and Pacific oceans, at depths greater than 50 meters (160 ft)
This featured blog entry was written by VagabondCowboy from the blog The frugal travels of a vagabond.
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