I am always impressed at the remarkable level of camouflage that can be exhibited by marine organisms. These photos show a few of the masters. These were photographed during a recent dive at Isla San Pedro Nolasco, near San Carlos. This first image is of a snail that proved incredibly elusive for me. I looked […]
There are over 700 extant species within the genus Conus, also known as the cone snails. These include some of the most beautiful shells in the seas, but the snails that secrete these shells have also developed an amazing and sometimes deadly hunting strategy. The radula in most snails is a scraping tongue, used to […]
With San Carlos water temperatures reaching into the 80’s and the clear blue water of summer arriving, more people will be considering deep dives. While most of the marine life will be found on shallower dives, there are a few organisms that are more prevalent at deeper depths. One in particular is the spectacular longnose […]
Fall diving in San Carlos has been nothing short of spectacular this year. One of the most interesting of the sightings this year has been of one of the most secretive denizens – the Pacific seahorse, Hippocampus ingens. This is the only seahorse found in the western Pacific Ocean and Gulf of California. It is also […]
It is unlikely that a scuba diver in the Sea of Cortez will encounter a more alien and ornate decapod than the Cortez Barrel Shrimp, Gnathophyllum panamense. Also known as the Spotted Bumblebee Shrimp, this organism is difficult to confuse with any other Gulf of California shrimp species. A downright beefy and glossy carapace is punctuated with […]
Some of the most heartbreaking encounters I have had while scuba diving in the Sea of Cortez have occurred when marine life has met with human garbage. I have seen dolphins drowned in ghost nets and sperm whales dragging hundreds of feet of discarded monofilament net (which was thankfully removed by scuba divers). One particular […]
Located roughly midway down the Sea of Cortez on the western coast of Sonora, Mexico, the town of San Carlos is a top weekend destination for scuba divers from the Western U.S. A rich and varied ecosystem, the area is subject to tremendous swings in temperature, nutrient levels, and fauna between the winter and summer […]